Gravesend's National 3 South East game at Bishop Stortford beat the big freeze on Saturday, but Gs allowed a narrow lead to slip to a defeat in the final 20 minutes.

The Essex side took the lead in the first half through an interception try and added a penalty before the interval, while Dave Dorton missed two kicks for the visitors.

He however notched his next attempt to reduce the deficit and two more penalties in a three minute span saw Gs take the lead shortly before the hour mark, while the hosts were reduced to 14 for 10 minutes after a sin-binning.

However the short-handed hosts recorded a converted try after a break down the wing and added another try less than two minutes later for a 20-9 lead.

In the final 10 minutes Sox Stevens drove over for a try from a lineout and Dorton kicked the extras to narrow the gap to four points, but the home defence held out for the final minutes.

The bonus point for the narrow defeat kept Gs in sixth.