OLD Gravesendians were not able to carry forward the good form from their last match against league leaders Heathfield & Waldron and felling to dispiriting defeat against in-form Crowborough.

Flanker Mark Thompson damaged his back in the warm-up and was replaced on the flank by hooker Lawrence Coleman.

Fly-half Richard Oxtoby was at scrum half in the absence of both regular scrum halves, second row Steve Jarrett was at prop and flanker Matt Coomber was No 8.

Coach Michael Fealey was at fly-half and captain Michael Hodge returned at centre, although his damaged hamstring did not last the match.

The game took its toll with the injured Hodge and Thompson joined by Matt Holdstock (shoulder), Ben Brown (leg) and Dave Boyer (hand).

These unavailabilities and injuries are very destabilising when the team are trying to build some momentum in a higher league.

For almost half an hour Old Gs restricted their hosts to a single penalty, converted by Matt Tyler, which at least showed a willingness in defence.

Through their dominant pack Crowborough had most of the possession and with it, the territory.

Old Gs’ scrum was basically unable to compete at the set piece, an area that was only put right late in the game when Brett Buckingham came into prop and Steve Jarrett was moved to No 8 to make better use of his weight and strength.

Living off crumbs, Old Gs’ backs were marginalised in the first period, the only spark of life coming when young winger Aaron Farnell was given some space to run at the Cowborough defence.

Crowborough were restricted to only one more first half try when winger Tom Burgess avoided a couple of tackles to score.

Despite the scoreline being only 8-0 at the break, it seemed only a matter of time before Gravesendians’ defences were overwhelmed.

They were having a major problem in obtaining possession and did not really threaten the hosts’ line throughout the first half.

Crowborough were immediately up and running in the second half, playing with renewed vigour. An early pushover try was scored by influential No 8 Geoff Marshall.

This opened the floodgates and Marshall ran in two more tries, Burgess scored his second and the other winger Andy Walters stretched the lead to 35-0.

Fortunately, the home kicker was having an off day as only one of the first six tries were converted, which saved Old Gs from an even worse scoreline.

Once Old Gs had reshuffled their pack, they seemed a different team.

Jarrett made a couple of telling breaks and was well supported by Coomber, Brett Buckingham and Omar Wahab who all made inroads.

This brought the best out of other players and for five minutes or so Old Gs looked a decent outfit. Fealey made a scything break and almost put Farnell in for a try.

Old Gs maintained the pressure and after a catch and drive from the pack, Richard Oxtoby managed to flip the ball up to the fast approaching Fealey, who took it well and forced his way over for the try.

The visitors kept up the momentum and showed good spirit and fitness to put considerable pressure on the Crowborough lines as the clock ran down.

They did not deserve to concede the final try which was an interception by home fly half Tyler, who ran from his own half to score under the posts.

His own conversion was the last play of the game leaving the final score at 42-5.