SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher praised Blues’ players and fans following Saturday’s 1-0 win at Chelmsford City.

An early header from Josh Walker handed the Shrimpers a narrow victory in their final pre-season friendly of the summer.

And Maher was pleased to triumph in front of a crowd of close to 2,000 at the Melbourne Stadium.

“It was great to see so many fans turning out in the big numbers like they did and it was pleasing to win it too,” said Maher.

“It was important for the players to get more minutes which hopefully puts us in good stead for the season starting next week now.”

Walker’s close range header, which came after just four minutes, made sure of the win for Blues.

Maher was delighted to see the striker hit the back of the net for the fourth time this pre-season but felt his side had enough opportunities to triumph by a far greater margin.

“It was good to see Josh score again and you can see he’s alive and bright inside the six yard box,” said Maher.

“He could have had another one, Cards (Harry Cardwell) had a couple of chances and (Oli) Coker had one too so it could’ve been a tad more comfortable in terms of the score-line.

“But overall it’s a good exercise on a really difficult pitch.”

Blues will now return to training ahead of Saturday’s National League opener against York City at Roots Hall.

And Maher cannot wait for the season to start.

“It’s a week of work to go now and then we look forward to facing York,” said the Blues boss.

“All the lads are in a decent place and that’s the most important thing.

“The pitches have been sticky where we’ve been and we’re glad it’s over now.

“We look forward to Saturday now.”