Blues striker Dougie Freedman made it three goals from four pre-season friendlies when he tapped home the winner from a few yards against Chelmsford on Saturday.
However, the 35-year-old has admitted to www.southendunited.co.uk how close he was to giving up his football if he had picked up another injury during the summer after missing chunks of last season through various problems.
Speaking to the official site Dougie said: "If I had broken down again during the summer then I would have given up. I said to myself at the end of last season that if I was going to carry on then I would need to work really hard during the summer and that's what I've done. I gave myself a couple of days off and, while the rest of the lads headed off to the beach, I was working hard. I've been concentrating on strength work and stretching and I'm feeling good again but if I had got injured then I would have just retired."
Even after his early spurt of scoring Freedman is not getting excited as he knows he has to take this goal scoring form into the League season where it really matters.
Dougie is also well aware the position the team finds itself at present: "We need to be realistic and I don't think we are going to go and win the league. We have a small squad but we do have some quality in it and I think we can figure in the top half. If the manager can add one or two more players like he did last season then hopefully we can push on from there and be pushing to get into the play-offs via the back door."