Southend United maintained their pre-season success on the road, with a 1-0 victory at Chelmsford City.

A first half goal from Dougie Freedman was enough to separate the two sides and secure the Blues' fourth successive friendly win.

Southend were lively in attack from the start, with Freedman dummying a Franck Moussa pass which led to Francis Laurent blasting the ball over from a decent position.

Trialist defender Martin Camano was next in line when he came up for a corner and had an effort blocked from six yards out before Chelmsford responded at the other end.

Ricky Holmes played a low pass from the right directly into the path of Danny Hockton, but he could only strike the ball over the top from in front of goal.

The Blues remained on top though, with Craig Calver having a shot blocked from close range before Moussa collected a long pass over the top, but somehow shot wide of the target with goalkeeper Craig Holloway stranded.

A quick free kick from Southend presented Calver with a great opportunity after Laurent threaded him on goal, but the young striker shot into the side netting.

The Blues' pressure eventually paid off though when Freedman opened the scoring in the 33^rd minute.

Alan McCormack set Moussa on his way and although his low shot was impressively saved by Holloway, Freedman arrived on cue to turn the ball in.

In fact, Freedman had two other sights of goal to get on the scoresheet before half time, as he got under the ball too much inside the box before going on to strike the post, after a square pass from Calver.

Southend made eight changes at the interval and as they looked to settle into their stride, Chelmsford should have scored, with Jon Keeling wasting an opening when shooting over from 10 yards out.

Chances were at a premium though in the second half, with Lee Barnard having an effort ruled out for offside before Stuart O'Keefe was only denied by a great save from Holloway, who blocked his far post shot.

With the last real chance of the match, Alex Revell fired wide of the right-hand post, as Southend now look ahead to their only friendly to be played at Roots Hall on Wednesday against Ipswich Town.

Southend: Mildenhall (Joyce 46), Francis, Camano, Barrett (Herd 46), Bakayogo, Laurent (Betsy 46), McCormack (Christophe 46), Grant (Sawyer 46), Moussa (O'Keefe 46), Freedman (Revell 46), Calver (Barnard 46).