SOUTHEND Saxons’ director of rugby Martin Jones felt Hertford’s red card helped them to win at Warners Bridge on Saturday.

Southend raced into a 17-0 lead after just 16 minutes and seemed set for a third successive London & SE Premier Division victory when Hertford scrum half Michael Sargent was sent off.

But Jones believes the dismissal made Hertford more determined to succeed as they hit back with 36 unanswered points to move to the top of the table.

“I think the red card definitely did Hertford a favour,” said Jones.

“If I’m being honest about the situation it was a yellow card, not a red, and the decision really spurred them on.

“We knew all about their dangerous players before the game - the five, eight and 15 - and they really stepped up to the plate when they were down to 14.

“But from our point of view we need to look at our game management.

“We missed a penalty that would have made it 20-12 and in total we missed five penalties.”

Southend - who went into the game on the back of two successive wins - started brightly on Saturday and opened the scoring with a penalty from Adam Dobson.

The fly-half then converted a try from George Wood and did likewise following a fantastic individual effort from Southend’s top try scorer Norbertas Radzevicius, which put the hosts 17-0 in front.

However, Hertford’s Sargent was then dismissed and the game bizarrely began to turn in his side’s favour.

As a result, the visitors scored two tries in quick succession at the end of the first half to cut Southend’s lead to just five points before they scored three times in the second half to secure a win which put them top of the table.

But Jones was also keen to look at the positives of his side’s performance.

“We had two wins in a row before this and we’ve given a very good Hertford side a real game,” said the Welshman.

“Their coaches were full of praise for the way we played and we have to dust ourselves off and go again now.

“We have some big games coming up against Dorking and then especially against Westcombe Park so we have to brush ourselves down and go again.”

Saturday’s setback kept Southend second from bottom in the league standings, 11 points from safety.

Southend: Barton, Radzevicius, Short, Vaughan, Navarro, Dobson, Sprangers, Lopez, Bloomberg, Briggs, Wood, Maggiolo, Read, Morrison Replacements: Forster-Knight, Archer & McVeigh