Anthony Grant bagged his first Roots Hall goal at the right end to secure Southend United a 1-1 draw with West Ham United tonight.

Grant drilled home a 20 yard shot midway through the second half to cancel out Alessandro Diamanti's opener for the Hammers.

And the effort ensured Blues ended their pre-season schedule in encouraging fashion in front of a crowd of 8,008.

The size of the crowd meant kick off was delayed for 15 minutes and, when it did eventually get underway, the game started slowly.

West Ham livened up proceedings by carving open the first opportunity of the evening as Pablo Barrera's right wing corner was flicked on to Manuel Da Costa but the defender could only fire over at the back post.

Moments later and, with nine minutes on the clock, former Blues loanee Junior Stanislas unleashed a scorching long range shot which Southend goalkeeper Glenn Morris could only collect at the second attempt.

Morris then kept out a close range header from Freddie Piquoinne before Blues, who had trialist left-back Chris Barker and midfielder Ben Gill in their starting line-up, hit back with Luke Prosser heading over a Louie Soares corner.

West Ham were soon back on top though and they almost opened the scoring in the 20th minute but Anthony Edgar's low drive was well blocked by the legs of Morris.

Southend replied with their first effort on target as a 25 yard free kick from Barry Corr was smothered by Marek Stech.

With play switching back to the other end of the field, Piquoinne fired just wide of the left post from the edge of the penalty area and, just before the break, a delicate chip from Diamanti was kept out by Morris.

The second half began in uneventful fashion but Blues boss Paul Sturrock made three substitutions in opening 11 minutes with Bilel Mohsni, Adam Bizoud and Matt Paterson entering the action.

Despite that it was the Hammers who broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute as a 20 yard shot from Diamanti took a deflection on its way over Morris' head and in to the back of the North Bank net.

But Southend were behind for just eight minutes as a quick free kick from Soares was rolled in to the path of Grant who blasted the ball past an unsighted Stech from the edge of the penalty area.

Blues continued to push forward with Luke Prosser failing to convert an angled volley from skipper Craig Easton but West Ham also pushed forward with Stanislas being denied by Morris in the closing stages.

Southend United: Morris, Clohessy (Mohsni 46), Phillips, Prosser, Barker, Soares (Sturrock 77), Grant (Herd 88), Easton, Gill (Bizoud 56), Spencer (Paterson 56), Corr (Zaaboub 77)

Subs not used: Evans, Coughlan, Crawford, James-Lewis and Hall

West Ham United: Stech, Spector (Spence 77), Daprela, Gabbidon, Da Costa (Fry 63) , Kovac, Edgar (Lee 63), Diamanti (Sears 87), Piquoinne (Nouble 71), Stanislas, Barrera (Montano 71)

Subs not used: Kurucz, Eyjolfsson, Moncur and Brown