Young Bees seen off by Shrimpers Birthday Boys

Birthday boys Julian Okai and George Smith had extra reason to celebrate turning 18-years-old as their goals helped Southend United record a 2-1 Football League Youth Alliance South East Conference success at Barnet.

Okai netted on his birthday at Barnet's training ground in Edgware to put Blues' Under-18s 1-0 up before Smith, two days his elder, struck sixty seconds later to double the advantage as Ricky Duncan's side withstood the dismissal of Hicham Abdellah and Neil Johnston's late strike to claim their sixth away victory of the season.

Duncan was without the services of Teddy Nesbitt, who was unwell, plus midfielders Alex Woodyard and Lyle Della-Verde, both of whom were required to remain in Essex as cover for the first-team squad. This facilitated a first call-up to the squad for Under-16 talent Robert Hyams, although he maintained a watching brief from the substitutes' bench.

Despite extremely boggy conditions at The Hive, particularly down the right flank as the Shrimpers attacked in the first half, Southend persisted with a high-tempo passing brand of football during the opening stages, although they were unable to threaten Tom Coulton's goal.

Instead it was the hosts that had the first shot in anger after 11 minutes as Matt Newman capitalised on Hicham Abdellah's misplaced pass in midfield, only to fire wildly off-target from 20 yards out. Blues also enjoyed an escape two minutes later when Callum Adebeye nodded down a corner for Jamal Lowe, with the forward's hooked effort deflected past the right-hand post.

Southend took the lead in the 21st minute after Abdellah had been upended in an advanced position on the right wing. James Stevens' free-kick was initially blocked, but the ball fell to Michael Hyland, and he found his skipper, who was still stationed by the right-hand touchline. Stevens directed his pass towards the onrushing Okai, and he made no mistake in clinically dispatching his shot from the edge of the penalty area into the net via the left-hand upright.

A minute later, the Shrimpers were celebrating for a second time. Republic of Ireland Under-16 international Hyland was involved again, winning possession in midfield before offloading to his countryman. Smith turned inside and out to engineer an opening before curling his shot around George McCluskey and over the outstretched right hand of Coulton.

The Bees' goalkeeper kept his team in the match with a string of fine saves during the second portion of the first half as the visitors began to turn on the style. Stevens and Duane Ofori-Acheampong set up Smith just outside the penalty area in the 25th minute, and his precise chip was tipped over at the last minute by Coulton.

Seven minutes on Coulton was called upon to acrobatically push a fierce Okai shot over the crossbar, and he later managed to parry out a deflected Hyland drive to leave Blues frustrated.

At the other end Luke Chambers, who had dealt admirably with a series of crosses in the opening gambits, matched his opposite number as he stuck out a right leg to keep out Luke Gambin's low drive after Ryan Auger's sliding tackle had deflected the ball goalwards, and he followed that up by clutching a dipping Johnston free-kick despite being unsighted.

With the final action of the first half, Barnet served warning of their intentions after the break as captain Kieron Weekes raced onto a high ball and slid his shot across the face of goal. Within five minutes of the restart, Chambers had been forced out of his goal to gather the ball at the feet of forward George Sykes.

Coulton made a magnificent fingertip save from Stevens after the playmaker had received a rolled free-kick from Okai in the 57th minute, and again Chambers proved to be his equal as play switched immediately to the other end with the former Arsenal and Derby County shotstopper leaping spectacularly to push a strong Newman effort out.

An intricate move involving Okai, Ofori-Acheampong and Smith culminated in Smith drawing another save from Coulton, but the match was turned upside-down when Abdellah received his second yellow card of the morning for clipping the heels of Johnston in the centre of the pitch.

To their credit Southend continued to push on, even having been reduced to ten men, with a skidding Ofori-Acheampong effort palmed away again by Coulton, but they were caught out ten minutes from the end when the custodian's booming goal-kick was chased down by Weekes and Sykes, and the pair created an opportunity for Johnston to tap into the bottom right-hand corner.

Tempers frayed as Blues set about maintaining their narrow advantage, and substitutes Rhys Mackay, Jack Paxman and Fope Coker were introduced to bring fresh legs into the match. Although Barnet tried hard, they could not break down a resilient Shrimpers defence, and instead the final opportunity fell to Paxman in the last minute as he scuffed wide after good build-up play from Coker and Ofori-Acheampong.

Southend United: Luke Chambers, Ryan Auger, Louis Baucutt, James Stevens, Michael Hassini, Anthony Furlonge, Hicham Abdellah, Michael Hyland (Rhys Mackay 83), Duane Ofori-Acheampong, George Smith (Jack Paxman 84), Julian Okai (Fope Coker 86).

Substitute not used: Robert Hyams.

Goals: Okai (21), Smith (22).