A YOUNG Southend United side suffered a 4-0 defeat against Redbridge in the third round of the Essex Senior Cup at Roots Hall tonight.

The Shrimpers included fit-again goalkeeper Collin Andeng Ndi in their starting line-up.

But the rest of the side was made up of youth team scholars who could certainly not be faulted for effort against more experienced opposition.

However, Redbridge took just nine minutes to open the scoring with Louie Johnson firing home from 12 yards after Andeng Ndi had done well to parry out a low shot from Joseph Elliot.

Moments later, Andeng Ndi easily held a 25 yard free-kick from Solomon Ogowomoju before he also gathered a long range shot from Soumen Nandi.

But, with 32 minutes on the clock, the visitors doubled their lead with an unmarked Johnson guiding a left wing cross from Nandi into the right hand side of the net from close range.

With Redbridge remaining on top, Ogowomoju saw a well struck effort pushed to safety by Andeng Ndi in the closing action of the first half.

However, the visitors remained on top after the break and made it 3-0 in the 58th minute with Lewis Clark heading home from close range after the Shrimpers failed to deal with a free-kick into the box.

Four minutes later, Redbridge wasted a golden chance to increase their lead when the hat-trick hunting Johnson smashed a penalty against the crossbar.

Substitute Bradley Bennett was then also denied by the woodwork as his header bounced back off the bar but Redbridge did make it 4-0 three minutes on time with Johnson completing his hat-trick with a low shot from 20 yards.

Southend United: Andeng Ndi, Jackson, Huet, Hammond, Molefi (Jones 88), Poxon, Macgonigle (Miller 81), Hall (Okafor 65), Blake, MacDonald, Stone.

Sub not used: Brown