Horsham want to double their tally of wins to ensure they beat the drop.

The Coolhurst club made it four wins from their first 13 games in London Four South East as they beat visitors Sittingbourne 17-13.

That leaves them well clear of bottomplaced East Grinstead, who lost 11-0 at Eastbourne, and breathing down the necks of Charlton Park.

In theory, three teams should go down but promotion and relegation issues can change at short notice and Rob Plinston reckons it is is important to get as far away from the bottom as possible. The Horsham captain said: "The leagues get re-structured more often than Michael Jackson's face so we will have to wait and see what happens with relegation. But we want to make amends for our poor start to the season.

"Finishing above Eastbourne has to be our goal. We've got at least four games we are looking to take points from, including Eastbourne."

Otto Carlisle, Seth Wise and Michael Thair scored Horsham's tries.

Hove's shock at a 36-7 home defeat by Bromley was eased when they heard results around them could not have gone much better.

Leaders Elthamians lost to Betteshanger, who in turn have had two points deducted.

Hove go to Elthamians next week and will will look to improve on a shocking second half which saw them concede four tries have been just 10-7 down at the break.

Adam Phillips managed a converted try for a weakened Hove team.

Having played well and lost to Lewes in the Sussex Trophy, Eastbourne need not be too bothered that they were below par in the 11-0 home win over East Grinstead.

Matt Pysden took a quick penalty for his fifth try of the season and Nathan Ring kicked two penalties.

Haywards Heath have been told to finish the season in style after they suffered a third successive defeat.

Heath went down 26-13 at Barnes in London One, a fine late try by Dan Morath not offering much consolation.

Coach Ian Davies was away watching the second team win at Hove in the Sussex Bowl as he assesses his options for a busy run-in.

Heath are still chasing as high a finish as possible, starting at home to Staines on Saturday.

They then face a busy weekend, playing Richmond on February 25 and tackling a Sussex Trophy tie at Worthing the following afternoon.

Davies said: "The Staines game now becomes the biggest of this season because we need to snap out of this mental lull.

"Staines is the first match in a tough set of five and the focus needs to be positive and looking forward and stop dwelling on negatives".

Owen Ashton kicked two penalties for Heath, who showed signs of getting back into the game at times.

Worthing need to find motivation for the remaining weeks after a shock 21-17 defeat at struggling Old Albanians.

The hosts reckoned they needed to win to have a chance of staying up and they fed off Worthing errors to get the result they wanted.

Worthing skipper Jody Levett admitted: "It was an apathetic performance. Both of their tries came direct from our mistakes."

Terry Butler, Duncan Taylor and Nathan Tule scored tries for Worthing.

Lewes led 20-15 and had chances to extend that before they lost 34-20 to a Portsmouth side who have taken over leadership of London Two South after Guildford lost at Thanet.

Chichester had their biggest win of the season, crushing Lordswood 55-12 in London Three South East with some breathtaking rugby.

Clever interplay between forwards and backs led to tries by Bobby Lawrence (two), Richard Isaac (2), Lee Evans, Adam McCormack, Alex Knight-Barnard and Paul Todd. Andy Webb kicked six conversions and a penalty.

Bognor started moving the ball wide in the second half and reaped the benefits in a 23-6 home win over Old Dunstonians.

Tim Strickland (2) and Billy Toon scored tries as the backs impressed for Bognor, who were only 6-3 up after a more dour first half.

Rob Parry kicked two penalties and a conversion.

Brighton went down 30-0 at Purley John Fisher, a result which cost the winners top spot on points difference.