TEN Southend United supporters raised £7,400 by walking from Roots Hall to Gillingham for Saturday’s League One clash.

The fans left Southend’s ground at 11pm and safely arrived at the Priestfield Stadium 13 hours later.

And the Shrimpers Trust, who organised the walk to raise funds for Little Havens, were keen to thank everyone involved.

“We’d like to firstly extend a massive thank you to the team of walkers who gave up their time and completed what was a physically challenging event,” said a Trust spokesman.

“In addition, we would like to thank our headline sponsor MSPFX and other main sponsors ECOM, SBC Leisure, Seetec, Outstanding Branding, Just Sport and T-SCAPE for their sponsorship.

“We are delighted with the tremendous backing that this initiative has received from local businesses, the Southend United directors and players and importantly the Blues supporter community as a whole. We would like to thank everyone for their encouragement and generosity.”

Blues’ squad of players donated £300 to the cause while Gillingham boss Steve Evans donated £250 after meeting the walkers on his arrival at the ground.

“I shook hands with every one of them,” said Evans.

“It gives you a little hope when you read all of this nonsense from Parliament and about Brexit that there are people out there giving everything they can to a good cause. My family will donate £250. Those guys I met were really nice, there was nothing said about the game, nothing about who was going to win, it was just about doing something for a great cause.”