Canterbury’s 21-game winning run came to an end at the hands of a competitve and motivated Ampthill side on Saturday afternoon.

Despite the 24-33 reverse Canterbury are 14 points clear at the top of the National League 3 London & South East table.

For the visitors this result was crucial to their promotion play-off chances and it showed in the intensity they brought to the battle.

It still leaves Canterbury a healthy fourteen points clear of their nearest pursuers and favourites to lift the league title, but pride will have been hurt in the failure to extend a remarkable winning run.

Two tries in the last ten minutes, one of them a gift, gave Ampthill the verdict in a match which, up that point, might have gone either way.

But on a day of hard, satisfying rugby it was Ampthill who, the line out area apart, held the edge at crucial times and seized the opportunities that came their way.

Canterbury, after resisting initial pressure, made the running to establish an eleven-point lead, all of them scored by Martyn Beaumont. The full back kicked a third minute penalty goal and then danced past the defence after excellent grafting by the pack had set up position.

A second try seemed imminent when Paul Brown’s clean break had the Ampthill defence scrambling but Canterbury had to settle for another Beaumont penalty.

Chris Anderson lacked the same accuracy for the visitors and two failed shots at goal kept their cupboard bare until just after the half hour.

But a heavy penalty count was costing the city side precious territory and what should have been a routine clearance undid them. The kick was charged down by flanker Terry Cooper and his Charlie Hodgson moment ended in a try which allowed Anderson to find his range with the conversion.

Beaumont prevented a second score with a solid tackle on wing Kyle Palm but Canterbury’s four-point lead evaporated two minutes after the interval. Yet another penalty, conceded at the restart, saw Anderson’s shot at goal bounce off the cross bar and allow the visitors to work full back Dan Lavery over in the right corner.

There was a swift response from the boot of the reliable Beaumont when Ampthill were caught offside but Anderson ramped up the pressure again, this time with a scything cross field run.  It allowed his hard driving forwards to create a close range try for Karl Braband, which Anderson converted.

As the game moved towards the last quarter Canterbury, although prone to mistakes against a tight defence, inched their way back. Beaumont was stopped just short of the line but minutes later his fourth penalty goal sliced Ampthill’s lead to just two points.

With Canterbury winning territory there was every prospect of a thrilling finale, only for the visitors to be given a helping and fatal hand.

A speculative pass from replacement Will Hilton was easily picked off by centre Jonathan Raven who raced 50 metres to the posts. Anderson was left a simple conversion and the city club left chasing the game.

As they did so, a deadly counter punch ended in a second converted try for Raven and killed any faint chance of a revival.

Even a late score by Sam Rogers from a driving maul, converted by Beaumont, could not bring Canterbury the consolation of a losing bonus point which, on a day of narrow margins, they might have felt they earned.

Canterbury: M.Beaumont, R.Mackintosh, J.Del Val, P.Brown, N.Van Mol (repl W.Hilton), T.Best, D.Marshall, J.Green (repl S.Goode), T.Rogers, M.Pinnick, B.Massey, M.Lister (repl S.Rogers), C.Hinkins, M.Cantwell, W.Baars.