Shrimpers beaten in friendly

Pre-season action began in earnest at Hotspur Way today (Wednesday) as we beat Southend United 6-0 in a behind closed doors friendly.

Erik Lamela scored a first-half hat-trick and there were also goals for Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura as we raced into a 5-0 lead by half-time, substitute Tashan Oakley-Boothe adding our final goal mid-way through the second period.

Fielding a strong side against the League One outfit, we were quickly into our stride and went ahead after seven minutes when Lamela played a pass out wide to Lucas on the right, the Argentine midfielder continuing his run into the box and side-footing Lucas’ low cross past Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley.

Four minutes later we doubled our advantage, Serge Aurier’s centre deflecting up off a defender and falling perfectly to Llorente to cushion a volley home from eight yards, before Michel Vorm was called into action for the first time, palming Sam Barratt’s 30-yard free-kick up and over the crossbar.

We were quickly on the offensive again though with Lucas and Aurier combining down the right for Lamela to score with another close-range finish and on 27 minutes, we opened up the visitors down the left flank this time, Ben Davies playing a lovely one-two with Lamela before delivering a cross which Lucas converted.

At the other end, Renei Batlokwa played in Sam Mantom who fired just wide, while Oxley kept out efforts from Aurier and Lucas, although he couldn’t prevent Lamela from completing his hat-trick on the stroke of half-time following another flowing move involving Lucas and Aurier.

Both sides made a number of changes at half-time and the Shrimpers had the first sight of goal after the break, former Sunderland and Hull City defender Michael Turner prodding goalwards following a well-worked corner, but it was straight at Paulo Gazzaniga.

Our sixth goal came on 78 minutes courtesy of a superb pass from Lamela, who fizzed a ball right through the heart of the Southend defence for Oakley-Boothe and he took a touch before calmly slotting past Nathan Bishop.

Stephen McLaughlin and Jason Demetriou both tested Gazzaniga late on with long-range shots as Southend looked for a breakthrough but the keeper was equal to their efforts.

We continued to make substitutions during the second half and by the final whistle, were fielding a completely different XI to the one that started the contest, a good first run-out for the squad ahead of the 2018/19 season.