SOUTHEND United’s youth team chief Ricky Duncan saw his side triumph in the Cars4All Trophy at the weekend and then insisted his young stars would continue to shine for the club.

Blues beat Premier League Academy duo Wolverhampton Wanderers and Norwich City in the space of 48 hours to get their hands on the cup at Roots Hall.

And Duncan is confident that will be just the start of the success for his current crop of talented teenagers.

“I think that there are several members of this team who will go on to enjoy a career in the professional game either at Southend or elsewhere,” insisted Duncan.

“I thought we played some fantastic football over the weekend and to beat two Premier League sides like we did shows just how far we have come.

“It also proves that the club is now beginning to reap the rewards of investing in the youth system and a lot of hard work has gone in to turning things around over the past five years.”

That progress also led to Blues winning their pre-season tournament at the third time of asking.

Southend drew 1-1 with Wolves on Saturday with their highly-rated winger Lyle Della-Verde on target before Duncan’s side triumphed 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out.

They then followed that up with a 3-2 victory over Norwich City in Sunday’s final with Della-Verde again on target, along with Michael Hyland, while Harry Toffolo netted an own goal for Canaries.

The two scorelines delighted Duncan and he also felt they were a fair reflection of the games.

“I thought we played well and it was also nice to finally win a penalty shoot-out,” said Duncan.

“We’ve lost three of them in the last two years in this competition so it was nice to see we could finally win one and get that monkey off our backs.

“We also played well against Norwich and, although Lyle played well and will get the plaudits because he scored in both games, there are a number of talented players in this team.”

The performance and victory delighted the watching Blues supporters and Duncan is now keen to see the annual tournament become even more popular.

“Hopefully more people will come along next year and Wolves, Leicester and Norwich have already said they would like to come back,” said Duncan.

“It’s pleasing to hear and I would like to thank everyone who made this year’s competition so successful, particularly the sponsors Cars4All.”