Maidstone enjoyed a winning start under new head coach Dave Charlton on Saturday.

Charlton, who’s taken on the role after a 35-year association with the club, oversaw a 17-12 home victory against Medway 2nds.

Tries from Adam Phillips, Josh Hoare and Josh McKenzie, plus a Lex Ayling conversion, opened up a commanding lead.

Medway fought back but Maidstone were worthy winners in their Kent 2 opener after staying up on the final day of last season.

Fly-half Sam Pearson was named man-of-the-match in his final appearance before emigrating to New Zealand.

Charlton, a former 1st XV skipper, has succeeded Steve Oram as head coach.

“I was asked three times and on the third occasion I looked at my wife and she said, ‘For God’s sake, do it’ which I took as her blessing,” said Charlton.

“I knew it was a big role but I’ve assisted in coaching down there for four or so seasons and I’ve enjoyed giving back.

“It felt like the right time to take it on.

“I’ve got the club at heart. I’ve been there since I was 17, so 35 years, I’m a one-club man and I played at a decent level when Maidstone were doing better in the old days.

“I’m young at heart and I feel like one of the lads - it all fell into place.”

Charlton has a strong coaching team around him and they have a plan to get Maidstone playing.

He added: “Mick Walker is the director of rugby and he’s got a couple of ex-players with lots of experience in Gary Whitehead and Ben Massey as backs coach and forwards coach.

“Jason Smith is the first-team manager - he was part of the side who won at Twickenham - and he’s absolutely brilliant.

“It’s a group of us who have all got the club at heart and who want to see the club do well again.

“My vision for the club is to do the basics brilliantly.

“Gary and Ben bring a bit of an edge and I’m the nice guy.

“I keep tabs on five areas that we want to focus on - handling, tackling, ball retention, kicking and offloading - and if we get those right, we’ll be OK.

“It worked on Saturday against Medway 2s.

“They’ve come up from the league below and they’re no mugs but we put in a good shift.

“We flagged a bit towards the end but we had 17 points on the board by then.

“We were really pleased and the lads thoroughly enjoyed it.

“We’ve made some little changes so if the players win, they walk in through the bar entrance and get applauded. I want them to feel special.

“One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

“There’s a lot of hard work to do but we’ve got some momentum in the club.

“It’s always hard to catch up if you lose one or two games at the start of the season and people’s heads drop, so it’s good to get that first win.

“We’re getting good numbers at training each Tuesday and Thursday.

“We keep emphasising the brilliant basics and all the lads are responding to it.

“We’re giving them a framework but a freedom of play within that, rather than an authoritarian structure which can sometimes confuse and baffle players.”

Maidstone visit Vigo this Saturday (3pm).

Rugby was the winner when Maidstone Mustangs went to Thanet 3rds in the Kent Rural League.

The visitors arrived without a number of players due to motorway closures, so Thanet loaned them some of their 2s.

There were tries for young scrum-half Sam Gale, fly-half Tom Rowe and his brother Harrison Rowe at flanker.

Tom Rowe converted all three tries as the Mustangs led 21-5 before Thanet hit back for a 44-21 victory.

Credit to Maidstone captain Kelvin Baxter and vice-captain Jack Brown for working through the travel issues.