Haywards Heath suffered a "bad day at the office" as they went down to only their second defeat in five National Three South games against old rivals Southend.

Heath went into the match full of confidence after back-to-back wins but were brought crashing down to earth as the visitors won comfortably 25-7.

The result meant Southend - who pipped Heath to the London One title on points difference last season - jumped above them in the table and left skipper Alex Meredith wondering what went wrong.

Meredith, who was forced to watch from the sidelines after an operation to remove two wisdom teeth, said: "It was an appalling performance. We haven't played that poorly for two years.

"Everyone has a bad day at the office once in a while and this was definitely our's.

"We were never in the game right from the kick off and it is hard to put a finger on why because we have played so well in recent weeks."

Heath found themselves trailing to four Ali Chambers penalties at half time and when the Southend kicker added a fifth followed swiftly by an unconverted try early in the second half the game was effectively over at 20-0.

The home side did at least get on the scoresheet when James Mackie crossed the line and Stuart Charnley converted but it was too late.

"We knew they had a very good kicker but we still gave them five penalties in good positions and as a result we were always chasing the game," said Meredith.

"Our tactics were all wrong. They were a very big side but we failed to put our kicks in the right areas to get in behind them and force them to turn. The players weren't up to the standards expected of them."