ON A blustery day on the Kent coast, struggling Basingstoke played their get-out-of-jail card to complete a crucial seasonal win double in London one.

A spirited and courageous performance in the last 10 minutes enabled them to move another place up the table.

Trailing 17-5 with 70 minutes gone and playing into the strong wind, they showed character to score two converted tries, the second of which was in the second minute of injury time, to snatch the points.

Having won the toss, 'Stoke played with the elements in the first half but it took 15 minutes to get into their opponents' 22 for a sustained period.

This was a result of the home team playing keep-ball and 'Stoke not displaying the need to get the ball down the pitch by using the strong wind.

Dispite good breaks by Ollie Rogers, Vincent Feausi and Simon Humberstone, they could not finish off any chances they were creating.

Coupled with poor discipline that gave away nine penalties and yellow cards for Roberto Bussati and then Tom Northcote, 'Stoke were not helping themselves.

Finally, on 35 minutes, they were awarded a free-kick, which they took quickly. The ball was re-cycled, leaving Simon Buckland clear to open the scoring with an unconverted try.

That was the only score of the first half but a 5-0 lead did not seem enough, with the elements about to turn in the home team's favour. The second half started badly for 'Stoke and, after 57 minutes, they found themselves 17-5 down after conceding two converted tries and a penalty.

The first score for the home team came from a blindside move from a scrum and good support play.

The second followed a good handling move after a mistake by a 'Stoke player.

With their backs to the wall, the visitors now had a huge uphill task to get anything from the game.

Slowly, they started to get control of the game and they settled into a pattern that suited the conditions.

They were also helped by the home side having a player yellow-carded and the Thanet pack showing signs of tiring.

'Stoke were now applying pressure in the home 22 and keeping the play in that area.

Hooker Pete Maxwell had a good debut and went close twice before the pressure told.

On 70 minutes, the industrious Simon Appleby was the player awarded with a touchdown from a maul after two five-metre scrums for 'Stoke.

Ian Calder added the tricky conversion to reduce the arrears to 17-12 with 10 minutes left.

'Stoke continued to look the better side but basic errors let them down at crucial times.

Still putting the pressure on the home team, they got their reward in the second minute of injury time when Sebastian Berti crossed and scampered close to the posts to level the scores.

Calder duly adding the difficult extra points for what seemed the winning score.

More drama was to come when, from the restart and after a couple of phases of play, a 'Stoke player ran into touch with the ball, thinking that would be the final whistle.

However, the referee gave the home side a penalty for deliberately running the ball out of play and, from 40 metres out, Thanet elected to go for goal with what was the last kick of the match.

The Thanet kicker made a hash of his kick, however, and Stoke cleared the ball into touch for the final whistle and a another victory.

Afterwards, exhausted player-coach Jim Dixon said: "When we stopped worrying about the ref or the opposition and we played our own game, we were the better side.

"We came here to get two points and that is what we have come away with.

"I said we were embarking on a crucial six games and, after three, we have won two and only lost to the leaders.

"We will now continue to build on this over the next few weeks."

Basingstoke: S Humberstone; S Buckland, V Feausi (rep T Rees), I Calder, O Rogers; S Berti, D Lillywhite; M Rushworth (rep P Perkins), P Maxwell, R Bussati, A Wilson, R Stirling, T Northcote (rep C Hampson), S Appleby, J Dixon.