Goals from Robert Hyams, Marlon Agyakwa, Jack Payne and Shamir Mullings sealed the Shrimpers’ passage into the Second Round of the competition and a home fixture against either Brentford or Lewes, who meet on Wednesday evening.
“I was really pleased with my squad tonight,” said Duncan. “They were very professional, as you would expect them to be, they didn’t underestimate the opposition and they paid Corinthian the respect they deserved, so I’m happy for them.”
“A win’s a win; you can only beat what is out in front of you. I thought we were excellent tonight; we looked dangerous in attack and we had a lot of possession, especially in the second half,” he added.
Kent club Corinthian had battled through a Preliminary Round and then three Qualifying Rounds to set up the game at Roots Hall, where they faced a Blues side that brought in Aaron Tatham and captain Michael Hyland to replace Under-16s Josh Banton and Jack Bridge from the eleven that had started against Colchester United in their last fixture.
The visitors’ goalkeeper, Zachery Foster-Crouch, had a nervous moment just six minutes in when he spilled Agyakwa’s low centre, but fortunately the ball squirmed away from goal. Shortly afterwards, Corinthian had another let-off when Payne side-footed Jack Paxman’s hanging centre across the face of goal.
Foster-Crouch redeemed himself with a brilliant save in the 13th minute after Mullings had flicked Luke Chambers’ goal-kick into Agyakwa’s path. The winger fired goalwards, only to see the shotstopper palm the ball to safety with Paxman then unable to convert from close range when Agyakwa teed him up later in the move.
Tom Carlse’s inswinging free-kick from the right for the away team almost paid dividends after 16 minutes, but Sam Carter smashed over when Chambers parried the ball his way. That was a rare diversion from the opposite end, however, and Paxman had soon seen a shot blocked after exchanging passes on the edge of the penalty area with Payne.
The deadlock was broken midway through the first half. Agyakwa took a short corner quickly, catching the Corinthian defence unawares, and Hyams took advantage to ghost past Carlse and sweep his shot majestically into the top left-hand corner of the net to register his first goal at Under-18 level.
Tom Jewers did well to connect with a diving header and take Ryan Auger’s pass out of the reach of Hyland within a couple of minutes, and Mullings also drove wide a little later. Just after the half-hour mark, Agyakwa almost took advantage when Foster-Crouch and Carlse mis-read a Chambers goal-kick, but Tom Johnson slid in to spare their blushes with a goal-line clearance.
Another Agyakwa corner was met by the head of Jack Edwards, who saw Foster-Crouch turn his aerial effort onto the underside of the crossbar before receiving treatment after landing awkwardly. The custodian was soon on his feet, and five minutes before half-time he somehow diverted Paxman’s strong shot onto the roof of the net.
Two minutes later, he was beaten by another exceptional goal. Hyland recycled the ball into the area when a corner was cleared and Mullings saw his effort blocked, but that only allowed Agyakwa to side-step to his left before dispatching a beautiful curling shot into the top left-hand corner.
Blues extended their lead still further in first-half stoppage time. Paxman bamboozled the Corinthian defence with a mazy dribble before laying off to Mullings, who saw his skidding shot pushed out by Foster-Crouch. Unfortunately for the ‘keeper, Payne was waiting to tap the rebound into the bottom left-hand corner.
Southend started the second period at similarly break-neck speed, and Mullings this time found his name on the scoresheet after another stunning strike. Receiving the ball on the left touchline, he turned before dexterously slipping between two defenders and then drilling his shot past substitute goalkeeper Chris Cowdrey from 25 yards out.
Cowdrey was called upon to stop a fierce Paxman shot three minutes later before Chambers leapt to his right to push away a strong Ryan Croucher attempt from distance just before the hour mark at the other end.
However, by now Blues were attacking at will, and Mullings was unlucky to see his effort bounce back into play off the post before Mitchell Pinnock curled the rebound past Cowdrey, only to find Jewers’ head on the goal-line ready to block.
Edwards’ last action was to dig out a 25-yard shot that crashed against the right-hand angle of post and bar, with Paxman fizzing the rebound across the goalmouth, and playmaker Paxman was involved again four minutes from time when his header from a James Pinnock assist went narrowly over.
In stoppage time, the second-year scholar had one final opportunity to grab the goal his performance deserved but, after dribbling from the centre circle, his shot was kept out again by Cowdrey.
Nonetheless, Duncan was very happy with his team: “We’ve scored four good goals and we could have had a few more as we’ve hit the woodwork two or three times as well, but you have to pay tribute to Corinthian because they have done very well to get here. They also cleared some more efforts off the goal-line, and they never gave up,” he said.
“They’ve beaten some good sides and they’ve worked hard all through the game, but we knew they would because they’ve got some good people involved there. Now we’ll face either Brentford or Lewes in the next round, and I’ll take a look at their match so that we can prepare properly for that game,” Duncan concluded.
Southend United U18s: Luke Chambers, Ryan Auger, Robert Hyams, Jack Edwards (Jack Bridge 81), Aaron Tatham, Anthony Furlonge, Marlon Agyakwa (James Pinnock 73), Michael Hyland, Shamir Mullings, Jack Paxman, Jack Payne (Mitchell Pinnock 50). Substitutes not used: Ted Smith, Josh Banton.
Goals: Hyams (22), Agyakwa (42), Payne (45+3), Mullings (47).
Cautioned: Hyams (69 - foul tackle).
Corinthian U18s: Zachery Foster-Crouch (Chris Cowdrey 46), Darelle Stewart, Tom Carlse, Tom Johnson, Tom Jewers, Ross Murphy, Ray Knight, Ryan Croucher, Harry Goldsmith (Elliot West 46), Tom Collins, Sam Carter (James Naylor 66).
Substitutes not used: Josh Kennedy, Sam Jeal.
Cautioned: Stewart (86 - foul tackle).
Referee: Ian Fissenden (Gillingham).
Assistant Referees: Christopher Myatt (Dartford) & Lee Dyson (Gravesend).
Thanks to the Shrimpers Trust website for the reprinting of these reports, for the Trust's own youth section: www.shrimperstrust.co.uk