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Blue tinted optimist⭐
There is something about a fixture against Swindon that conjures up special memories for me. Two of the finest games I have ever seen at the Hall have been against the Robins, a 5-3 victory in the early 80’s and a 3-2 victory in our first season in the old division 2, with Ian Benjamin laying the ball off for Brett Angell to volley into the top corner to nab one of his 2 goals in probably the most entertaining match in the last 15 years.
Even last season’s 2-3 reverse in the league cup was a cracker, and probably produced the most fluent and attractive 45 minutes of football played in the first half of the roller coaster ride that was the 2003/4 season, one of the most memorable campaigns in our history.
Following on from the 6-1 thumping Swindon handed out to us at the County Ground in this very competition the season before that (the last time we lost in the LDV, excluding last years final, incidentally) I reckon we owed them one.
It was probably a good time to be playing them. They have had some questionable results lately and manager Andy King obviously decided that a change of formation and personnel would be sufficient to face us. Perhaps he should have had a word with QPR manager Ian Holloway, who cites our 4 - 0 thumping of them at the same stage last season as the most humiliating result of his entire career. No doubt he would have advised him to field his strongest team in order to try and beat a Southend side that seem to save their best performances for this competition.
Arguably Blues also fielded a “weakened” side, with Eagle missing, Freddy on the bench and Mark Gower not fully fit. But this was the chance for Lawrie Dudfield to stake a claim and for Mark Bentley to maybe redeem himself after a few below par showings.
From the start, the difference in the oppositions class was evident as Swindon were a yard quicker and much more football orientated than recent visitors to the Hall. The 9 men behind the ball was missing, the clumsy and aimless lumps forward also absent, and Swindon actually got the ball down and tried to knock it about.
But once Southend got the tempo of the game, they started to carve the Wiltshire side open at every opportunity. Kavin Maher played a sublime ball through to a stretching Dudfield who toe poked the ball a fraction wide. Moments later Dudfield turned and outpaced Heywood (one of the worst defenders I’ve seen down here for a while) before shooting wide when he should have hit the target, and in almost the next attack another fine move saw Adam Barrett shoot wide from 8 yards out. In fairness, all 3 chances should have at least tested highly rated Rhys Evans, but he was not forced into a save.
Then, after 36 minutes, a comedy of errors led to Blues opening the scoring. Wilson and Bentley contrived to get in each others way before the ball was cleared towards the visiting goal. Defender Ifil trod on the ball and Dudfield raced clear before shooting goalwards. Evans half stopped the ball but was unable to stop the ball going over the line, probably assisted by Duke who was unable to clear. Still, they all count.
Highly rated forward Parkin had a chance to level but his header was easily gathered by a very impressive Flahavan, who has obviously realised his shortcomings and has been working on them accordingly. Good for you Darryl and well done.
At half time Blues were one up although three would have been fairer.
After a brief flurry at the start of the second half, Swindon were again on the back foot and were extremely lucky not to concede a second. Dudfield forced his way behind the back line and produced a superb reflex save from Evans when clean through. A corner a minute later saw Gray rise above everyone to power a header goalwards but again Evans foiled the striker by brilliantly tipping over. Then, 2 minutes later, only a last ditch tackle stopped Dudfield doubling the score as he was again clear with just the keeper to beat.
Swindon stepped up a gear, knowing that Blues had failed to capitalise but Southend stood firm. There was an immense amount of effort and work by every blue shirt as they showed that they wanted it more than their league one counterparts. Prior headed off the line to keep Blues ahead, and after 73 minutes the Hall erupted as a Nicolau corner crept under the feet and body of Evans to give Blues a 2 goal lead and more breathing space.
The Swindon onslaught never really materialised and although they had a lot of possession in the last 15 minutes they failed to capitalise. Fallon produced a fine save from Darryl in injury time but Blues had the last word as Nicolau went on a mazy run which forced Evans into yet another diving save to keep the ex Arsenal player at bay. Freddy came on for Gray in the 90th minute and the Southend faithful were cheering every pass whilst the visiting fans were calling for the managers head. After some Swindon huffing and puffing and a few further hurried and wayward goal attempts, the referee blew to signal the fact that Blues were in another LDV area final. This was made even sweeter by learning that Orient had been beaten in injury time in front of only 1800-odd supporters.
