Medway's impressive four-match winning run in London 3 South East ended with a 31-15 home defeat to Horsham on Saturday.

The reverse was their first since they were beaten at home by Brighton on the first weekend of the season.

The kick-off was delayed after the late arrival of some of the Horsham squad, but it was Medway who were slow out of the blocks, conceding two early converted tries to go 14-0 down.

Glen Wadsworth’s penalty got them on the scoreboard but Horsham went further ahead with another converted try, after the referee had failed to spot an open field knock-on.

From a line-out a good catch and drive sent Billy Humphrey over for an unconverted try, cutting the deficit to 21-8 but Horsham then had their prop yellow carded and with the visitors having no front row replacement the game went to uncontested scrums until he returned in the second half.

This temporarily meant Medway were unable to press home their forward superiority, and salt was rubbed into the wound when a high ball was missed by the home defence and the visitors went over again to make the half-time score 28-8.

With the wind behind them in the second half Medway staged a fightback, and a great catch and drive saw Colin Chapman driven over for a try converted by Wadsworth.

Humphrey then looked to have put Danny Williams over in the corner but the try was disallowed – a decision which knocked the stuffing out of Medway who conceded a late penalty.