Southend's director of rugby Kevin Harman is hoping to see a big improvement from his side as they host Old Patesians at Warner's Bridge tomorrow.

The two teams are currently locked level on 29 points in mid-table.

And Harman is fully aware the Seasiders must be at their best if are to bounce back from last weekend's disappointing defeat at Hertford in National League Three South.

"We have to improve on last week's performance at Hertford because that wasn't good enough," he said.

"We're looking to avoid a repeat of that and get a win in what is a very important game."

But Harman knows it will be tricky against Patesians who, in stark contrast to Southend, won convincingly last Saturday, beating Westcombe Park 38-8.

"We won at their ground earlier on in the season but it will be a hard game for us - like they all are," he said.

"If we win again though we should climb a couple of places and when you look at the games being played at that would be great.

"We're looking to improve our position and get further away from the relegation zone because we're still not too far away from it.

"It would be nice to make that gap bigger."

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