TOTTONIANS had to think on their feet – if they could stay on them – after arriving at Dover late to compete on a pitch that quickly turned into a quagmire.

The ground had finally thawed after a long period of being frozen and it took Totts a while to get into their stride – going on to win the London 1 South tussle 24-7 in bitter conditions.

Centre Mike Searle opened the scoring after 13 minutes, evading tackles to touch down from a maul in Dover’s 22.

Robbie Searle then linked up with Richard Buck to make a break and wing Dylan Baptista was on hand to increase his side’s lead.

The home side got onto the scoresheet shortly after but Totts went into the break 12-7 up.

With the pitch deteriorating by the minute it became hard to tell the mud-covered players apart, as they battled to keep their hands on the ball and their feet on the ground.

They cancelled each other’s efforts out until ten minutes from time when Totts’ Liam Murphy almost went over but was held up.

However the ball was recycled along the backs with Tommy Foster coming off his wing to score under the posts to make Robbie Searle’s conversion simple.

Totts searched for the bonus points and came close several times through Ali Ramus, Robbie Searle and Nathan Burns, who was outstanding throughout the match.

But the long journey to Kent was made even more worthwhile when Totts claimed the extra point - Pierre-Alex Clark plucked the ball out of the air and sprinted down the line to touchdown in the fifth minute of time added on.

The victory kept Totts hard on the heels of third-placed Tunbridge Wells.

Havant are second after being pushed all the way at home by Sevenoaks – eventually winning 36-32.

Bottom side Gosport & Fareham failed to build on last week’s first win of the season, losing out 50-5 at CS Rugby 1863.