Trialists impress as Southend triumph at Braintree

Stephen Brogan scored twice.

EX-ROTHERHAM winger Stephen Brogan caught the eye as Southend continued their warm-up fixtures at Braintree Town.
The 24-year-old trialist was on target twice in three minutes midway through the second half to hand Blues victory.
Paul Sturrock’s side were also indebted to former Scotland under-21 goalkeeper Mark Brown, on trial from Hibs, who denied Sean Marks and Daniel Sparkes during the first half.
Sturrock praised both Brogan, who has been trialling at Exeter, and Brown in his post-match interview, giving clues they may be on the plane when Blues fly out to Madrid on Friday.
Other guest appearances came from ex-Bournemouth midfielder John Spicer, who laid on Brogan’s first with a well-weighted through pass, ex-Sheffield United front man Jordan Robertson, anchor man Yoann Folly, tidy American midfielder Anton Peterlin and a central defender called Mohamed, who hails from the Yemen.
Kevan Hurst had two good chances in the first half before Marks and Sparkes tried their best to give Blues food for thought.
But the opening goal came from Brogan, whose 20-yard daisy cutter found the corner of the net just past the hour mark.
His second on 64 minutes was a delightfully-taken 16-yard chip over former Blues stopper Nathan McDonald.
The match petered out in typical pre-season fashion, but Sturrock will be pleased with the performance and clean sheet against a side only one level below Southend and who have scored 16 goals in three previous friendly matches.

Advertisement