SOUTHEND United coach Kevin Maher heaped praise on his under-23 team after they smashed home six first half goals in a resounding victory against a strong Gillingham side.

Norman Wabo and Jack Bridge both bagged braces while Harry Phillips and Amadou Ba were also on target in a 6-2 win at Boots & Laces.

And Maher felt the performance was one of the best he has seen since taking control of the team in November 2015.

“The first half in particular was excellent and that’s definitely right up there with the best I’ve seen us play,” said Maher.

“We know we have the players capable of producing that kind of play but it was great to see it all come together and for them to be so clinical in front of goal.

“We were up against a strong Gillingham side who had quite a few players who had been in their first team this season so that made the performance even more encouraging.

“We knew they would come at us more in the second half but I was pleased with how resilient we were and we could have scored one or two more in the end as well.”

Gillingham included experienced goalkeeper Stuart Nelson in their starting line-up along with former Blues defender Luke O’Neill.

Mark Byrne lined up in midfield, while Connor Wilkinson was named in attack and handed the visitors an early lead.

However, Blues hit back with an equaliser from Phillips before going on to score a further five times before the 35th minute mark.

Two of those were scored by the in-form Wabo, who has now netted 11 goals this season.

And Maher was happy to see the 19-year-old continue his fine scoring run.

“Norman is on a great run and it’s great to see,” said the former Blues midfielder.

“He does things off the cuff at times but he’s a goalscorer and he’s finding the back of the net on a regular basis right now.”

Southend United: Seaden, Bwomono, Turner (Mitchell-Nelson 46), Matsuzaka, Clifford (Cotton 85), Batlokwa, Phillips, Klass, Bridge (Clark 85), Ba, Wabo (Gard 85)