SOUTHEND United’s youth team came crashing back down to earth with a 3-0 defeat at Stevenage.

The Shrimpers started their season with a convincing 5-0 win against AFC Wimbledon.

And coach Dave Huzzey felt his youngsters were guilty of complacency ahead of Saturday’s clash.

“I think maybe the boys went into this game feeling too confident after what happened on the opening day,” said Huzzey.

“Maybe they thought it was going to be easier than it actually was but it’s shown them now how tough this league is and how they have to approach every single one of the games.

“To be fair to them, they had a right go at the start of the second half and we were on top for 15 or 20 minutes.

“But we were already 2-0 down by that point and we had really given ourselves a mountain to climb.

“The boys have taken the defeat quite hard but I haven’t minded seeing that. They’ve really been rallying round in training and know that they have to approach Saturday’s game with Dagenham in the right way, so hopefully this can be a defeat they learn from.”

Stevenage opened the scoring in the 34th minute when an impressive left-wing run led to Shrimpers’ skipper Elvis Bwomono being beaten and a cross being hung up to the far post, where Macsen Fraser met the ball sweetly with an unstoppable volley into the top left-hand corner of the net.

Two minutes later a rasping attempt from just inside the penalty area also beat goalkeeper Nathan Bishop, but fortunately for Blues the ball clipped the top of the crossbar and flew over. But, two minutes before the interval, Stevenage doubled their advantage despite a good initial save from Bishop.

The keeper kept out an effort at his near post but Taylor Curran’s clearance fell to Zark Geurfi, who fired the ball into the back net.

The Shrimpers fought back well at the start of the second half with Sewa Marah and Jon Benton both threatening to score.

In reply, Stevenage wasted a golden chance to make it 3-0 in the 82nd minute when they stroked a penalty wide of the target following a foul from Zak Pianim.

But Blues’ let-off was only temporary as Micky Cregan made no mistake with his spot kick, awarded in the 86th minute, after Bwomono had handled a right-wing cross to complete a miserable afternoon for Southend.

Southend United U18s: Bishop, Bwomono, Clifford, Cuthbert, Mackenzie, Curran (Farah 69), Dias, Benton (Pianim 58), Marah, Gard, Yearwood (Kinali 58).

Sub not used: Seaden