BEN Lloyd played a leading role as Southend Saxons returned to winning ways with a 53-22 victory against Harpenden.

The Saxons’ fly-half bagged 20 points as Josh Ward’s side ended a run of three games without a win.

And Lloyd was happy to help Southend get back on track.

“I thought generally it was a good performance from us,” said Lloyd.

“We’d struggled for a bit of continuity the last two weeks and worked hard in training to get things right so it was encouraging to see a lot of that come together out there on Saturday.

“We know that there’s still a lot for us to work on as we go into what we know will be a tough game away at Amersham this weekend, but there’s definitely a lot of positives to take from the way we played last weekend.”

The victory pushed Southend up to fourth in the London One North standings and Lloyd felt it was a crucial win.

“In terms of momentum and self-belief, it was important to get a good win on the board.

“We were well beaten away at Eton Manor, but the two games against Colchester and Sudbury were frustrating and they could easily have gone our way.

“What we can’t forget is that this is a relatively new side in terms of personnel, and we have to keep taking steps forward as a group so that when those tight games come back around in the future we’re better placed to get the result we want.”

Lloyd, Dan Forster-Knight, Chris Vaughan, Joel Armitage, Simon Wasley, Matt Wagstaff and Tom Richards all bagged tries in Southend’s win.

Southend: Nel, Banks, Wasley, Vaughan, Day, Lloyd, Branch, Reeman, Forster-Knight, Armitage, Cooper, O’Kill, Read, Cooper, Wagstaff Replacements: Smith, Morrison & Richards