A LATE equaliser denied Southend United their first Youth Alliance Cup victory of the season after efforts from Fope Coker and Duane Ofori-Acheampong had put Blues ahead in their away match at Dagenham & Redbridge.

Southend dominated long spells of possessions at The Academy in Loughton but a lack of potency in front of goal cost them dearly as the hosts netted a last-minute leveller to claim their first point of the Group Five campaign as the match ended 2-2.

After 15 minutes, Dagenham hit Blues on the counter-attack and took the lead.

Harry Larner floated a pass over the top of the Southend back-line and Joe Sheldon brought the ball under control before stroking it past Daniel Bentley.

Blues equalised within six minutes of the restart though when Julian Okai’s inswinging corner was hooked to the back post by Louis Baucutt, and Ofori-Acheampong’s towering header was nodded in off the underside of the crossbar by Coker, who registered his first goal for the under-18s in the process.

A rare Daggers attack involving good build-up play from Adam Gemili culminated in Louis Dennis firing straight at Bentley before the introduction of Hicham Abdellah in place of Coker added a new threat for Southend.

The winger was immediately in action, collecting Teddy Nesbitt’s cross-field ball and forcing a parried save from the Dagenham goalkeeper.

Blues then edged ahead midway through the second half when Abdellah passed a corner short to Nesbitt and his swinging left-footed cross eventually bounced into the path of Ofori-Acheampong, who rifled the ball through a crowded six-yard box and into the net.

That should have been the signal for Southend to close out the game, and they had opportunities to make the result safe, notably when another fierce Abdellah effort from James Stevens’ slide-rule pass was beaten away at the near post and when Ofori-Acheampong powerfully headed Anthony Furlonge’s pinpoint cross over from close range.

Those missed opportunities came back to haunt Blues in the last minute of regulation time as Dennis threaded the ball down the inside-left channel for a Dagenham midfielder to gallop onto before dispatching it into the bottom left-hand corner.

Even given this hammer-blow, Southend could still have inflicted a third consecutive single-goal defeat upon their hosts when Ofori-Acheampong raced clear to latch onto Furlonge’s through ball in the second minute of stoppage time.

However, he could only locate the keeper’s gloves with his eventual shot from 15 yards, leaving Southend in need of wins against Gillingham and Colchester United in their final two group games to make progress to the second round of the Youth Alliance Cup likely.

Southend United: Bentley, Furlonge, Nesbitt, Stevens, Baucutt, Ferdinand, Coker (Abdellah 59), Woodyard, Ofori-Acheampong, Smith (Paxman 84), Okai (Auger 84). Substitutes not used: Chambers & Mackay.