Gravesend were left to rue missed chances as they suffered a 22-16 defeat at Staines in National 3 South East on Saturday.

The hosts opened the scoring inside two minutes but Ashley Moorey went over after Gary Gray capped a flowing team move by cutting through the defence and Dave Dorton slotted the conversion for a 7-5 lead.

The full-back added two penalties as Gravesend went 13-5 ahead, only for the hosts to pull within a point from a converted try.

Dorton missed a penalty while the hosts were down to 14 but converted another at the start of the second half to make it 16-12, only for the hosts to take the lead with a converted try and add another penalty to make it 22-16.

Gravesend could not respond, although they did gain a bonus point for losing by less than seven points.