The win put Horsham back on top of the table after rivals Folkestone suffered a surprise defeat, and the two sides meet on Saturday which will determine whether the Green and Whites are the real deal this season or just pretenders to the throne.

A delighted coach Nick Stocker said: “We needed to maintain the pressure on the teams at the top. Our first target today was to win, and then to get the bonus point, and then to score as many points as possible because it is tight at the top end of the table and it might come down to points difference.

I am happy that we achieved our objectives, and particularly that we stopped them crossing our line. To be fair to Sheppey they have a good set of forwards who gave us more trouble than most sides we have played this season.

From our point of view it was a far more balanced team performance from the forwards and backs, we controlled most phases of the game and our cohesion was better than we have seen in recent weeks.

If there is one criticism, we gave away too many possible penalties for offside and although our line speed is good, we need to play to the referee.”

The game started inauspiciously when Will Bell had a clearance kick charged down and the covering Johnny Goward won the foot race to prevent an early Sheppey score.

Rob Grantham-Hill continued his run of try scoring after 5 minutes in close support to cross the line after Horsham’s first serious attack, but then Sheppey pegged the Green and Whites back with a penalty as the home side were caught offside.

The game was rather disjointed and affected by the howling gale until on 19 minutes Lee Taylor outflanked the Sheppey defence which was sucked in to run in from the half way line.

Three minutes later, a quick pass from Ben Rush followed by a break from Will Bell sliced open the Sheppey defence and goods hands from the outside backs lead to Matt Goodsir crossing the line to score, which Bell converted from the touchline.

Jonny Ordidge then made a break which lead to a penalty in front of the posts which Will Bell slotted, which was followed by the try of the match when Lee Taylor straightened the line to pierce the defence and then great inter passing, both inside and outside, lead to the supporting Nick Bell score a try as Sheppey ran out of defenders.

Nick Bell was then yellow carded for a late tackle, and it required Taylor to prevent a certain try as he got his body underneath the ball to prevent it being grounded in the act of making the tackle after Sheppey had gone through several phases on the stroke of half time as Horsham turned around 27-3 up.

In the second half Horsham carried on where they had left off as Will Bell made another break for prop Giles Barber to storm in under the posts, and then not to be outdone, fellow prop Adam Day showed a burst of speed as he ran in from 25 yards following a line out move.

As Sheppey’s heads started to drop Will Johnson ran in to score on his return from injury after good hands in the three quarters and then Taylor scored a solo try to outpace the defence from inside his own half.

Stocker went on to say “If I was to single out a few players I thought Will Bell dictated the game, Johnny Whiting carried well, Jonny Ordidge showed natural handling ability, Ben Rush stood out on his debut for his passing and finally Lee Taylor who is my man of the match for his lines of running, communication and tries.

There is such competition for places with players coming back from injury that it has given us a real selection headache.

It was a great day for the whole club with three league wins, and victories against the two touring sides.”

Horsham’s next game is in the league away to Folkestone on Saturday November 9.

Horsham: Day (capt), Grantham-Hill, Barber (Talbot 60); Goward, Whiting; Pirt (Smith 60), N Bell, Ordidge; Rush, W Bell; Rice, Brown, Taylor, Phillip; Goodsir (Johnson 60)