HENRY Sandat wants to fire his way back into Southend United’s first team squad.

The 17-year-old striker scored a hat-trick in the Shrimpers’ 4-1 win at Billericay Town in the FA Youth Cup on Friday night.

But, having twice been on the bench in the National League at the start of the season, Sandat is still keen to catch the eye of Blues boss Kevin Maher.

“My aim now is to get into the first team again,” said the Southend based Sandat.

“But I have to keep working hard and keep doing my best.

“It was a great experience for me at the start of the season and hopefully there are many more to come.

“I’d love to get my debut but the gaffer is making the right decisions.

“It’s my aim to be a starter for the first team though.

“That might sound mad but even at 17 that’s my aim.”

Sandat certainly did his chances no harm at all with his goal-getting display at New Lodge.

And he was pleased to help Blues work their way through to the next round.

“I thought the team played really well,” said the former Eastwood School pupil.

“The football we played was good and they couldn’t deal with us.

“In the first 20 minutes I had two chances but they didn’t go for me but I kept going and probably scored the hardest chance of the three I had.”

Sandat’s first goal saw him send a low 25 yard shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

And he was pleased to double his tally with a well-taken header.

“I was in the air for ages and I’ve never headed it like that before,” said Sandat.

“I’m normally rubbish at heading the ball to be honest and it’s something I need to work on but I felt that was a good header.

“It was a great ball in from Fiddesy (Max Fiddes) too.”

Sandat went on to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot and earned praised from coach Danny Heath.

“His performances and work-rate in training show why the gaffer (Kevin Maher), Daz (Darren Currie) and Benno (Mark Bentley) are giving him opportunities,” said Heath.

“I’m over the moon for him and it’s nice to see him hit a penalty with a bit of power rather than chipping the keeper down the middle too!

“He’s a great lad who is great to work with but he has to keep working hard every day.

“He’s got potential to have a career in the game and hopefully it’s at this football club.”

And Heath was also happy with the performance of his team.

“I’m pleased for the lads,” said the Blues coach.

“We felt the first 15 minutes were the most important of each half.

“They did exactly what we thought they would do and came out all guns blazing.

“They tried to put pressure on us and make it a battle.

“It took us a while to get going but we played some good stuff at times and the quality of the first two goals was really good.

“For some reason at 2-0 we seemed to take our foot off the gas and allowed them to get some momentum towards the end of the half.

"Fin (Purcell) needed to make a good save during that period too."

But Blues improved again in the second half despite having Mo Amir sent off just seven minutes after the break. 

"Mo will learn from it," said Heath.

"These things happen in football.

"We went 4-3-2 after that because I felt it was too early to go 4-4-1 and defend a little bit deeper.

"The penalty killed the game off a little and I'm pleased with the win."

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>Match report from Blues' FA Youth Cup win at Billericay