Southend United 4, Aveley 0

DESPITE the scoreline, Aveley drew plenty of positives from a testing last pre-season friendly at Roots Hall against National League Southend on Saturday (1 April).

Sahid Kamara gave the Shrimpers a half-time lead when he found the bottom corner from 20 yards early on.

Then, in the second half, a Harry Cardwell penalty and an impressive pair of Ryan Colclough strikes rounded off pre-season on a high.

The Shrimpers started brightly and tested Aveley's Charlie Turner inside three minutes. Anthony Hartigan whipped a freekick from the left flank, which was on target but tipped over by the Aveley 'keeper.

Five minutes after this, Kamara broke the deadlock. After being teed up by Charley Kendall, the winger drilled a strike into the bottom corner from just outside the area.

Following this, Aveley had a couple of chances to equalise.

First, Jayden Robinson's pop-shot from 20 yards had to be parried behind by Joe Duncan before Chris Harris missed a gilt-edged chance, sending a free header wide.

Harris had another chance to avenge this shortly afterwards when he latched onto the ball after it had slipped away from Harry Taylor, however his shot was blocked and fell to George Saunders who forced a smart save from Duncan.

The Shrimpers ended the half on top with Kendall coming close to scoring a second. Leon Parillon flicked the ball on to him and he brought it down brilliantly before drilling an attempt narrowly wide of the far corner.

It took until the 68^th minute for the first attempt of the second half, with Aveley's Toby Aromolaran shanking an effort wide from 20 yards, following a mazy run inside from the left wing.

However, 15 minutes from time, Blues doubled their lead from the penalty spot. Sam Austin played a through ball for Cardwell who was bundled over from behind in the box by Matty Johnson.

Cardwell then stepped up and, for the second time in pre-season, buried his penalty with conviction into the bottom corner.

Ten minutes later, the Shrimpers added gloss to the scoreline with Colclough marking his first Shrimpers appearance with a goal. The substitute cut inside from the left and curled an impressive strike into the bottom right corner.

Three minutes later, he got his second and the Shrimpers' fourth of the afternoon, with a powerful first-time strike from the edge of the area after the ball had been rolled into his path.

Catch up with Millers manager Brett Munyard's post-match thoughts here.

Munyard's attention now focuses on the opening Isthmian Premier League clash at home to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday (8 August).