Awww. No-one like to see that, do they? They obviously don’t take it seriously enough.
Ratings:
Flahavan – 8.5. I cannot believe this is the same Darryl Flahavan we have had before. He has obviously been learning from Bart, because he is distributing the ball quicker than before and is also, wait for it….. <shock, horror> COMING FOR CROSSES! This would have been a 9 if it weren’t for a couple of dodgy kicks near the end. Darryl, you don’t have to learn about Bart’s kicking as well. Please note! But otherwise well done Mate, you were superb tonight.
Hunt – 8.5 – Another class performance from Lewis. He showed tonight why he has been able to play comfortably at a higher level. Excellent.
Prior – 8.5 – Superb. Totally commanding on the deck and in the air. Singled out for praise by Radio Swindon.
Barrett – 8 – Usual committed self and is proving what a great attribute he is. I’d have him over Leon Cort any day.
Wilson – 8.5 – Probably the best I have seen him play for us. Looked comfortable again up against league 1 attackers and linked up well with Nicky.
Pettefer – 8 – Back on the wide right due to Gowers lack of fitness and put in a superb defensive performance. Broke up many attacks and made some great tackles.
Maher – 8 – A strong, committed performance from the skipper, interspersed with some fine passes.
Bentley – 7 – An improved display but things just aren’t going for him. He seems to have lost co-ordination as many of his challenges are clumsy and his first touch is dreadful. Almost is trying too hard.
Nicolau – 9 – MOM. The best performance from him since he signed. He almost got a second after a superb mazy run and shot in injury time that forced a diving save from Evans. Superb.
Dudfield – 8 – Tireless and got the opener. On another day would have got a hat trick though.
Gray – 8 – Again, tireless and was desperately unlucky not to score. Nothing else seemed to go in his favour but back to the phenomenal work rate we have seen before.
Sub –
Eastwood – 6 – didn’t really have very long to get involved and only touched the ball once or twice.
The Ref –
Mr P Joslin – 4 – should have booked a couple of their players and obviously full of his own importance. Gave us next to nothing in the second half and made some very poor decisions, especially against Bentley whom he seemed to blow up for almost every time he got the ball.
Even last season’s 2-3 reverse in the league cup was a cracker, and probably produced the most fluent and attractive 45 minutes of football played in the first half of the roller coaster ride that was the 2003/4 season, one of the most memorable campaigns in our history.
Following on from the 6-1 thumping Swindon handed out to us at the County Ground in this very competition the season before that (the last time we lost in the LDV, excluding last years final, incidentally) I reckon we owed them one.
It was probably a good time to be playing them. They have had some questionable results lately and manager Andy King obviously decided that a change of formation and personnel would be sufficient to face us. Perhaps he should have had a word with QPR manager Ian Holloway, who cites our 4 - 0 thumping of them at the same stage last season as the most humiliating result of his entire career. No doubt he would have advised him to field his strongest team in order to try and beat a Southend side that seem to save their best performances for this competition.
Arguably Blues also fielded a “weakened” side, with Eagle missing, Freddy on the bench and Mark Gower not fully fit. But this was the chance for Lawrie Dudfield to stake a claim and for Mark Bentley to maybe redeem himself after a few below par showings.
From the start, the difference in the oppositions class was evident as Swindon were a yard quicker and much more football orientated than recent visitors to the Hall. The 9 men behind the ball was missing, the clumsy and aimless lumps forward also absent, and Swindon actually got the ball down and tried to knock it about.
But once Southend got the tempo of the game, they started to carve the Wiltshire side open at every opportunity. Kavin Maher played a sublime ball through to a stretching Dudfield who toe poked the ball a fraction wide. Moments later Dudfield turned and outpaced Heywood (one of the worst defenders I’ve seen down here for a while) before shooting wide when he should have hit the target, and in almost the next attack another fine move saw Adam Barrett shoot wide from 8 yards out. In fairness, all 3 chances should have at least tested highly rated Rhys Evans, but he was not forced into a save.
Then, after 36 minutes, a comedy of errors led to Blues opening the scoring. Wilson and Bentley contrived to get in each others way before the ball was cleared towards the visiting goal. Defender Ifil trod on the ball and Dudfield raced clear before shooting goalwards. Evans half stopped the ball but was unable to stop the ball going over the line, probably assisted by Duke who was unable to clear. Still, they all count.
Highly rated forward Parkin had a chance to level but his header was easily gathered by a very impressive Flahavan, who has obviously realised his shortcomings and has been working on them accordingly. Good for you Darryl and well done.
At half time Blues were one up although three would have been fairer.
After a brief flurry at the start of the second half, Swindon were again on the back foot and were extremely lucky not to concede a second. Dudfield forced his way behind the back line and produced a superb reflex save from Evans when clean through. A corner a minute later saw Gray rise above everyone to power a header goalwards but again Evans foiled the striker by brilliantly tipping over. Then, 2 minutes later, only a last ditch tackle stopped Dudfield doubling the score as he was again clear with just the keeper to beat.
Swindon stepped up a gear, knowing that Blues had failed to capitalise but Southend stood firm. There was an immense amount of effort and work by every blue shirt as they showed that they wanted it more than their league one counterparts. Prior headed off the line to keep Blues ahead, and after 73 minutes the Hall erupted as a Nicolau corner crept under the feet and body of Evans to give Blues a 2 goal lead and more breathing space.
The Swindon onslaught never really materialised and although they had a lot of possession in the last 15 minutes they failed to capitalise. Fallon produced a fine save from Darryl in injury time but Blues had the last word as Nicolau went on a mazy run which forced Evans into yet another diving save to keep the ex Arsenal player at bay. Freddy came on for Gray in the 90th minute and the Southend faithful were cheering every pass whilst the visiting fans were calling for the managers head. After some Swindon huffing and puffing and a few further hurried and wayward goal attempts, the referee blew to signal the fact that Blues were in another LDV area final. This was made even sweeter by learning that Orient had been beaten in injury time in front of only 1800-odd supporters.
Awww. No-one like to see that, do they? They obviously don’t take it seriously enough.
Ratings:
Flahavan – 8.5. I cannot believe this is the same Darryl Flahavan we have had before. He has obviously been learning from Bart, because he is distributing the ball quicker than before and is also, wait for it….. <shock, horror> COMING FOR CROSSES! This would have been a 9 if it weren’t for a couple of dodgy kicks near the end. Darryl, you don’t have to learn about Bart’s kicking as well. Please note! But otherwise well done Mate, you were superb tonight.
Hunt – 8.5 – Another class performance from Lewis. He showed tonight why he has been able to play comfortably at a higher level. Excellent.
Prior – 8.5 – Superb. Totally commanding on the deck and in the air. Singled out for praise by Radio Swindon.
Barrett – 8 – Usual committed self and is proving what a great attribute he is. I’d have him over Leon Cort any day.
Wilson – 8.5 – Probably the best I have seen him play for us. Looked comfortable again up against league 1 attackers and linked up well with Nicky.
Pettefer – 8 – Back on the wide right due to Gowers lack of fitness and put in a superb defensive performance. Broke up many attacks and made some great tackles.
Maher – 8 – A strong, committed performance from the skipper, interspersed with some fine passes.
Bentley – 7 – An improved display but things just aren’t going for him. He seems to have lost co-ordination as many of his challenges are clumsy and his first touch is dreadful. Almost is trying too hard.
Nicolau – 9 – MOM. The best performance from him since he signed. He almost got a second after a superb mazy run and shot in injury time that forced a diving save from Evans. Superb.
Dudfield – 8 – Tireless and got the opener. On another day would have got a hat trick though.
Gray – 8 – Again, tireless and was desperately unlucky not to score. Nothing else seemed to go in his favour but back to the phenomenal work rate we have seen before.
Sub –
Eastwood – 6 – didn’t really have very long to get involved and only touched the ball once or twice.
The Ref –
Mr P Joslin – 4 – should have booked a couple of their players and obviously full of his own importance. Gave us next to nothing in the second half and made some very poor decisions, especially against Bentley whom he seemed to blow up for almost every time he got the ball.