Despite the reverse, boss Ricky Duncan was happy with his team's showing as they dominated the chances in an exciting encounter: "I was pleased with the performance today," he confirmed. "Anyone that watched that game this morning will have seen a lot of good footballers playing for us, and that's what we're here to do - bring good footballers through."

From the very first minute Blues represented a real threat and Julian Okai sent an early skidding shot across the face of goal while, at the other end, Daniel Bentley gratefully clutched a close-range header above his head.

That was a rare foray forward for Millwall as the hosts pressed on in the early stages and Anthony Furlonge was desperately unlucky to see his chip from a Ryan Auger corner bounce on the top of the crossbar. Excellent build-up play from Southend then saw Auger centre George Smith's incisive pass for Okai and, when the winger was crowded out, Duane Ofori-Acheampong's effort was deflected wide of the left-hand upright.

However, Duncan's teams have endured a torrid time against the Lions over the past two seasons, losing on six successive occasions since an opening day victory two years ago, and they found themselves behind again in the 17th minute to an unstoppable shot. A corner kick was cleared out to one of Millwall's central defenders 35 yards from goal and he lashed the ball into the net via the underside of the bar to leave Bentley no chance.

The Shrimpers' swift reply was a downward Furlonge corner from another Auger flag-kick, but Millwall's goalkeeper dived to his left to save at his toecaps. With the hosts maintaining their passing game, a long-range James Stevens' effort was deflected into the path of Auger, who flashed a half-volley wide before the first half closed with Alex Woodyard and Auger both seeing shots charged down on the edge of the penalty area.

In between, Bentley had made a fantastic stop at point-blank range to deny the south Londoners' captain at the back post, but there was nothing the former Arsenal custodian could do twenty seconds after the restart when the same player connected with a right-wing cross to side-foot the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net and make it 2-0.

"You can't allow for Millwall's first goal - to hit the ball like that from 35 yards was incredible - but a lack of discipline cost us with the second straight after the break," admitted Duncan. "In another game, though, we'd've scored four or five times as their goalkeeper was the Man of the Match today. In previous games, we've probably not tested their 'keeper enough, but today the performance and attitude was excellent."

Just eight minutes after that goal, Blues had a good opportunity to reduce the deficit as Kane Ferdinand was tugged back in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty. Stevens, usually so clinical with a dead ball, stepped up to stroke the spot-kick goalwards but saw the goalkeeper guess correctly to push the ball out for corner.

Left-back Teddy Nesbitt was next to go close for Blues as he collected the ball when a Millwall defender had closed down Okai on the left, but the second-year scholar's fierce shot cleared the crossbar by a matter of millimetres.

Smith's shot from 10 yards out then took a touch off of a defender to divert it into the side-netting before target man Ofori-Acheampong went even closer with a hanging header from Stevens' swinging set-piece that the goalkeeper parried out.

Bentley made a smart save himself 13 minutes from time to keep the lead manageable but, even after the introduction of first-year substitutes Michael Hyland, Hicham Abdellah and Jack Paxman, Southend maintained their attacking momentum to carve out chances.

Winger Okai nodded Furlonge's right-wing cross narrowly over and the 'keeper again thwarted Blues at the end, somehow stopping Ferdinand's headed effort from crossing the line, leaving Head of Youth Duncan to focus on the numerous positives ahead of next week's fixture away at Leyton Orient.

"I asked the whole team for 90 minutes of effort and commitment today, and I got that," he said. "I'm sure that we will beat many sides with a display like that. I don't like to single out players, but I thought that Kane Ferdinand was excellent today; he grew in confidence and he is a really good quality centre-half. Anthony Furlonge, too, got more and more involved as the match went on, but I'm pleased with everyone."

Southend United U18s: Daniel Bentley, Anthony Furlonge, Teddy Nesbitt, James Stevens, Louis Baucutt, Kane Ferdinand, Ryan Auger (Hicham Abdellah 64), Alex Woodyard (Michael Hyland 82), George Smith (Jack Paxman 70), Duane Ofori-Acheampong, Julian Okai.

Substitutes not used: Luke Chambers, Rhys Mackay.