Southend United made a late swoop on transfer deadline day to complete the signing of Dougie Freedman.

The Scottish striker put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal at Roots Hall after leaving Crystal Palace.

Freedman experienced life at this level last season with a spell on loan at Leeds United, where he scored five league goals in 11 appearances.

Freedman opened his account with the team by scoring on his debut in a 2-1 defeat at Carlisle United this season with a brilliant strike from 25 yards.

The 34-year-old began his career at Barnet where 27 goals in 47 appearances bagged the prolific goalscorer a £800,000 move to Crystal Palace in 1995.

He spent two years at Selhurst Park before where he scored a further 31 times before moving to Wolves in another £800,000 move.

That spell lasted just a year before Freedman was back on the road again, this time at Nottingham Forest for a fee approaching £1million.

However, he soon returned back to Palace in 2000 for £600,000. He played 264 times and hit the back of the net on a further 64 occasions - spending the latter part of last season on loan at Leeds.

Having recently completed a testimonial with Crystal Palace, Freedman was told that he was free to leave and duly joined Southend.

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