DRU Yearwood felt Stephen Humphrys fully deserved to be Southend United’s survival hero.

The striker fought back from a serious facial injury to come on against Sunderland on the final day of the season.

And Yearwood was delighted to see him score the goal which kept the Shrimpers in League One.

“It was great for Humps to get the goal and, after everything he’s been through, I don’t think there was anyone who deserved to score it more,” said the midfielder.

“It was a really bad injury he got against Accrington but he came back and it was just such a great moment when he scored.

“It was a mixture of everything really but mostly relief because it would have been horrific to have gone down.”

Humphrys suffered 15 breaks in his face and fractured his nose, cheekbone an eye-socket when scoring against Accrington Stanley in February.

However, the forward returned to action wearing a face mask to fire Blues to a 2-1 win against Sunderland on the final day of the season.

The strike kept the Shrimpers up on goal difference and pleased Yearwood who had missed two good chances to score early on.

“When I missed the chances it was playing on my mind for a bit but I just had to tell myself to keep going,” said Yearwood, who has yet to score for the Shrimpers.

“It hasn’t gone my way in front of goal yet but hopefully I can work on it and it do better with regards to that next season.”

Yearwood, who came through the ranks at Roots Hall, has now made 62 appearances for the Shrimpers first team despite being just 19-years-old.

The midfielder played 33 times last term but found it tough to recapture the form he showed during his breakthrough season during which he was linked to a number of Premier League clubs.