Duncan: 'Brighton are a very good side, so we were not surprised by their performance'

The young Shrimpers went down 2-0 to two goals within five minutes of the start of the second half, but Duncan still managed to draw positives from the reverse: “I was disappointed with the first half, but in the second period we played well and kept going right to the end,” he said.

“We were just a bit flat before half-time, and it took us quite a lot of time to get organised. Robert Hyams wasn’t able to play at the last minute, which meant that we had to shuffle some players about and bring in Jack Payne, who has only just come back from injury, so all of our plans from Friday were thrown out of the window,” added Duncan.

 Winger Mitchell Pinnock was forced to slot in at left-back, with Payne added to the midfield behind forward Seedy Njie. Despite a lack of match sharpness, the first-year scholar was the first to test the Brighton goalkeeper, unleashing a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area in the tenth minute that the custodian had to turn around the post.

Generally the opening 35 minutes saw little goalmouth action as both sides lacked bite in the final third. Defences remained on top, despite Blues surrendering possession erratically at times and failing to keep control of the ball.

The last ten minutes of the opening half saw the game open up a little, and Njie planted a header narrowly wide of the right-hand upright from Michael Hyland’s back-post cross. At the other end, Luke Chambers was called upon to make a good stop with his legs, and he was also indebted to Aaron Tatham for a goal-line clearance after taking the pace off of a shot from the left-hand side. In between, Payne again saw a 20-yard effort pushed away from goal by the Seagulls shotstopper.

Unfortunately, a poor piece of defending in the 48th minute gifted Brighton the lead. A second successive corner was delivered to the near post, where a forward was allowed a free header to nod into the bottom left-hand corner.

“I will have to look at the video again,” said Duncan after the match. “I don’t think we defended that set-piece very well, which is disappointing because we do a lot of work on them. In the first half, despite giving the ball away, we defended well as a unit, so it was not good to concede so early after half-time.”

The second goal, by contrast, came at the end of an excellent move just two minutes later, although the Blues back-line was caught flat-footed by a midfielder’s mazy run before he stroked the ball to the left of Chambers and into the net to make it 2-0.

Another chance was smashed over the crossbar from close range, but Southend managed to recompose themselves and Jack Paxman headed off target from an Anthony Furlonge cross in the 54th minute.

James Pinnock and Shamir Mullings were introduced on the hour to replace Njie and Payne, and they presented a new threat for the visitors, even if it was Chambers that was called upon to make a smart save from a low shot at the midpoint of the second half.

Ryan Auger’s right-wing centre picked out James Pinnock in the 71st minute, but the forward’s header was powered wide when he was afforded plenty of space in the penalty area, and further pressure saw Mullings nod wide three minutes from time. Even in the final minute, James Pinnock had a shot grabbed by the ‘keeper from a Mullings lay-off, but there was to be no way through.

“Brighton are a very good side, so we were not surprised by their performance, but we still had our chances during the last half-an-hour when I thought we played very well, and we could easily have snatched a goal or too late on,” Duncan reflected.

Southend United U18s: Luke Chambers, Anthony Furlonge, Michael Hyland, Michael Hassini, Aaron Tatham (Josh Banton 68), Marlon Agyakwa, Ryan Auger, Seedy Njie (Shamir Mullings 59), Jack Paxman, Mitchell Pinnock, Jack Payne (James Pinnock 59).

Substitutes not used: Andres Pascoe, Harry Jeffrey.