Tom Cairney took just seven minutes to find the back of the net on his senior debut as the Tigers made it through to Round Three of the Carling Cup with a 3-1 win against Southend United at the KC Stadium on Tuesday night.

Cairney's strike was added to by Jozy Altidore and Geovanni, although the spirited League One visitors made sure it wasn't always a comfortable night for the youthful Tigers.

Cairney, on from the start, wasn't the only one for whom this was a special night as Will Atkinson made his first senior start with City boss Phil Brown making eleven changes to the side that started in the Premier League against Bolton Wanderers at the weekend.

Jozy Altidore was in from the off for the first time.

Craig Fagan, Liam Cooper and Nicky Featherstone made their first starts of the campaign.

Nick Barmby captained the side.

Peter Halmosi played at left back with Fagan partnering Altidore up front.

Ex-Tiger Kevin Betsy was amongst the Southend subs.

A debut turned into a dream for Cairney inside eight minutes.

Picking up Barmby's pass following some neat build up play, the young midfielder curled a beautiful left-footed shot over goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall and into the top corner of the net from 20 yards.

As you would expect, City were looking comfortable in possession with Cooper getting plenty of touches at the back.

Chances, though, were few and far between.

Doyle was booked for a 31st-minute challenge on Franck Moussa which gave the visitors a chance to load the box, but their set-piece routine failed abnd City were able to break away.

Barmby's pass almost sent Altidore clear, but the away defence recovered before the American striker could get a shot away.

Jean Francois Christophe was then booked for a late tackle on Featherstone.

City doubled their lead with a free kick in the 42nd minute.

Altidore won the set-piece and from it, he drilled a low shot just inside Mildenhall's right-hand post from 25 yards to register his first goal in black and amber.

But it was far from game over as Southend pulled a goal back just before the break.

The ball dropped for Moussa on the edge of the box and he fired home past a motionless Tony Warner.

Half Time: Tigers 2-1 Southend

The first action of the second half saw Atkinson booked for a foul on Christophe.

City were still prodicing some neat passing play but without really troubling the Southend back line, although Altidore did bring a save out of Mildenhall with a low shot from distance.

City's first change of the evening came after an hour as Geovanni replaced Barmby.

Warner was called into action on 64 minutes when Alex Revell was played into the box, the goalkeeper rushing off his line to block the striker's shot.

The keeper was forced to make another save moments later after Featherstone had carelessly gifted possession to Lee Barnard.

The Southend man advanced with the ball before firing straight at Warner from 25 yards.

As Southend continued to go in search of an equaliser, a cross from the left somehow went all the way through to Anthony Grant at the back post, and Warner again had to come off his line to prevent the ball finding the net.

The pressure from the away side brought about a double City change with 16 minutes to go as Kevin Kilbane and Kamel Ghilas replaced Cairney and Atkinson.

A minute later, City went 3-1 up.

Nathan Doyle's shot was blocked, but the ball dropped kindly for Geovanni who volleyed home into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Geovanni wasn't far away from finding the net again in the 81st minute with a swerving, dipping free kick that just went over the bar.

Four minutes of added time saw Southend substitute Lee Sawyer booked for a foul on Featherstone and a Moussa shot saved by Warner.

Tigers (4-1-2-1-2) Tony Warner; Nathan Doyle, Steven Mouyokolo, Liam Cooper, Peter Halmosi; Nicky Featherstone; Nick Barmby [captain] (Geovanni 60), Tom Cairney (Kilbane 74); Will Atkinson (Ghilas 74); Craig Fagan, Jozy Altidore.

Subs: Matt Duke, Kamil Zayatte, Bernard Mendy, Kevin Kilbane, Geovanni, Kamel Ghilas, Daniel Cousin.

Bookings: Doyle 31, Atkinson 48. 

Southend United (4-4-2) Steve Mildenhall; Simon Francis, Matt Heath, Jean Yves M'Voto, Adam Barrett [captain]; Anthony Grant (Betsy 69), Jean Francois Christophe (Sawyer 78), Alan McCormack, Franck Moussa; Lee Barnard (Walker 83), Alex Revell.

Subs: Ian Joyce, James Walker, Damien Scannell, Osei Sankofa, Dougie Freedman, Kevin Betsy, Lee Sawyer.

Bookings: Christophe 37, Sawyer 90.