The Blues raced into a 33-0 lead inside 25 minutes although they were disappointed not to be able to maintain the momentum for longer against their Surrey 3 rivals.

Skipper Ben Cliff described the first-round tie as a game of two halves.

He added: "We played really well in the first half and really poorly in the second. To be fair to Croydon they came more in the second half but we went a bit wayward. We showed a bit of ill-discipline and gave away far too many penalties."

Whitstable were without a host of regulars including Rob Hudson, Andrew Huey, Luke Bowers and Tony Cairney but that meant opportunities for others, with winger Bobby Powell and forward Ryan Crane both making their first starts of the season.

Steve Mullins came up from the seconds and he was partnered at centre by recent acquisition Jamie Piggins, who made a favourable impression by scoring two tries.

Marck Olive added two more with Crane, playing out of position at No.6 and Andy Till also crossing the line.

Two penalties and a conversion completed the scoring although Cliff says there was still a feeling Whitstable could have played better.

The captain added: "I,ve never seen so many people so unhappy after winning by 24 points."

The Croydon victory stretched Whitstable's winning sequence. including pre-season to five, although skipper Cliff says that doesn't mean they will be taking anything for granted when they resume their Shepherd Neame kent 2 campaign at Faversham on Saturday.

He said: "Faversham always seem to find something extra when they play us and we've had a number of close games with them."

Match report credit to KM group