Shrimpers carry off third win in a row
SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown felt his side made hard work of their first win at York City since 1987.
The Shrimpers triumphed at Bootham Crescent to secure their third win in succession.
But Brown felt the victory should have been more comfortable.
“It was a hard earned but that’s what we made it by causing ourselves the problems,” he said.
“I don’t think York really caused us too many problems, we caused them ourselves.
“The corner they scored from for the first goal was avoidable and the second one we conceded we should have done better with too.
“But we got the win and this week will go a long way to our young players learning their trade.
“We had enough quality to see it through and Jack Payne really caused them problems in the role he played.”
Southend took just nine minutes to open the scoring, with Myles Weston firing home a well taken penalty.
Referee Paul Tierney pointed to the spot after a bright run in to the penalty area from Payne who was upended by Marvin McCoy.
And Weston made no mistake from 12 yards.
York drew level on the stroke of half-time with skipper Russell Penn heading home.
The midfielder was picked out six yards from goal after Keith Lowe volleyed Luke Summerfield’s right-wing corner back in to the box and made no mistake with a firm header.
But seven minutes after the break, Southend went back in front with Kevan Hurst netting his first goal of the season.
The winger reacted sharply when goalkeeper Michael Ingham poorly spilt a chipped ball in to the box from Payne and fired home with his left foot from 10 yards.
The visitors remained on top and extended their advantage even further in the 78th minute.
The excellent Payne started and finished the move by releasing David Worrall down the left hand side before charging forward and meeting his cross with a fantastic, right footed finish from 20 yards. The strike should have killed the game off, but York hit back in the 85th minute when Dave Winfield headed home a fine right wing cross from McCoy.
However, the Shrimpers were able to hang on to record all three points and that frustrated York boss Nigel Worthington.
“The energy and commitment was there,” said Worthington.
“But individual mistakes cost us very dear and we’re obviously disappointed with the result.
“We have to start dealing with the ball much better and limit chances.”