RICKI Gould’s first start ended in disappointment as Southend Saxons suffered a 25-5 defeat at Guildford on Saturday.

The 19-year-old scrum half was handed his full debut in the National Three London & SE encounter.

But Gould was unable to stop Southend suffering a third defeat in five games.

“I was pleased to get my first start but the game and the result was obviously not what we wanted, so it didn’t really go the way I would have liked,” said the former Seevic College student.

“It was a really bad day at the office to be honest and nothing went our way.

“We need to learn from what went wrong and get over it as quickly as we can to make sure we come back stronger against Colchester on Saturday.

“We do still have a few key players missing, like Brad (Burr) and TA (Tom Ashton), which isn’t helping.

“But we do have a lot of good players here, so we’re more than capable of turning things around.”

Saturday’s defeat also saw Southend slip down to 11th in the standings, just two points and one place above local rivals Westcliff, who remain in the relegation zone.

But Gould, who was on loan at Rochford Hundred last season, now hopes to be able to play a prominent part in helping Saxons work their way back up the standings.

“I want to try and cement my place as a starting player this season and contribute to the team,” said Gould.

“We want to finish as high as possible this year too.”

However Southend, who were relegated from National Two South last season, were well below their best at the weekend.

Poor discipline also cost them dearly as both Sam Fombo and Dylan Day-White were sent to the sin bin.

During Fombo’s absence from the pitch, Guildford scored a try to build on an earlier penalty which put them 10-0 in front at half-time.

The home-side scored again at the start of the second period before a further try put them 25-0 in front.

Southend - who included returning fly-half Jymel Coleman in their starting line-up - eventually got off the mark when Jaid Wiltshire scored his first try for the club since signing in the summer.

However by then the damage had already been done as Southend’s disappointing start to the season continued.

As a result, Saxons will now be looking to get back to winning ways when they host second-from-bottom Colchester in an important clash at Warners Bridge this weekend.

Southend Saxons: Andrews, Wiltshire, Ngaluafe, Vaughan, Cleare, Coleman, Gould, Bailey, Bloomberg, Reid, Leavasa, Court-Rhind, Fombo, Morrison, Legge.

Replacements: Day-White, O’Brien & Murphy.