Sutton & Epsom head coach Jeff Parsons knows his rivals are out to shoot them down after they made it five wins out of five in London Division Two South West.

Following a 37-33 win over their nearest rivals Tottonians on Saturday, Sutton are sitting pretty at the top of the table with a five-point cushion.

Sutton’s only defeat this season came in the London and SE Intermediate Cup at Warlingham, and Parsons is relieved their one slip-up so far was not in the league.

And he is determined his side’s title challenge will not stallthis weekend when they host bottom club KCS Old Boys.

Parsons said: “The weaker teams in the league have nothing to lose, so when they play us, they come out fighting for everything.

“The teams that are just below us are going to target us as the team they need to knock off the top. Once you’re up there everyone is after you, everyone wants to be the one to make the upset.”

He added: “Winning is a habit, we want to win every week, but the league is a tough league.

“The two teams that got promoted last year, both lost just one game each.

“We went to Warlingham to win and to lose served as a wake-up call. You cannot afford to slip up at all and I guess luckily for us, it was a cup game and not in the league.”

Against Tottonians, Andy Nichols, back from injury, opened the scoring with two tries, followed by scores from Shawn Renwick (two), Mike Cartledge and Jak Martin, while Steve Warnham added seven points with the boot.

Parsons said: “Tottonians play in a very similar way to Warlingham, so we knew what to expect.

“They are a little one-dimensional and played very aggressively with route one rugby.

“It asked a lot of our defence,  but they showed a lot of character.”

He added: “The Totts will think the match could have gone either way.

“They dictated the game in terms of territory and possession, and we had to fight and grind it out to win.

“We’ve got to play at their place yet and one or two losses could see us off the top of the table.

“It is all about keeping the players switched on. Not letting them get complacent.”