SOUTHEND United's under 19 side produced their best performance of the season as they swept aside Bromley with four unanswered goals at Boots & Laces on Friday afternoon.

Blues quickly put memories of Wednesday’s defeat against Eastleigh to one side as Obi Okafor bagged a brace and George Pulham and substitute Jack Stone both netted during the second half in a 4-0 win that halted a sequence of 10 matches without a victory.

With two fixtures inside 48 hours, youth team coach Danny Heath made a number of changes as goalkeeper Harvey Gluckstead, defenders Jake Huet and Ola Shobowale, midfielders Aidon Shehu, Ronnie Blake and Pulham and forward Okafor came into the starting line-up.

Southend made a bright start and Archie McGonigle smashed over from 25 yards out in just the second minute before Ellis Lawson and Okafor combined to provide the midfielder with another opportunity less then 60 seconds later, with McGonigle bringing down Okafor’s cross and half-volleying over the target.

The hosts were dominating possession and putting together some good patterns of play, with Lawson enjoying a lot of space out on the left-hand side.

On 19 minutes he swung a cross to the far post for Pulham to meet, but he couldn’t make the required contact from close range.

Despite how well they had started the game, it took until the 25th minute for Blues to force Bromley goalkeeper Jamie Johnson into a save.

Okafor flicked Shehu’s pass into the path of Mikey Faulkner and his fierce strike required a parried stop from Johnson.

A minute later Johnson made a comfortable save after Pulham nodded another left-wing Lawson cross goalwards.

Southend continued to push forwards and, on 32 minutes, Pulham found Blake in midfield and he dragged a shot wide of the right-hand post from 25 yards out.

Shortly afterwards Faulkner and McGonigle linked up to set up Shehu for a right-footed shot that was charged down by a Bromley defender.

Okafor had the ball in the back of the net on 35 minutes when he bundled home from a Lawson cross, but the referee ruled the effort out for a foul on the goalkeeper.

However, three minutes later the forward was celebrating as Shehu located Lawson on the left and his delivery was fired past Johnson by Okafor running across the front of a defender.

Having taken the lead, Blues were indebted to Cerullo on 41 minutes for ensuring they went in at the interval a goal to the good.

Emmanuel Deh had found Kayden Intsitu in the penalty area and a low strike was superbly pushed away before Kassim Dagher fired into the side-netting.

Had the teenage Shrimpers gone in at the break all-square, that may have been a blow to morale given the way they had controlled the first period, and a measure of Bromley’s frustrations came as the half-time whistle sounded and Deh appeared to react angrily in front of the Blues bench, earning himself a caution.

The second period started in much the same vein as the first as Faulkner found Pulham and his shot was turned away by Johnson, with Okafor unable to back-heel in the rebound.

In the 49th minute the same trio were involved as Southend made it 2-0; Okafor centred from the left, Faulkner flicked the ball on and Pulham drilled his finish underneath Johnson and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Midway through the second period, Blake drew another fine save from Johnson with a clean strike from the edge of the penalty area.

Lawson followed-up, with Johnson thwarting the left wing-back and the referee denied Lawson the chance to tap home after running in to challenge the goalkeeper.

There was an anxious moment seven minutes later when Cerullo had to come off his line to smother Keron Francis’ effort at the expense of a corner, with Regan Salter seeing his powerful header cleared off the goal-line from the resultant flag-kick.

Huet’s first-time effort cleared the crossbar on 76 minutes before Blake was unfortunate when his superb strike from the ‘D’ flew past Johnson but bounced back off the crossbar.

When the third goal arrived on 84 minutes, it came after substitutes Cameron Hall and Jack Stone combined, Stone bringing down a long pass before turning inside Intsitu and arrowing a shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Stone could have added a quickfire second, but he sent a rising shot off-target after another direct pass, leaving the responsibility to Okafor to complete the scoring with a minute remaining as he turned home the rebound after Huet’s header had been pushed out by Johnson.

Blues under 19s are next in action on Friday 19th April when they travel to Woking, with a home fixture against Dartford and an away game at Aldershot Town to complete the season.

Southend United U19s: Cerullo, Huet, Lawson, Shehu (Jackson 90), Molefi,  Shobowale, Pulham (Bragg 88), McGonigle (Hall 79), Okafor, Faulkner (Stone 79), Blake.

Sub not used: Gluckstead.