Havant '˜not spectacular but got job done' at Maidstone

The bonus-point win keeps Havant in third place just seven points behind CS Rugby 1863 in the play-off spot.

Head coach Will Knight was pleased with the professional approach from his team.

He said: ‘It is a good win and an excellent five points on the road.

‘Maidstone is never an easy place to go and get a result.

‘They possess a tough pack of forwards and as expected they made us work for it.

‘Our performance was workmanlike rather than spectacular, though we still scored five good tries.

‘It was important we made sure we built on our excellent win against Chichester.

‘We were also mindful we had slipped up in our last away game against Brighton.

‘There was a spell when we went into our shell and let Maidstone back into it.

‘However, we came through that to finish it off well.’

Havant started well and opened the scoring through a Joel Knight penalty.

Continued pressure by the visitors resulted in the first try.

The forwards battered into the home pack and when the ball was recycled quickly Joel Knight put Luke Warrington over in the corner with a long cut-out pass on 10 minutes.

Havant stretched into a 13-0 lead when Scott Morris added a second try soon afterwards.

Though the home side responded with a converted try, Mitch Goldring powered over on the stroke of half-time giving the visitors an 18-7 lead at the break.

Havant maintained their initiative at the start of the second half with a try by hooker Jerome Trail.

Morris made the initial break and linked up well with Rob Cuffe who put Trail in with a lovely pass.

When Havant relaxed Maidstone cut the deficit with a converted try.

Trail, however, sealed the win with his second try of the game, battering his way through tacklers to get over the line.

‘The players recognised the need to get the job done,’ added Will Knight.

‘We have got some big games coming up against the other top teams.

‘They will mean nothing if we don’t keep winning the other games.

‘It is a long season and it is all about maintaining a level of consistency.

‘We are just looking at ticking the games off one by one and moving onto the next one.

‘If we lose then it makes it more difficult and we cannot afford to do that.

‘There are a lot of improving teams in our league so none of the games will be straight forward.

‘We have to remain very wary of that. Our mindset must be like playing a cup final every week.’