LATE goals from Kane Ferdinand and Liam Dickinson fired Southend United to a 3-1 victory at Braintree Town tonight.

In a hastily arranged friendly Blues opened the scoring after just 10 minutes when Lee Sawyer tapped home from close range.

The midfielder, who was returning from a thigh strain, reacted quickly to a deflected David Martin shot and guided the ball in to the back of the net from eight yards.

But the Iron equalised with 38 minutes on the clock when Pat O’Connor drilled an angled left footed shot in to the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Southend responded by bringing on both Ryan Hall and Liam Dickinson midway through the second half.

The duo had been named on the bench as a punishment after they breached the club’s code of conduct in the team hotel ahead of last Saturday’s game at Morecambe.

However, their arrival helped Blues come out on top as 10 minutes from time when trialist left-back Lee Hills’ delivered a fine left wing cross which Ferdinand headed home from six yards.

Blues then sealed their victory late on when Dickinson slammed the ball in to the back of the net from long range.

Southend: Bentley, Furlonge, Baldwin, Gilbert (Coughlan 46), Hills, Sawyer, Woodyard, Ferdinand, Martin (Hall 70), Benyon (Dickinson 70), Flood

Sub not used: Nesbitt