Bellamy and Ljungberg earn win for Hammers

Southend 1 West Ham 3

New signings Craig Bellamy and Freddie Ljungberg both found the net as West Ham eased to a 3-1 friendly win at Southend.

In a match marking the hosts’ centenary, a strong Hammers XI were led out by new captain Lucas Neill, and they were unlucky not to score midway through the first half when Bobby Zamora’s header hit the bar.

The former Brighton striker opened the scoring soon afterwards, however, when he headed Ljungberg’s crossfield ball over Darryl Flahavan in the 30th minute.

West Ham made it two 10 minutes later when Lee Bowyer headed against the bar and Belamy was on hand to nod in his first for the east Londoners.

A third came in the 50th minute when Zamora pounced on a poor backpass to round the goalkeeper and square for Ljungberg who fired home via a deflection.

The Shrimpers’ sole response came from Kevin Maher’s shot from the edge of the area.