LICHFIELD picked up an 18th win of the season after overcoming a potential banana skin tie at Paviors.
They navigated the test to secure a six try bonus point victory for good measure to keep second placed Dronfield at arm’s length.
The visitors bossed the first half and went ahead after ten minutes when Paul Maxwell-Keys opened the scoring – and the lead was extended to eight by a Kai Lucas-Dumolo penalty soon after.
Lichfield were penalised at the resulting kick off and the home side scored in their first visit to the red zone after back row Tom Gladwin dropped over the line.
But the visitors hit back with tries from Rhys Davies, Maxwell-Keys and Lucas-Dumolo, who also added four conversions.
The second period was a different story as Paviors enjoyed better territorial positions, but they could not recycle the possession quickly enough to really stretch the Lichfield defence and the score remained unchanged for more than 20 minutes until Chris Eggleshaw managed to dive over and George Billam converted to make it 29-12.
The score produced a reaction from the city side who spent much of the remainder of the game camped in the Paviors half. Sam Craddock raced over for a rare try and then Kieran Higgins went over under the posts at the death to wrap up the result.
Lichfield will be looking to keep their title ambitions in their own hands when they return to action with a home tie against Tamworth on 22nd March – with nearest rivals Dronfield heading to West Bridgford on the same day.