A stuttering ‘Stoke forced through their fifth win in a row against a hugely determined Dover on Saturday.
James Croker’s men dug deep at Down Grange to to top their Hampshire rivals 21-14.
Winger Gareth Kelly broke the deadlock in the 75th minute to score the winning try.
Coach James Croker said: “That was what you call an ugly win but more importantly it was a win which keeps our momentum going.
“To be fair Dover put us under pressure at times and credit to the way they played.
“We were never allowed to settle into our stride and as a result we never got our patterns of play working.”
The win keeps Basingstoke fourth in the London One South league trailing Old Elthamians by two points, and second placed Guernsey by three.
On Saturday fly half Andrew Humberstone opened the scoring with a penalty after 10 minutes.
The lead was extended 10 minutes later with a diving try by Lloyd Staszniewicz following a surging drive by the forwards.
Dover hit back after Humberstone was binned for 10 minutes for tackling a player in the air.
The man advantage meant the forwards overpowered the ‘Stoke defence for a try under the posts, narrowing the score to 8-7.
In the second half, two Humberstone penalties bumped the scoreline to 14-7 with 20 minutes remaining.
On 65 minutes a Dover counter attack ended with a converted try and the scores were level at 14 -14.
With five minutes left to play ‘Stoke managed to break through a solid Dover defence to score the decisive try.
The forwards pushed through to the Dover 22 and the ball was offloaded to Kelly on the wing who embarked on a jinking run to score in the corner for a converted try and the win.
Next week ’Stoke face a crunch match against top of the league Chicester away.
