By Mark Bruce

Gravesend produced a scintillating display to take a big stride towards safety in Regional 2 South East with a 43-28 victory over Beckenham.

After conceding twice in the last two minutes against Reeds Weybridge the previous time out, it was important Gs got off to a strong start and an early brace of tries by player-of-the-match Andrew Cooke gave them the ascendency as big, powerful runs from the forwards created gaps in the Becekenham line.

As they tried to get a foothold the visitors were guilty of playing with the ball too deep and Matt Bruce benefited as he intercepted and scampered home between the posts.

Better was to come for Gravesend as the referee awarded a penalty try with Beckenham deemed guilty of illegally collapsing a maul near the line. With two kicks from George Bruce, the hosts found themselves 26-0 up but conceded a try just before half-time to see their lead cut by seven.

It was the forwards’ turn to score in the second half with top try scorer Samraj Chahal and Tom Bird adding to the points tally, but Beckenham were more than a match for their hosts, playing for a large period in the Gravesend third of the pitch. That and poor discipline, which saw two yellow cards for the home side, gave the away team all the encouragement they needed.

At 38-28 with 20 minutes left it felt a matter of when, not if, Beckenham would score again. But Gs resisted all that was thrown at them and having cleared downfield the final try came when one pass too many went astray behind the goalline and Ben Kite was on hand to touch down.

Gravesend, in 10th, visit fourth-placed Old Reigatian on Saturday.