Southend United jetted home last night following what boss Steve Tilson described as a ?fantastic pre-season tour?.

The newly-promoted Shrimpers spent a week in Bermuda preparing for a season in the League Championship with double training sessions daily and a 3-2 victory over the national team last Friday in a tribute match to former player Shaun Goater.

They touched down in England this morning and will be back at their training ground tomorrow for ?two weeks of really hard work? and a slew of pre-season friendlies before the season kicks off on August 6 against Stoke City.

?It really has been great,? said Tilson, just before teeing off at Belmont Hills on a final day spent playing golf and watching the World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany.

?The Island is lovely, the people have been very friendly to us and I think the guys have worked hard. Yeah, it?s been fantastic to see where Shaun is from and I think it has been a great start to our pre-season.?

The side, based at Grotto Bay, did most of their training at the east end of the Island, running from the hotel across the Causeway to train at Kindley Field before running back.

And it was during those training runs that Bermuda?s hospitality most impressed Tilson.

?It was really nice, people were shouting out ?Up the Shrimpers? and beeping their horns while we were running along the bridge,? continued an enthusiastic Tilson, who added that if the side could avoid relegation this season then he might try and persuade the chairman to bring them back out again next year.

?That?s one of the things that has impressed me the most, the people have been great, particularly at the hotel, and made us feel really welcome. We came out here to say thank you to Shaun and the reaction we have had from people has been great.?

Although it is understood there have been some logistical problems with the tour such as locked gates at the National Sports Centre North Field when the team turned up for training and a lack of food at an event the Department of Tourism invited them to which saw Goater step up as pizza delivery boy to save the day, Tilson had nothing negative to say about the trip.

?I?ve got no complaints whatsoever,? he said.

?It?s been great and we have got what we wanted out of it. We worked harder than I think we were expecting to, the lads trained twice a day in this heat and did very well.

?The match also proved to be a great fitness workout for us so I think we have had a good start to the pre-season in that sense.

?And from a bonding point of view it has been excellent. All the lads have got on well and we have had four new signings here and spending 24 hours a day with each other will have been good for them.

?It?s always an important part of the tour and there have been no problems and the boys have all got on really well ? I?m definitely glad we came.?

And contrary to reports on the TV news on Monday, rising star Keishen Bean is not heading on trial to Roots Hall.

The North Village striker was invited to train with Southend here earlier in the week but was unable to do so because of a prior commitment.