Amersham & Chiltern clung onto their National League 3 status for at least one more week after they picked up a vital 25-19 victory against Gravesend on Saturday.

Defeat would have seen Richie Williams’ side relegated but they now head into their final match of the season versus Hertford on Saturday knowing they must win and then hope that other results go their way.

Second bottom Chiltern are two points adrift of Tring and Westcliff, the two teams above them, with the bottom three being relegated.

For the club to stay up they will need to win successive games for only the second time this season, having previously done so back in September.

The fact that Chiltern even have a chance to avoid the drop owes much to a gutsy performance away at Gravesend in which they conjured up three tries to take the spoils.

They went ahead when scrum-half Morgan Thompson slotted a penalty with six minutes played before the hosts, who had won their previous two, hit back.

Two tries, one of which was converted, put Gravesend 12-3 in front before they became architects of their own downfall.

The home side were penalised for pulling down a promising maul, leading to the award of a penalty try which was duly converted from in front of the posts by Thompson.

A second try for the visitors followed soon after and had the scrum-half been on target with his second conversion attempt Chiltern would have had more than a 15-12 lead at the interval.

The boot of Thompson garnered another three points before he converted Callum Reid-Jones’ try to put them firmly in control at 25-12.

Chiltern’s defensive qualities then came to the fore as they repelled Gravesend’s attempts to get back in to the game, up until the last minute when a converted try earned the hosts a losing bonus point.