Gosport lifted by positive display against Brighton

The defeat leaves the Blue and Golds in the bottom three but they look set to get a London one south reprieve.

The RFU confirmed fourth-placed Medway will still be relegated, even though their punishment for administrative irregularities was reduced.

‘All we need to do to stay up is maintain our current position,’ said Gosport head coach Neil McRoberts.

‘We are nine points ahead of Charlton Park with only two games left to play.

‘Apart from the fact we came away empty handed against Brighton there was a massive improvement in our performance levels.

‘Brighton impressed me and we matched them for up to 75 minutes.

‘It was important for us to do that after the disappointing way we lost at Twickenham.

‘The players got a bit more belief back and the mood was buoyant at the end, a total contrast to recent weeks.’

The home side fell conceded the first try but then hit back to lead 8-5 at the break through a try by wing forward Anthony Reynolds and a Sam Foster penalty.

The visitors got two converted tries in the second half.

But Levi Hui Hui and captain Mark Pollard crossed to score tries for Gosport.

‘It was a performance we needed going into the big local derby at Havant,’ said McRoberts.

‘Even though we know Medway are being relegated I still feel we are capable of getting the points needed to get us out of the bottom three.’