SOUTHEND Saxons moved up to third in the London One North standings after a 45-21 win against Shelford at Warners Bridge.

The victory was Southend’s third in succession.

But prop forward Collen Smith still remains hungry for the Saxons to improve.

“It was a game of two halves really,” said Smith, who was among Southend’s try scorers.

“In the first half our execution was good and we played to our strengths.

“But in the second half we lost concentration and we let them in a few times.

“We briefly spoke about the second half and we know that it was not good enough so we are eager to fix it this week.

“But none the less we did a good enough job, after all we still put 40 odd points on them.”

Southend took the lead with a penalty from Ben Lloyd at the weekend before tries from Chris Vaughan, Dan Forster-Knight, Smith and Tom Day made it 23-0 at the break.

Shelford stepped things up after the break and soon scored a converted try before the hosts hit back with two tries in quick succession, with Lloyd and Tom Richards both touching down.

The visitors continued to fight with two more tries of their own before Southend sealed their win when their powerful number eight Matt Wagstaff charged through to score.

And Smith was thrilled to bag another victory.

“It was pleasing to make it three wins in a row especially after a weekend off,” said Smith.

“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform week in and week out so have three wins in a row is hopefully only the start.

“We are very far from the finished article and we will always have things to work on and be better at the following weekend.

“This coming weekend is no exception and it is of utmost importance for us as a squad to prepare well these next few weeks before Christmas and have good results if we have any hope of achieving our goals.”

Southend, whose director of rugby Josh Ward signed a new two year deal on the eve of the game, will be confident of securing another victory on Saturday when they host bottom of the table Ruislip.

Southend: Ramsey, Richards, Banks, Vaughan, Day, Lloyd, Branch, Smith, Reeman, Armitage, O’Kill, Cooper, Forster-Knight, Morrison, Wagstaff. Replacements: Law, Cooper & Wasley