KANE Ferdinand fired Southend United to a 3-2 victory at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday — and then confirmed he remains firmly focused on hitting top form for Blues.

Ferdinand, who scored twice in the hard-fought triumph at Victoria Road, continues to be linked with a switch to West Ham United.

But the young midfielder insists he will not be fazed by the ongoing speculation.

“You can’t let it get to you and you have no choice but to focus on your game and carry on,” said Ferdinand, 19.

“You can’t be affected by any of it and just have to try to keep on playing well to help the team get good results.”

Ferdinand was able to do that against Dagenham at the weekend as his double strike extended Southend’s unbeaten run to 14 matches.

The win also kept them two points clear at the top of the table but Ferdinand and his team-mates had to work hard to pick up three points.

“It was a tough derby game and Dagenham really had a go at us,” said Ferdinand, who was joined on the score-sheet by Liam Dickinson.

“Their front players were a handful but thankfully we were able to come out on top and, for me personally, it was nice to get a couple of goals.”

Ferdinand has now netted six times this season but his latest efforts came in a victory Blues boss Paul Sturrock felt was undeserved.

“If I was the manager of Dagenham I would be very disappointed at not getting anything from the game,” said Sturrock.

“We were second best in the second half to say the least and the boys had to battle again to get the victory.

“I’ve been saying that too many times lately and three or four of our last few performances haven’t been up to standard, but we’re still churning out the results, which is encouraging.”

FULL STORY IN MONDAY'S ECHO