SONNY Gay cannot wait to continue his comeback when Southend Saxons host Launceston in a crucial National Two South clash tomorrow.

The 24-year-old made his first appearance in 14 months last weekend as a first half replacement in the Saxons’ 33-11 defeat at Worthing.

And Gay, who had been sidelined by a number of shoulder injuries, is now keen to step things up to help Southend secure a crucial victory in their fight against relegation.

“It’s great to be back playing again,” said the Thurrock based centre.

“I was really nervous about if I’m honest because I had been out for long.

“I last played in November 2013 and that was just the one game. I’ve only played a handful of games since 2012 as I kept on dislocating my shoulder.

“As a result, I had to have two operations and hopefully now it won’t happen again.

“I’m looking forward to Saturday now and I think it’s a must win game for us.

“We’re on the same number of wins as Launceston and with our team nearly at full strength again I think we should be looking to take the five points.”

Southend head in to the game sitting 13th in the table, just one place and three points above the drop zone after losing their last two games.

But Gay is confident Saxons can avoid relegation and he is keen to help that happen to thank the club for standing by him.

“We’re all certain we can stay up, we just need to keep switched on until the end of the season,” said Gay.

“We’ve had some big wins this year but we just need to make to turn up on the away games.

“This weekend we’re at home and I’m really keen to do well. The club have looked after me for a long time now while I’ve been out and I’m very thankful for that.

“I obviously need to work on my fitness after so long out but that will come and hopefully I can help the team with some good performances between now and the end of the season.

“I’ve also done a lot of rehab work with the club’s strength and conditioning coach Mark Williams which I haven’t had before so that’s helped a lot to get me back.

“And that’s definitely going to stand me in good stead too, hopefully starting with the game against Launceston.”

Southend will be without the suspended Kris Chesney but Daniel Legge is available again and will captain the team on his return to the starting line-up.

Danny Cleare, who has played at full-back and on the wing this season, is also back in the squad.