Ashford coach Dai Fussell was full of praise for his side despite this Kent 1 defeat at West Wickham on Saturday.

Illness, injury and unavailability earned several youngsters promotion and Fussell was pleased with their efforts.

He said: "There were a lot of encouraging performances and the boys who came in didn’t look out of place."

Ashford made a great start, scoring the first try after only five minutes. Centre Ben Knight’s great run started the move and full-back Shane Redmond joined the line to score.

Beccs responded with a try of their own almost immediately and added another against the run of play before moving 17-5 ahead with another score and successful conversion.

Ashford didn’t let their heads drop and second row replacement, 17-year old Ewan Chalk celebrated his first team debut with a try, converted by fly-half J.J. Murray. Beccs scored again before the end.

Ashford are at home to Guys, Kings and St Thomas’ Hospital on Saturday (2.30pm), with the club holding a vice-presidents lunch before the game.