SOUTHEND Saxons suffered a narrow 15-14 defeat against relegation rivals Towcestrians at Warners Bridge on Saturday.

Towcestrians remain the only club below Southend in the London & SE Premier Division standings.

And Saxons’ head coach Josh Ward was left incredibly disappointed by the setback.

“It was unacceptable, we didn’t execute and more importantly we did nothing we had planned to do during the week,” said Ward.

“We got caught up playing the occasion as opposed to a game of a rugby.

“I love our lads, we are building for the future and there’s a lot of young, exciting players learning on the job out there under the watchful eye of some first class supportive senior players both on and off the pitch.

“But there is no magic wand. We are striving to implement a sustainable model to do things properly and, it may sound odd, but the tough times we are experiencing as a group this season will put us in good stead for the future.”

George Wood and Seth Robinson both scored for Southend, but Saxons are now 17 points behind Sutton & Epsom, who sit just above the relegation zone, with six games of the season to go.

Southend’s next match is at Sutton a week on Saturday.

Southend: Ramsey, Radzevicius, Griffiths, Vaughan, O’Brien, Navas, Lewis, Reeman, Robinson, Campbell-Webster, Wood, Maggiolo, Read, Morrison, Wagstaff Replacements: Forster-Knight, Archer & Dobson