He explained: "New Ash Green were up for it, they were physical and they probably earmarked this as a match they could win, but we were the better team, we were fitter and we had a better game plan.

"We played well and had the referee not been so lenient i think we would have won by a bigger margin.

"He gave 12 penalties against us - which was too high for my liking - and 18 against them but the only had one player sin-binned.

"To their credit they came back at us late on with seven minutes to go we were only seven in front, but Ben Cliff went over for a try and that was them done.

"I was please with that because the boys stuck to the task, We've been better in the last three games playing rugby in the right positions.

"We've been sticking to our patterns and it's nice ti see then getting reward."

Luke Pepper went over for the game's opening try inside 5 minutes, and the Blues led 12-5 at half-time after a second try by Luke Bowers had been converted by Andrew Huey.

Graves added the third try four minutes into the second period with James Garland crossing the line for try number four just after the hour.

New Ash Green cut the deficit to 22-15 deep into the final quarter before skipper Cliff found a nice line to go over after a catch and drive.

Veteran Steve Mullins dictated play well from fly-half in the absence of Marck Olive while Jay Ellis, stepping in for Jake Povall at tighthead prop also enjoyed an excellent game helping the pack provide a good platform for the three-quarters.

Ahead of the match Graves challenged his player to win five of their last 10 fixtures and he believes that will be enough to ensure they comfortably finish outside the bottom two.

The table is likely to be amended following the withdrawal of RBS.

Whitstable are away to forth placed Southwark Lancers on Saturday the 12th of January.

Match report credit to KM group