ADAM Dobson landed a dramatic late penalty as Southend Saxons secured their first win of the season on Saturday.

Dobson’s fine late kick saw Southend see off Sutton & Epsom 32-31 to end a run of eight successive defeats.

And Dobson was full of smiles at the final whistle.

“It was brilliant to be part of a game like that,” said the 23-year-old fly-half.

“It was a massive team effort to get the win and all of the boys put in a huge shift to get us into a position to have a chance of winning the game.

“The result has been coming for a few weeks so it was amazing to finally get it.

“It’s obviously been a tough start to the season but it’s been obvious to see the improvements we have made week after week.

“Everyone is pushing to improve and it’s definitely showing.

“This win will definitely help and we know we can build on it over the next few weeks to start to creep up the table.”

The exciting win saw Southend move off the foot of the London & SE Premier Division table but only after an anxious ending for Dobson.

“To say I was nervous before the kick is an understatement,” said Dobson.

“I think the hardest thing was the silence around the ground but I definitely enjoyed the experience.

“I’d spent some time after training on Thursday with Martin Jones practicing so I’m just glad it paid off.

“I knew the kick was in my range but I had never had a kick under that kind of pressure before but it was something I enjoyed and it was a big relief when it went through the posts.”

Southend led 15-12 at half-time thanks to tries from Chris Vaughan, George Wood and Chris Shields.

Wood touched down again after the break but Sutton replied to lead 31-22 with just 13 minutes of the match remaining.

However, Shields then also bagged his second try of the game before a high tackle resulted in Dobson winning the match for Southend with the final kick of the game.

Second-from-bottom Saxons will now be looking to build on the win at 10th placed Tunbridge Wells this weekend.

Southend Saxons: Barton, Radzevicius, Murphy, Vaughan, O’Brien, Ramsey, Sprangers, Lopez, Bloomberg, Bailey, Maggiolo, Wood, Read, Morrison, Shields Replacements: Archer, Dobson & Forster-Knight