Maidstone opened their London 1 South season with a disappointing home defeat against promoted Old Elthamians last Saturday.

The opening score came at the end of the first quarter when Elthamians broke from deep in their own half. While Maidstone managed to get back to stop this initial thrust, the visitors recycled the ball for centre Prince Moyo to score wide out.

Elthamians increased their lead 10 minutes later when full- back Boske eased through the Maidstone defence from the halfway line to score near the posts, with Parkinson adding the points.

A penalty by Whitehead after 35 minutes got the home side on the board, only for Boske to score again just before
half-time.

Maidstone started the second half with increased determination and cut the deficit by three points with another Whitehead penalty but they conceded a soft try soon after when scrum-half Hosken went over in the corner to lengthen Elthamians’ lead.

A period when Maidstone applied consistent pressure on the opposition was rewarded when fly-half Dance got the touchdown after good work by Houlihan. With Whitehead adding the conversion, the deficit was reduced to nine points and thoughts of a recovery began to emerge.

Unfortunately for the hosts, they were shortlived as, from the restart, Elthamians forced a turnover and broke quickly to set-up prop O’Leary to score in the corner.

The final score of the half saw Elthamians’ fly-half Parkinson score near the posts but break his arm as he was tackled, resulting in a 20-minute delay while he received attention.

At the restart, Maidstone built a period of consistent pressure on the Elthamians line but they never looked likely to cause the visitors any more than minor problems.