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Medway enjoyed a bonus-point victory over bottom side London Cornish - despite struggling to hit top gear.
That they didn't was in part down to the visitors, who were dogged at the breakdown and looked to slow the game and prevent the hosts from playing at their desired tempo.
The home side opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a textbook try from Jordan Stubbington on his 100th appearance for the 1sts.
A good scrum platform allowed Stubbington to attack and he beat the cover defence before going over. Dan Harvey converted for 7-0.
Twelve minutes later a lineout on the right saw Medway move the ball wide to Alfie Orris, who stretched the visitors' defence and threw an inside pass to Max Bullock. Bullock scampered over the line for an unconverted score.
It was soon 17-0 when a lineout in the corner, five metres from the visitors' line, saw hooker Bill Sandison drive over after help from Stubbington and Max Easton. However the conversion from Harvey hit the post.
Medway were forced into a change when Richard Petch was forced from the field through injury and that saw the introduction of Dan Huntley, playing his first game for more than two years.
From then until half-time London Cornish dug in, battling hard and showing good character. Their display, combined with some poor decision making from the home side, ensured no more points before the break.
The second half kicked off with Medway keen to secure the bonus-point victory and with 46 minutes on the clock the point was theirs.
Harvey secured a lineout with a 50-22 kick. The lineout was well won and after several phases Harvey fed Bullock who crashed over under the posts. The try was converted for 24-0.
Medway had a number of opportunities to increase the gap but poor decision making and the never-give-in character of the visitors meant that the final score did not arrive until nine minutes from time.
An attack deep in the visitors' 22 from a set-piece scrum saw the Medway backs stretch the defence, allowing Orris to feed the ball back inside for John Sipawa to score. Harvey converted to leave Medway third in the table.
Medway return to league action on November 27 at Horsham.
