Injury-hit Medway were struck by an early Shelford salvo as they lost 38-21 in Regional 1 South East on Saturday.

Shelford won the earlier meeting between the sides in November and made the better start, scoring a try after two minutes and leading 14-0 eight minutes later.

Alfie Orris provided some hope for Medway as he ran hard into space presented by the Shelford back line. Captain Anthony Clement supported Orris and the pressure resulted in a 5m scrum in the Shelford red zone. The Medway front row squeezed and No.8 Jordan Stubbington controlled the base of the scrum to score a pushover try. Dan Harvey converted to halve the deficit.

Despite a yellow card for Clement for a failed interception, Medway gained another 5m scrum, with their reliable pack coming good again for Stubbington to score his second try. Harvey added the extras and it was all-square.

Shelford, however, had another gear and found it to score two more tries before half time, Medway trailing 26-14.

Medway used up all their replacements in the second half and despite a player-of-the-match performance by Mo Pangarker, who carried the ball deep into Shelford territory, the visitors added two further touchdowns.

The final quarter belonged to the hosts with Adam Richards-Shaw scoring a well-worked, converted try towards full-time.

Medway visit Hertford on Saturday for their penultimate league match.