Brighton need just two more wins to clinch the London Three South East title.

They opened up a five- point lead at the top after beating East Grinstead, while Crawley moved into second place following their excellent home win over Cranbook. But Crawley and Worthing still trail Brighton by five points although they both have a game in hand.

Brighton ran out 26-12 winners and scored four tries, but coach Ian Watkins admitted the contest lacked the passion of previous meetings between these old rivals. He said: "The game seemed to go from one set piece to another, there wasn't a lot of fire and brimstone. We were on the verge of cutting loose, but the result is the most important thing at this stage of the season."

Matt Gibb twice went over, Micky Poole scored his 12th try of the season and Geraint Jones got the other score and also added two penalties and a conversion. Brighton have a trip to Heathfield and home games against Dartfordians and Medway to finish and Watkins says he will be "extremely disappointed" if his side can't get the two wins they need from those matches.

Justin Looney's four penalties left him two points short of 150 for the season for Gs who hope to have some of their injured players back for this weekend's Sussex Cup tie at Hove. Crawley's excellent run continued at Willoughby Fields where three tries were enough to secure a victory over Cranbrook that puts the club in their highest-ever league position.

Wing Guy Young went over in the first half and Steve Holmes and Steve O'Reilly scored after the break, with O'Reilly converting his own try to move onto 150 points in league games this season.

Brighton's cause is further improved because Crawley still have to play Worthing, another of the teams who could overhaul them. Worthing kept their challenge alive with a 20-10 win at Eastbourne whose third successive league defeat has left them struggling to retain their place in the division after restructuring next season.

Eastbourne were always going to struggle to impose their running game in wet and windy conditions. In contrast Worthing did the basics well and won the forward battle although a penalty count of 20-7 in the hosts' favour certainly left several Worthing players nonplussed.

Tries came from Andy Ashwin, who has scored 72 league points this season, Sean Bennett, Steve Imrie and No.8 Jamie Newhouse. That gave Worthing a 20-0 lead and two tries in the last ten minutes from Robbie Simmons were just consolations for the home side.

Emphatic wins kept Chichester and Heathfield in the top half of the table.

Chichester won 34-22 at Park House to stay sixth, a point ahead of Heathfield who defeated next-to-bottom Park House 49-3. Fullback Paul Jarvis scored a hat-trick for Heathfield with Mark de St Croix crossing twice in the last ten minutes.

David Laurence, Lee Hales and Jamie Marchant also went over, but the biggest Heathfield cheer came when 6ft 7in lock Ian Ure skipped through several tackles in a bulldozing burst from halfway to score. Jarvis added two conversions.

Hove's prospects of avoiding relegation improved after a hard-earned 22-14 home win over Beccehamian.

Flanker James Finlayson darted through a gap from close range to score a superb try and Daryl Elliott and Dominic Henderson also crossed with Phil Ward adding two conversions and a penalty.

Horsham's relegation was all but sealed after they slumped to their 12th defeat of the season, 26-30 against Folkestone at Coolhurst.

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