ROHAN Ricketts ran Great Wakering Rovers ragged at Burroughs Park tonight to inspire Southend United to a 5-0 victory.

The former Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur winger is currently on trial at Roots Hall and produced an eye catching display which contained a hat-trick of strikes.

His fellow trialist, right back Ryan Leonard, was on target for the second game in succession while substitute Harry Crawford also hit the back of the net for Blues.

Paul Sturrock's side were on top for the majority of the match but, inside the first minute, Wakering striker Billy Hunt fired wide of the right post from 16 yards after Blues captain Luke Prosser had made a mess of an attempted clearance.

Moments later, Southend hit back with Merrick James-Lewis shooting just over from 25 yards and, with 10 minutes on the clock, the young midfielder again went close from long range – shooting in to the grateful gloves of Wakering goalkeeper Louis Godwin Green.

The lively James-Lewis then turned provider to tee up trialist striker Jake Thomson whose right wing cross picked out by Ricketts, but his goalbound six yard shot was impressively blocked by a sliding Scott Keys.

With Blues remaining on top, Jamie Stevens soon sent a scorching 30 yard volley inches past the left post before the visitors opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with Ricketts grabbing his first goal of the night.

The winger swapped passes with Thomson before impressively delaying his shot to wrong-foot the advancing Green and tap home in to an unguarded goal from six yards.

Ricketts was then at it again in the 38th minute as he superbly cut in off the left flank and unleashed a stunning curling shot from 25 yards in to the top right hand corner of the net.

Blues made just one change during the break with Graham Coughlan replacing Prosser at the heart of the defence.

And, in the 52nd minute, they made it 3-0 with Ricketts completing his hat-trick from the penalty spot.

The 28-year-old drilled his spot-kick in to the bottom left hand corner of the net after Leonard had been brought down inside the area by Wakering centre-back Nikki Beale.

Darren Currie and substitute George Smith then both went close to scoring before another of the second half replacements, Crawford, drilled home a low, right footed shot from 16 yards in the 73rd minute of the match.

Kyle Asante then struck the Wakering crossbar from 25 yards before Blues completed the scoring in unbelievable fashion late on as Leonard struck the ball over the head of the home-side's shocked goalkeeper Andre Childs-Foster from just inside his own half.

The effort came 24 hours after Leonard also netted a screaming shot at Dartford to help Southend win their first two pre season friendlies of the summer.

Southend United: Bentley, Leonard, Parkinson, Prosser (Coughlan 46), Nesbitt (Gilbert 60), Currie (Crawford 70), Woodyard (Sawyer 60), James-Lewis (Asante 70), Stevens (Smith 60), Ricketts (Thomas 70), Thomson (N'Diaye 60)