SOUTHEND United under 19 side's unbeaten run at the Len Salmon Stadium was ended by Woking as the Cards registered a 5-0 win at the home of Bowers & Pitsea.

Blues had played four times at the venue previously, winning on three occasions and drawing once, but that sequence was abruptly halted as Harry Newbould and Ryan Scott netted in the final seven minutes of the first half and then Alex Rihoy, Sam Brittain and Ben Mitchell added further goals for the visitors after the break.

Southend made one enforced change to the starting line-up as the suspended Jack Stone was replaced by Ronnie Blake, but the rest of the team was consistent with the side that had drawn 2-2 at Dorking Wanderers in their previous outing.

That point had been gained thanks to a late penalty by Beau MacDonald, and the midfielder had an opportunity to put the teenage Shrimpers ahead from the spot midway through the first period.

Joe Poxon was brought down just inside the area, but this time MacDonald’s penalty was saved as Lewis Mouland guessed correctly to turn the strike away.

Although Newbould had drawn an eighth-minute save from Luke Cerullo, the action to that point had largely seen Southend in the ascendancy, and on 17 minutes Mouland had been called into action to deny Blake at the end of a lengthy spell of possession.

However, as the first half progressed, and buoyed by Mouland’s penalty save, Woking’s attacking play began to become more prevalent and on 33 minutes Charlie Robertson fired over before Lui Edwards charged down a George Pulham clearance but failed to test Cerullo.

Cerullo did well to dive at the feet of Mitchell in the 37th minute and maintain parity, but the Cards broke the deadlock less than sixty seconds later when, after the Blues back-line had failed to clear a right-wing cross, Newbould rifled crisply into the net with his left foot to make it 1-0.

Six minutes later Woking doubled their advantage through Scott, who was given the opportunity to size up a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area and he drilled the dead ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Pulham failed to keep a header down from a MacDonald set-piece in first-half stoppage time, and Blake dragged an effort narrowly wide early in the second period, but any hopes of a Blues revival were dealt a significant blow on 56 minutes when Woking moved three goals clear.

Rihoy had just stormed into the box, only for Cerullo to make a smart stop at his near post, when he was able to take advantage of a misunderstanding between the Shrimpers custodian and defender Oscar Jones, before galloping clear to tap gleefully into an empty net.

The Cards player almost added a fourth after getting the better of Jones, but his attempted chip cleared the crossbar and Southend did have a couple of chances to hit back, with Pulham denied by Mouland’s legs following a defence-splitting pass by Archie McGonigle and Poxon nodding over from a Blake corner.

Youth team coach Danny Heath made a triple substitution on 64 minutes, bringing on Aidon Shehu, Louis Bragg and Lorenzo Saponara, a former Leyton Orient scholar, in place of McGonigle, Thato Molefi and Joshua Jackson, and Blues almost immediately had another sight of goal as Okafor rolled Blake clear, but Mouland’s legs thwarted the midfielder once again.

Woking’s Mitchell fired over and Saponara cleared off the goal-line from Ethan Gold, but the visitors were soon celebrating a fourth goal on 81 minutes as substitute Brittain slotted past Cerullo after beating the offside trap.

A minute later, it was 5-0 as Mitchell rounded off an incisive Woking break by cutting back onto his left foot to tap into the net.

Blues didn’t suffer any further damage, but they will be hoping for an improvement when they travel to Maidenhead United for their next fixture on Wednesday afternoon.

Southend United U19s: Cerullo, Jones, Huet, McGonigle (Shehu 64), Molefi (Bragg 64), Jackson (Saponara 64), Pulham (Hall 79), MacDonald, Okafor, Blake, Poxon.