Freddy Eastwood and schoolboy Adetayo Adeooja both bagged braces as the Southend United under-18 side defeated Barnet 4-1 at Boots & Laces.

Blues made it back-to-back home wins with the victory.

And goalscorer Eastwood was pleased to see the team register their second triumph of the campaign.

“I thought we played some good football,” said Eastwood.

“Last week was a tough one to take at Northampton because we played a lot of good football and we were undone by a penalty.

“Our heads dropped there a little bit but we bounced back and we took our chances.”

The Shrimpers’ success was underpinned by a change in formation to 3-5-2.

And Eastwood felt the new system worked well.

“Every chance we got we more or less put away,” said the youngster.

“We looked like a threat going forwards and the 3-5-2 formation worked well for us and it helped us to break Barnet down.

“I played more as a striker than I had in recent weeks and I enjoyed it.”

Eastwood fired Blues in front after 33 minutes but Barnet equalised 18 seconds into the second half when George Murphy tapped home.

However, parity lasted just three minutes as Adeooja, making just his second start for the youth team, rifled home.

Adeooja made it 3-1 in the 83rd minute with another good finish and, just three minutes later, Blues sealed their win with Eastwood netting an impressive effort.

The Shrimpers are back in action on Tuesday afternoon as they take on MK Dons in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup.