"What a fantastic way to end the season," beamed coach Paddy Dunston after his side demolished Norwich 60-12 to seal a National League place in style.

"It could not have been a better day," added the former Wasps man. "A great win, promotion, a good night out... even the weather was good!"

Southend sealed their third promotion in as many seasons with their biggest win of the year, dominating every aspect of the game against a team doomed to the drop.

"I've always had confidence in the boys' abilitiy and they've proved to themselves now what they can do," said Dunston.

"They've taken on board bits and pieces of advice from me and Kevin Harman and have earned their place in the National League. I think that, apart from probably one week, we've been on top all season."

Skipper James Shearing jinked through for the opening try, converted by Ali Chambers, and Southend never looked back, scoring regularly to extend their points advantage over title rivals Haywards Heath to exactly 100 points.

Alan Barker, Chris Green and Aussie JP Ingram added further scores before the break, with Ali Chambers' boot accounting for the remaining points as the champs took the lead to 31-7 at the interval.

The onslaught continued after the break as Ingram and Barker both added to their earlier tries while James Hyde, James Wagstaff and Dustin Lund - in his last game for the club - all touched down.

Chambers completed six conversions, and had kicked a penalty too for the first points of the day, to take his tally for the day to 15 and his total for the season to an amazing 302.

"It was one of those games where we managed to score every 10 or 15 minutes and it's a great feeling to have won the title," said Shearing. "Now we're looking forward to playing at a higher level next season."

Published Tuesday, April 15, 2003

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