SOUTHEND may have stormed up to third in National Division Three South with a 42-41 win against Reading on Saturday, but coach Kevin Harman is still urging his side to improve.

The Seasiders raced into a 21-3 lead during an outstanding opening 20 minutes but were eventually forced to battle for a narrow victory thanks to a late Joel Johnston penalty which saw them stretch their unbeaten run of results to seven.

"We started off very strongly but when you get into such a big lead like we did you should be able to see out the game far more comfortably than we did," said Harman.

"We gave ourselves a few frights but in the end we got the win and that's what matters the most at the end of the day. We're up to third now which is good but the league is so tight it's changing all the time.

"But for us to stay up there we need to be more ruthless and there are a number of technical points we need to work on in training this week. There is no way you should let your opponents score 41 points when your at home"