SOUTHEND suffered their sixth defeat in eight games at Henley.

The defeat pushed the Seasiders down to 11th in the National Two South standings.

And it also left experienced second row Andrew McClintock a frustrated man.

“To say it was disappointing would be something of an understatement,” said McClintock.

“We lacked discipline, made too many errors, weren’t patient enough and put too much pressure on ourselves as well.

“Henley didn’t do anything amazing but they kept things simple and didn’t make as many mistakes as we did.”

As a result, Southend now sit just nine points above the relegation zone with five games to go.

But McClintock is convinced the team has enough talent to stay up.

“We’ve shown in glimpses what we’re capable of and now have to start doing that more often,” said McClintock.

“Unfortunately not enough of us have been on the same page on the same day and it’s disappointing.

“The last thing we want to do is get relegated so we need to start winning.

“Our next game is against Clifton and that’s going to be very important indeed.”

However, Southend will head in to the game on the back of another convincing defeat.

The Seasiders conceded four penalties in the opening 10 minutes and also had McClintock yellow carded.

Henley took advantage with a try from James Winterbottom which James Comben converted.

And Southend were then forced in to an early change as Chris Waring suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Alan Barker.

Winterbottom was then yellow carded for the hosts but they were still able to extend their lead to 10-0 with a penalty from Comben.

He soon added another to make it 13-0 at half-time and that soon became 20-0 at the start of the second period with a try from Danny Wells with Comben converted.

Matthew Payne then charged over for Henley’s third try before Southend finally got on the score-sheet as stand in full-back Danny Cleare touched down for his ninth try of the season.

Bradley Burr added the conversion but hopes of a Southend come-back were short-lived as Will Woodward took advantage of a Sam Arnott mistake to touch down.

Comben converted to seal Henley’s win and the Seasiders will now be hoping for far more when they host Clifton in a crucial clash at Warners Bridge a week on Saturday.