HORDES of Southend United supporters witnessed the Shrimpers’ play-off final success against Wycombe Wanderers - having sprinted back into Wembley to watch the penalty shoot-out.

With Phil Brown’s side trailing 1-0 with just 20 seconds of extra-time remaining against the Chairboys, large numbers of Blues fans headed to the exits.

And that included life-long fan Dom Maguire who had just left the ground when he heard a huge cheer.

“The ironic thing is I can’t stand people who leave early and I ended up doing it myself,” said Maguire, 45.

“But we had just taken a dreadful free-kick right in front of where I was sitting and I was just thinking “oh no not again”.

“I thought we could get to the tube a bit earlier if we left before everyone else but I got 10 paces outside the ground and it erupted.

“We knew it was a goal but there was a horrible moment when we headed back into the ground to find out who got it.

“Thankfully it was Southend and we managed to get what had seemed quite an unlikely win.”

Maguire is now based in London but lived in both Westcliff and Leigh as a youngster, watching his first Blues match back in 1978.

He also had a season ticket before moving to the capital and rated the Shrimpers’ Wembley success as one of his favourite moments as a fan.

Sam Madden, another keen Blues fan, echoed those sentiments.

But the Orsett based 25-year-old had also left Wembley before Pigott’s late goal sent the final to a penalty shoot-out.

“I was with three of my mates who don’t really support Southend the same way I do and we were all talking about how hungry we were so we left with two minutes to go and get a curry,” said Madden.

“Having watched Southend so many times I told them it was another one of those days but after we left we heard a cheer and weren’t too sure who had scored.

“A man next to us at the time told us it was Wycombe but in the end I made my friend check it on his phone and it came up saying Pigott.

“After that we literally had to sprint back to the stadium to make it back in time for the penalties.

“But luckily we got there and it was just amazing to see.”