TOM Ashton bagged a last gasp try to secure Southend Saxons a shock 18-17 win against National Two South leaders Henley at Warners Bridge on Saturday.

Ashton touched down after collecting a fine kick forward from fly half Brad Burr.

And he was thrilled to have helped Southend come out on top.

“It was a fantastic game to play in and every man put in a good, honest shift,” said Ashton, 31.

“Everyone put in an honest shift, doing exactly what was asked of them and the crowd were right behind us too.

“It was obviously memorable to score the try but a lot of credit must go to the forwards.

“They worked so hard all game and had them under so much pressure that they gave away a lot of penalties in the last five minutes.

“We were awarded the advantage because of that so we rolled the dice with a pin point kick from Bradley that I managed to get on the end of and ground.”

Ashton’s effort was his third try of the season and secured a second successive victory for Southend who had won at Dings Crusaders the week before.

They are now 12th in the table and Ashton insisted the triumph had been a huge boost to the team.

“It is a massive confidence boost but we need to back up that more good performance now,” said Ashton.

“We have failed to do after good performances against Worthing, Taunton and Launceston and we don’t want that to happen again.”

Southend went in front after just three minutes when top try scorer Harry Hudson was driven over by a determined pack.

A penalty from Burr soon made it 8-0 before a try from hooker Adam Ferrier then extended that advantage even further and put Southend 13-0 ahead at the break.

However, Henley hit back at the start of the second half with number eight Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas touching down and James Comben added the conversion.

Comben then added a penalty to cut Southend’s lead to 13-10 and, just six minutes from time, the visitors went in front for the first team when second row Jake O’Leary drove over and Comben again kicked the conversion.

But Saxons were able to hit back with a sustained spell of pressure which led to Henley’s Hirsky-Douglas being yellow carded.

After that, Southend opted for scrum after scrum and, five minutes in to stoppage time, a delicate chip over the top from Burr picked out Ashton in the corner who touched down to secure a stunning Saxons win.

Southend Saxons: Billings, Driver, Ashton, Vaughan, Bennett, Burr, Taylor, Fardell, Ferrier, Bevans-Royston, Chesney, Jackson, Fombo, Hudson, Legge

Replacements: Smith, Strachan, Bailey, Shields & Pollard