Canterbury squandered a winning position in the last ten minutes as their unbeaten start to the National 2 South season ground to a disappointing halt.

The city club’s defensive organisation fell apart in that crucial spell and they handed Southend two late tries and a bonus point victory.

Before the game Head Coach Nicky Little warned that a three match winning run had raised expectations in some quarters but his young side would need to learn how to deal with defeat. Now they know, and the manner of it will cause them most pain.

When Mason Rosvall scored their third try ten minutes into the second half the losing experience seemed some way off, but there were harsh lessons to come.

One lesson was that you must take your chances and Canterbury created enough  to have made the game theirs. They must also question how they lost shape so quickly after injuries to skipper Martyn Beaumont and fly half Guy Hilton forced changes.

Earlier, Canterbury got many things right against a sound visiting side, including a recovery from a rocky start. Southend went twelve points up with tries from scrum half Jack Daly and skipper Harry Hudson and a Brad Burr conversion, but the city team had eased into the lead by half time. When Rosvall got the first score of the second half, racing clear to open a ten point gap, Canterbury were on the brink of pulling away.

They came close but another score eluded them, apart from a Tom Best penalty goal, and by that time Southend were hauling themselves back into contention.

A try-saving tackle by Ollie Best was seen as illegal and his sin binning was punished when visiting centre Chris Vaughan touched down and Burr landed a touchline conversion

An earlier yellow card, this time for Southend’s Burr, sparked Canterbury first half revival.  Ollie Best landed a penalty goal and converted a catch and drive try by Jim Green before Burr returned.  Southend, inventive and dangerous out wide, had their moments but a great individual try from Guy Hilton, who spotted a gap and outpaced the defence in a 40 metre run, converted by Best, sent the city side into half time in good spirits despite failing carelessly to exploit another opportunity from Rosvall’s break.

Even after Vaughan’s 57^th minute converted try the city men were looking likely winners but then came the late injuries and those sorry last ten minutes.   Twice a Southend side scenting indecision outflanked the home defence and full back Iain Meads and replacement Dylan Day-White exploited the overlaps to snatch back the lead.

Canterbury had one last chance but a naïve penalty conceded at a ruck left them to reflect on how they managed to let this game slip..

Canterbury: M.Beaumont (repl W.Farris), H.Sayers, A/Moss, W.Farris (repl C.Horey),  G.Hilton (repl T.Best),  O.Best, J.Green (repl I.Miljak), N.Wakefield repl S.Rogers), A.Wake-Smith (repl T.Mount), R.Cadman, G.Micans, S.Rogers (repl S.Nixon), R.Ward, M.Cantwell