SOUTHEND Saxons head to Dagenham tomorrow sitting top of Regional Two Anglia table.

But their director of rugby Josh Ward is refusing to get carried away.

Southend sit top of the standings after securing four victories in succession.

Yet Ward is only thinking of his side’s next match.

“I’m a sports fan like you and I hate the whole one game at a time saying,” said Ward.

“But when you’re in it it’s truly what it is.

“We look at a fixture card and for us there’s a lot of talk about November.

“There are three teams there who are strong teams around us in Eton Manor, Harlow and Brentwood who we play.

“But the bottom line is if we get the next two wrong they don’t mean as much.

“I’ve had a meeting with the senior players and it’s about this weekend right.

“If we do that then we can enjoy it and shift it on to the next game.

“It’s one week at a time.”

Southend are currently a point clear of their promotion rivals and Ward feels his side are reaping the rewards of having prepared properly.

“We had a really good pre-season and three tough tests where we managed to look at a lot of good players,” said Ward.

“We recruited well too and we’re really pleased with what our squad looks like now.

“That’s evident with how well the Saxons have been going but also the priors who are unbeaten and top of their pile so it’s been a positive start.”

However, the Saxons did have to bounce back from an opening day defeat to Woodford.

“We obviously lost to the last play on the opening day but we gave them a 19-0 head-start and learnt pretty quickly you get nothing for free in this league,” said Ward.

“From there we’ve been playing pretty well.

“Some of the scores we’ve putting up, some of the attacking play and the defensive sets too have been good.

“If you gave me top spot after the end of block one of course we’re going to take it.”

And Saxons were able to reach top spot during a hectic start to the campaign.

“We had five games in a month and that’s a lot of rugby but with the quality we’ve got it’s been pretty smooth,” said Ward.

“We’ve had a look at the lot of the boys and made it clear in pre-season we wouldn’t win the league with 20 lads, it would take 30 to 35 who can different jobs.”

But those will pose new problems for Ward.

“I’ve said to the staff we’re having headaches that we’ve never had before,” said Ward.

“We’ve been in a growth period and had to reset the club.

“We had to restart ultimately and it was put back a year as well because of Covid but we are where we want to be.

“We’re a close-knit group and we’ve got a vision of getting up through the leagues and back to where this club should be.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work and commitment but I’m confident we’ve got the right group of staff and players.”