EMILE Acquah helped fire Southend United’s under 18 side to a 3-1 win against Leyton Orient with his 20th goal in 20 starts.

Acquah netted in the second half to secure the Shrimpers a hard-fought 3-1 victory.

And coach Dave Huzzey was full of praise for the in-form striker.

“Emile is showing just why he should be the first name on the team-sheet and I’m really pleased with him,” said Huzzey.

“In the last couple of games leading up to the weekend he hadn’t been involved that much but would then suddenly pop up with a couple of goals and that’s the talent he’s got.

“Not many of his goals are further than six yards out but he’s a poacher and he’s got a real instinct for scoring goals.”

Acquah’s latest effort came after goals from Taylor Curran and Jon Benton had seen Blues bounce back from going behind early on.

And Huzzey was delighted with the character shown by his side.

“We conceded after 42 seconds after the boys switched off thinking the ball had gone out of play but we came back well from it,” said Huzzey.

“It was a sloppy goal but we were able to get back into the game by producing a really good team performance.

“Everyone played a part and it was a well deserved win in the end.”

However, Blues were made to work hard for the victory after the O’s opened the scoring inside the first minute when Ruel Sotiriou fired home.

But Southend hit back to equalise five minutes before the break when Curran latched onto Matt Rush’s precise pass from the right-hand side of the penalty area to fire home.

The Shrimpers then went in front in the 72nd minute with O’s goalkeeper Arthur Janata could only push Benton’s 25 yard shot into the top right hand corner of the net.

Blues then made sure of their win just four minutes later with Acquah again showing a cool head to neatly fire home after swapping passes with Benton.

Southend United U18s: Bishop, Humphreys, Osimeh, Pianim, Curran, Mitchell-Nelson, Rush, Cuthbert (Stewart 78), Acquah, Benton, Egbri (Kelman 74).

Substitutes not used: Seaden, Hutchings & Monk.