A YOUNG Southend United side were beaten 4-1 by a strong Ipswich Town outfit in a behind closed doors friendly this afternoon.

Teddy Bishop, Luke Varney and Jonny Williams – who played for Wales in Euro 2016 – all lined up for the Tractor Boys.

But, despite the final score-line, Blues coach Kevin Maher still felt it had been a good work-out for his side.

“It’s obviously never nice to lose like that but it was good for our players to have been tested against a really strong team,” said Maher.

“Ipswich had a few first teamers involved, maybe because they are on an international break at the moment, but we still got a lot out of it.

“It was a steep learning curve for some of them and the main lesson was how players of that calibre will punish even the slightest of mistakes.

“That’s certainly something the boys would have seen but we got ourselves back in the game at one stage and gave it a good go.”

Blues’ only effort in the clash came courtesy of an own goal.

Southend United: Smith, Bwomono, Salami, Coutts, Matsuzaka, Kyprianou, Bedford, Bridge, Wabo, Williams, Cotton

Substitutes: Musselwhite, Walker & Clifford