Gravesend Return to Winning Ways

Gravesend seemed to be slow to get the ball moving but were awarded lots of penalties in quick succession that put them in a good position. It was something and nothing though as a try opportunity was held up and Deal were awarded a penalty which took Gravesend back to the halfway line to start to build the momentum again.

In a tricky period of play, Gravesend had the possession but also kept handing the ball back to their opposition. Thankfully Chris Brady got the break through on 23 minutes to give Gravesend the lead at 5-3.

This seemed to give the home side a bit of a boost and two further tries followed before half-time. First through Josh Smith on 36 minutes and then through Jamie Forsyth with the scoreboard showing 42 minutes. Half-time came and went with the score at 17-3.

Gravesend began the second half as well as they finished the first with a try just 5 minutes in through Matt Brady. Rhys Betts kicked his second conversion of the day to make it 24-3.

Deal and Betteshanger perked up a bit and Gravesend’s defence had some work to do. It was holding strong but the visitors eventually broke through to score their first try of the match. They couldn’t make the conversion and Gravesend’s lead was still looking good at 24-8.

The lads in black and white didn’t take kindly to having their lead cut and responded quickly through Terry Papworth. Betts made the conversion and the score was stretched once more on 66 minutes to 31-8.

Gravesend seemed to be scoring tries for fun at this point and, whilst they didn’t make it easy for themselves at all times, Stan Dadson crossed the whitewash on 72 minutes and Smith went over for his second on 78 minutes to make the full-time score a rather convincing 43-8 to Gravesend.

It leaves Gravesend with a three-point lead at the top of the table going into next weekend’s clash with Old Alleynians, which is another home fixture.

Match Report written by Fran Holmes