Southend United midfielder Alan McCormack marked his first full 90 minutes of the season by scoring twice for Blues reserves in a 3-2 win over Stevenage Borough at Roots Hall this afternoon.

The tough tackling midfielder, who picked up a knee injury before the start of the term, bagged a brace against the Blue Square Premier League side.

And he was joined on the score-sheet by Francis Laurent as Southend's second string secured a fourth successive win.

They piled on the pressure early on and, after just four minutes, Francis Laurent raced onto a through ball from Damian Scannell but from a narrow angle the French striker could only fire his shot into the side netting.

Moments later, the same players combined again but Laurent's effort from a goalbound Scannell shot was ruled out for offside and, in the 13th minute, Jamie Forshaw volleyed over a cross-field ball from Laurent.

In reply, Callum Willock curled a 20 yard shot straight at Ian Joyce but Blues were soon back on top with Charles Ademeno sending a left foot effort, from a similar distance, just past the right post.

With 23 minutes on the clock, Ademeno again unleashed a long range left foot shot which was smothered by Ashley Bayes but the visitors then also created a chance to break the deadlock with Anthony Thomas sending a deflected 16 yard strike over the crossbar after Callum Whitlock had sped away from Callum Whittaker.

Whittaker then saw a close range effort tipped over by Joyce and, with Borough beginning to get on top, Leslie Thompson sent a left foot shot from the edge of the area just wide of the right post.

But it was Southend who opened the scoring just a minute before the break when Laurent broke the Stevenage offside trap to race onto a through ball from Scannell and beat the advancing Bayes from 12 yards via the inside of the right post.

Six minutes into the second period, the returning McCormack headed home a right wing corner from Johnny Herd and within 60 seconds the midfielder was celebrating again as he burst into the box to meet a low, left wing cross from Ademeno and fired a left foot shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net from six yards.

Scannell then almost made it 4-0 a well struck left foot shot from 20 yards and, in the 61st minute, Laurent somehow fired over a gaping goal from three yards before having another effort ruled out for offside.

Stevenage did reply with a fine individual goal from Anthony Thomas as he jinked his way through the Southend defence in the 66th minute before blasting the ball into the North Bank net.

Three minutes later, Borough added another as Willock rounded the advancing Joyce and rolled the ball into the back of the net with his left foot from 18 yards.

They then almost equalised when Willock lobbed Joyce but his saw his effort headed to safety by Ricky Byrne but Borough continued to threaten.

An ambitious effort by Thompson, from the half-way line, was just kept out by a back-pedalling Joyce and the American keeper then saw Thomas flash a low right foot shot across the face of goal.

Southend eased the pressure when Scannell broke forward to unleash a left foot shot which Bayes tipped around the left post and Dean Austin's side managed to see out the remainder of the match to seal another victory at this level.

Southend: Joyce, Byrne (Owinja 89), Whittaker, Jones, Herd, Scannell, McCormack, O'Keefe, Forshaw, Laurent, Ademeno

Subs not used: McDonald, Abbey and Calver

Photo: Graham Bridgeman-Clarke