Henry Goodburn admitted Haywards Heath are scenting a national league place after scoring the try which set up their best win of the season so far.

Heath edged past leaders Southend 25-24 to go second in London One, just four points behind with three games in hand.

Goodburn's spectacular 70-yard interception try gave them the lead early in the second half as they scored a successive home win.

Not that they were actually at home on Saturday. The game was switched from frozen Whitemans Green to Hove Rec, where a lunchtime run out for Heath's seconds and a Hove XV helped remove any frost.

It proved worthwhile as Heath avoided more fixture congestion and, helped by London Nigerians' shock defeat to Winchester, moved up a couple of places.

Goodburn felt moving away from their Cuckfield base did Heath no harm.

He said: "The switch did not makes things as difficult as I thought it would. It's a nice wide running pitch which suits our style of play.

"It was a fantastic result and I thought we deserved it.

"We have still got some tough games ahead and if they go our way we should finish on top. I think we have got the players to do it and we have started to play the kind of rugby we need to."

It was a high-tempo game but not all the Heath stars were in the back line. Flanker Damian Lyall caught the eye while Rick Ure was a decent source of lineout ball and Gordon Denslow produced a couple of his customary strikes against the head.

Not that you would have found too many people backing Heath when they were 13-5 down a couple of minutes from half-time.

Southend went ahead through winger Nathan Strange. No. 8 Glenn Rankin replied straight from the re-start but Ali Chambers' conversion and two penalties put Southend on top.

Then came the move which changed the match. Heath won clean lineout ball, centre Giles Goodburn carved his way through in midfield and timed his pass to send full back Andrew Cook over.

Stuart Charnley converted and it got even better after the break as Henry Goodburn produced his interception and Charnley went over from an astute Jon Graham kick after Southend had been temporarily reduced to 14 men.

Graham kept Heath on the front foot by putting the ball deep behind the Southend backs and, though Chambers' left boot reduced the arrears, replacement Owen Ashton replied to put Heath 25-16 up.

Another Chambers penalty brought the gap back to one score going into the last ten minutes but Heath survived until the dying moments, when No. 8 James Wagstaff grabbed a try.

Fortunately for Heath, Chambers missed his touchline conversion attempt to win the match.

Heath scorers: Rankin 1T (25), Cook 1T (39), H. Goodburn 1T (46), Charnley 1T (49), 1C, Ashton 1PG (63).

Southend: Strange 1T (24), Wagstaff 1T (79), Chambers 1C 4PG (5, 35, 59, 70).