SOUTHEND Saxons dug deep to grind out a crucial 13-6 win at Dings Crusaders in National Two South on Saturday.

The victory moved the Saxons out of the relegation zone and up to 12th in the standings.

And their director of rugby Chris Green felt it was a well deserved win.

“There was only one team who deserved to get the victory and that was us,” said Green.

“I told the lads before the game that you get rewarded for honesty in rugby and we saw that again on Saturday.

“It was much better than our poor performance against Helford in our previous game and it was an important game for us to win.

“We simplified our game plan by kicking long, putting in a good chase and then letting our set piece take over from there.

“It may not have been pretty to watch but it was certainly effective.

“And I think we should’ve won by a few more points in the end which is pleasing for us because Dings have had a couple of good results in the last few weeks.”

Southend opened the scoring against their bottom of the table hosts inside the first minute when a high kick forward from fly-half Brad Burr was fumbled by Dings full-back Mark Woodrow which enabled the on-rushing Mark Billings to latch on to the loose ball and score his third try of the season.

Woodrow partly made amends by kicking an 11th minute penalty but Southend hit back with two penalties of their own from Burr who past 100 points for the season.

Southend led 13-3 at the break but Dings started the second half strongly and had the visitors on the back foot which soon resulted in another penalty from Woodrow.

But, with the pitch cutting up in the testing conditions, neither side then dared to move the ball beyond the scrum-half.

The remainder of the match was therefore played among the forwards but Southend deservedly held on to come out on top.

However, the Saxons face a stern test this weekend as they host table-topping Henley at Warners Bridge.

Southend Saxons: Meads, Billings, Ashton, Vaughan, Driver, Burr, Taylor, Fardell, Ferrier, Bevans-Royston, Chesney, Fombo, Jackson, Hudson, Legge

Replacements: Smith, Strachan, Bailey, Bennett & Pollard