A WIN FOR THE SHRIMPERS
first victory since April

Southend United won their first League game since Easter against Macclesfield Town, one of the early pace-setters in this new League Two campaign, with Adam Barrett hitting both goals to take his tally to three in two matches and become the unlikeliest of leading goalscorers. Barrett, who joined Southend from Bristol Rovers in the summer and celebrating his 200th senior full appearance, put Southend into the lead just before half-time after nodding home Kevin Maher's free-kick. Town equalised six minutes into the second-half when Danny Whitaker took advantage of a poor free-kick taken by custodian Bart Griemink. However Barrett was on hand again to head in a Maher corner just four minutes later and restore Southend's single goal lead.

There are signs than this team is far better than their position at the bottom of the League Two table suggests. But decent performances don't win the points and the team has been let down by lack of concentration and / or lack of lethal firepower from the forwards in front of goal. The fact that a defender currently heads the leading goalscorer chart for this season suggests that a lot of work still needs to be done by manager Steve Tilson and his coaching staff to coax regular goals from the like of Wayne Gray and Lawrie Dudfield.

Southend United : Griemink, Jupp, Prior, Barrett, Wilson, Gower (Hunt), Bentley, Maher, Pettefer, Bramble (Broughton), Dudfield.

The Match Report (keir smith)

An impressive Southend United display saw the mighty Shrimpers grab the much-sought after first three points of the season and condemn Macclesfield Town to their first defeat of the new campaign.

Having managed to get to my first home game of the season, it felt good to be going to Roots Hall instead of having to find out how the Shrimpers were doing via text message while I am at work. The constraints of working at Tesco's meant that the only activity I have to look forward to on a Saturday afternoon is stacking shelves. Thank god for Bank Holiday football!

After parking up in the car park outside roots hall the first port of call was the Fish House. The rain was really pouring down and I really wished that the weather would have been better by the time the game started only an hour later. I walked down the steps in to the "Shrimpers Bar" and really hoped that the game would be better than the terrible weather. The bar was moderately packed and watching the highlights from the West Ham United v Southend United League Cup tie on Blues TV made the agonisingly long wait for a drink a little bit more bearable. Talk amongst the fans was of the score of the game and many people agreed that a Southend win was on the cards today after the performance that saw the Shrimpers unluckily denied a point against Bristol Rovers only 3 days before. 28/1 seemed like a good price for Adam Barrett to be the first scorer in today’s game however it was too bad no-one had any money on him to bag the first goal! Instead people looked to the likes of Lawrie Dudfield, Tes Bramble or even Kevin Maher to get the first goal against the Silkmen. Slowly people left the shrimpers bar to take up their various positions around the ground and at about 2:30 I decided to do the same and for the first time this season I used my season ticket and took up my seat in the front row of the South Upper after a previous three seasons in the South Lower yellow seats. Notebook at the ready I was eagerly awaiting the match and I was praying to the footballing gods that I was not going to be seeing the same type of game that had previously been seen by the Roots Hall faithful during the first two games of the Coca-Cola Football League Two.

Finally the teams emerged from the tunnel and the crowd cheered at the arrival of the two teams on to the pitch. Hopefully this would be a win for the Shrimpers to send the Macclesfield team to their first defeat of the new season and claim three points. The game kicked off with the Shrimpers attacking the South Stand. After the initial sparring Southend were lucky not to go one down after only 2 minutes or so when Adam Barrett allowed the massive John Parkin to get a shot at Bart Griemink’s goal which cannoned off the bar and fell to fellow Macclesfield player but Graham Potter sent his follow-up shot high and wide of the goal. This seemed to spur the Shrimpers on and soon after Tes Bramble sent a shot fizzing wide of the goal and in to the South Stand. Southend were pressing when good play down the left hand side saw Lawrie Dudfield win a free kick near the corner flag. Taken by Kevin Maher he found the head of Dudfield but the striker only managed to help it across goal to a Macclesfield defender who again headed the ball out for a corner, even though Macclesfield felt that the ball had already gone out of play. The corner taken by Maher from the right hand side was put in to the box only for Tes Bramble to concede a foul and let off the Macclesfield back line and allow them to regroup and clear their lines.

Good play from the Silkmen a few minutes later saw a good header by Barrett on the edge of the box to Duncan Jupp who sent an awkward ball back to Griemink. Under pressure the Dutch keeper ended up struggling to get the ball back to Jupp who eventually managed to smash the ball up the field and save Southend from conceding a goal in only the eleventh minute. Two minutes later Southend were awarded a free kick which was taken quickly by Maher who saw the darting run of Jupp behind the wall to make the cross in to the box only for the cross to be cleared for a corner. The resulting corner came to nothing when the Shrimpers really should have made more of it. The Macclesfield back line seemed to be really troubled by the movement of Dudfield who was making good runs all over the park. Shortly after, Barrett went on a long run in to the Macclesfield half only to win a throw in after a challenge by a Macclesfield defender. Che Wilson took a short throw in and the resulting cross saw Alan Fettis come and claim the ball under a heavy challenge from Carl Pettefer.

The noise in the South Upper was increasing and the Southend back line were responding well by restricting Macclesfield to half chances and long range shots. Southend were lucky once again when Parkin got in behind the defence and forced Griemink to make a diving save with his legs and the ball was cleared again by the Shrimpers. Duncan Jupp seemed to be having trouble with dealing with the huge Parkin but most of the time just about kept him under wraps. