Southend United slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Stevenage Borough in their final pre-season outing.
Two first half goals did the damage, as the Blues struggled to warm to the task from the start, only to threaten a comeback after the interval.
Franck Moussa pulled a goal back and with over 20 minutes remaining there was still time to apply the pressure, but it was Blue Square Premier outfit Stevenage who held out for the victory.
Stacey Long created the first serious chance of the night when he turned Simon Francis to work his way into the penalty area before unleashing a fierce shot straight at Steve Mildenhall, which was comfortably gathered.
But just moments later Stevenage were on the attack again and this time the hosts did find the back of the net through Joel Byrom in the 13th minute.
Lee Boylan drilled a low strike which Mildenhall got down to save, but this time he couldn't hold on to the ball and Byrom reacted quickest to rifle the rebound into the roof of the net.
The initiative was firmly in the hosts favour and just four minutes later they doubled their advantage.
Darren Murphy took aim from roughly 25 yards out with a low strike, which Mildenhall struggled to deal with, as he fumbled the ball into his own net.
Another long range strike then nearly brought about a third goal for Stevenage at the end of the first half, with Scott Laird drilling a 30 yard shot which cannoned off the underside of the crossbar.
Southend came out looking sharper for the second half, with Alex Revell heading off target at the near post from Anthony Grant's right wing cross.
Moussa then came close to reducing the arrears when he was played into the penalty box by Alan McCormack and fizzed a low shot which struck the outside of the left-hand post.
The Blues continued to pepper the Stevenage goal, with Francis flashing a low shot from distance that sailed narrowly wide of goal and they soon got back into the match in the 69th minute.
James Walker fed Moussa inside the box and the Belgian midfielder did the rest with a low strike underneath the body of goalkeeper Chris Day.
Revell had a great chance to pull Southend level when he fired over from 12 yards, after excellent work down the right from Laurent allowed him to lay the ball off inside the box.
Southend continued to push forward in search of an equaliser, but it wasn't forthcoming, and they closed out their pre-season fixtures with a 2-1 defeat, with the League One opener at home to Huddersfield Town now just over a week away.
Southend: Mildenhall, Francis, White, Heath, Gilbert, Laurent, Grant, McCormack, Moussa, Walker, Revell.
