SOUTHEND United striker Jason Williams celebrated his 21st birthday by scoring the winning goal for the Shrimpers’ under-21 team at Exeter City this afternoon.

The youngster fired home in the second half after Nico Cotton had earlier cancelled out the Grecians’ opening goal.

And Blues coach Kevin Maher was happy to have secured the victory.

“We were slow to get going and went behind in the first minute of the match but we came back well and played much better in the second half,” said Maher.

“I’m not going to use the long journey as an excuse as plenty of teams travel on the day but we just weren’t at the races early on.

“We were slow to get going and conceding so early was obviously far from ideal.

“But we were able to regroup and go again to get a good win.

“Nico got us back level and then Jason also took his goal well to give us the victory.

“It was a good way for him to celebrate his 21st birthday and it was nice to see him back out there again after recovering from a slight calf injury.”

Southend United: Blues: Bexon, Bwomono, Coutts, Matsuzaka, Kyprianou, Bridge, Bedford, Musselwhite, Cotton, Walker (Dias), Williams.