The red card received by Marcus Milner on the half hour was the turning point, however the Shrimpers Under-18 side remain top of the Youth Allinace league even after this heavy defeat at the hands of second place QPR.
Milner was sent off for an off the ball incident and Head of Youth Rikky Duncan felt his team were dong well enough until the boy Marcus let his temper get the better of him.
Duncan told www.southendunited.co.uk: "We started the game really well and to be honest, I thought there was only going to be one winner. We had a good hold on the game and QPR weren't troubling us, but Milner has had a run with their full-back. He knocked Marcus over as they were both going for the ball. Their full-back then ran back and made some comment and Marcus has slapped him around the head and been given a straight red card."
Expressing his disappointment for the team, and in Milner, Duncan knew it would be difficult to hang on from there, and sure enough, only five minutes after the incident, the boys, literally, from the Bush, had taken the lead.
The Shrimper Under-18's continued to play good football and keep possession, Justin Hazell going close to an equaliser, but the one man advantage was sure to tell at some stage and within a couple of minutes just after the hour Rangers had sown the game up.
A sharp counter attack and a penalty after Alex Woodyard had handled, a tough decision against the youngster, made it 3-0.
And even time for a fourth who have four games left to repeat the Championship winning feat of last season.
Duncan concluded: "I can't fault the 10 boys and substitutes, because I thought they worked ever so hard to try and get back into the game. After the match, Marcus apologised to all the players. he has never done anything like that before and I think he'll learn from that, but it cost us three points against QPR."
For the Trust's own youth section, go here:
www.shrimperstrust.co.uk/home.asp?page_id=10