FREDDY Eastwood made his under 18 debut for Southend United in the Shrimpers’ 4-3 win against Exeter City on Saturday.

The attacking midfielder- whose father of the same name remains one of Blues’ best ever players - played the final 20 minutes having impressed for the under 16s.

And Shrimpers youth coach Dave Huzzey was thrilled to see 15-year-old Eastwood make the step up.

“Freddy played for the under 16s but was on the bench for the 18s so we brought him on because he’s played well and it was a massive thing for him to do,” said Huzzey.

“He’s a really hard-working lad who is hungry to do well and he’s also asking when he’s going to get a chance to step up.

“He’s really pushed on lately so we rewarded him with an appearance in the under 18s and I’m sure he would have found it really quick.

“He was also quite nervous but he’s a big prospect for us.”

Freddy’s dad scored a combined total of 77 goals in 210 games during his two separate spells with the Shrimpers, during the first of which he fired Steve Tilson’s side to two successive promotions and victory over Manchester United in 2006.

And Huzzey feels it is impossible to watch Freddy junior in action without being reminded of his father.

“Freddy is the spitting image of his dad and they move in exactly the same way too,” said Huzzey.

“It’s fantastic for us to be working with him and if he keeps working hard then he can definitely go on to do well in the game.

“It would be amazing if he could follow in his dad’s foot-steps and play for the first team.”

Eastwood’s under 18 debut came in an exciting encounter which saw Blues throw away a three goal lead before netting a late winner.

An early own goal put Blues in front before the in-form Emile Acquah doubled the home side’s lead in the 27th minute.

Acquah netted again in the 47th minute to make it 3-0 before Exeter got a goal back in the 73rd minute.

The Grecians then netted twice in quick succession to level things up before Blues hit back to net a winning goal eight minutes from time as Sewa Marah fired home.

Southend United: Bishop, Humphreys, Clifford, Cuthbert, Curran, Pianim, Kinali, Yearwood, Acquah, Gard (Eastwood 70’), Marah (Mackenzie 85’). Subs not used: Seaden, Farah & Clark.