By Edward Macklin

Mitcham produced one of their best performances of the season in front of a partisan crowd to beat London Media 26-7 in Surrey Division Three.

Mitcham started the stronger, and early domination of the line-out by locks Sam Bardwell and Steve Bartlett gave Mitcham plenty of possession.

It was not long before Mitcham scored when a blind side move saw full back Paul Jones sprint 40 yards to score, and then convert his own try.

Media tried to hit back but some strong defence kept them on the back foot.

Another blindside move saw Mitcham increase their lead when a two on one overlap saw man of the match number eight Simon Barnard sprint 20 yards to controversially score with Media claiming a forward pass - Jones slotted an excellent conversion.

As half-time approached some sloppy play allowed Media back in the game as they broke through the otherwise sound Mitcham defence to score and convert reducing the deficit to seven points at half time.

Mitcham started the second half in similar fashion pinning Media in their own 22.

However, several penalty infringements allowed Media off the hook and Mitcham wasted chances to add to their lead.

As Mitcham's forward dominance began to grind down Media, a scrum 10 metres from the Media line, saw Mitcham wrap up the game when the lively Ryan Jones collected the ball at the back of the scrum and made a half break but smartly offloaded the ball to Barnard to score under the posts - Jones again converted.

As Media realised it was not going to be their day, Mitcham had a chance of extending their lead firstly with two penalty attempts from Jones that went narrowly wide, and then from a 70-yard break by fly half Liam Dewsbury whose perfectly timed pass to Jones in support was inexplicably deemed forward by the referee.

However, Mitcham did not leave the large crowd disappointed when following a substitution young prop Luke Halford fended off four tackles to score from 20 yards out.

The bonus point earned following Mitcham's four-try haul has lifted them up a place in the table to seventh - they travel to Old Caterhamians this weekend.