HARRY Hudson helped Southend Saxons brush aside Barnes and the difficult wet conditions at Warners Bridge on Saturday.

Hudson clinched Saxons’ convincing 23-6 victory with a late try.

And the second row was delighted by Southend’s triumph which moved them back up to eighth in the National Two South table.

“It was pretty windy and the ball was like a haddock, it was that slippery,” said Hudson.

“We struggled to get much territory and couldn’t really mount an attack.

“Barnes never looked like scoring so it was just a case of when would we.

“Then we got ourselves some meat pies (tries) and won the game.”

Hudson has now scored four tries this season as he bids to become the club’s top try scorer for the second year in succession.

“The weather’s starting to suit me more now,” said Hudson. “People’s maximum speeds are coming down to mine, so I might be able to grab some pies before Christmas and get back near the top.

“But we need to kick on now and we are targeting this month and up until Christmas to win as many as possible to get up the league.”

Despite the final scoreline, Barnes went in front on Saturday with a penalty from Tom O’Toole before Southend replied with a try from prop forward Aston Bevans-Royston which was converted by Brad Burr.

O’Toole hit back with another penalty before Hudson was yellow carded for a technical offence eight minutes before the break.

However, Barnes were able to take advantage before Southend stepped things up in the second half, when back to 15 men, with flanker Sam Fombo scoring a try to make it 12-6.

The visitors’ woes continued when Gareth Barnes was yellow carded and Burr kicked the resulting penalty to extend the lead to nine points.

Burr soon added another penalty before Hudson completed the scoring with a try four minutes from time.

However, the victory came at a cost for Southend with influential centre Sonny Gay suffering a broken wrist.

Southend: Meads, Billings, Gay, Vaughan, Cleare, Burr, Daly, Bailey, Grier, Bevans-Royston, Legge, Barker, Fombo, Hudson, Twight

Replacements: Strachan, Day-White, Smith, Ashton & Hoadley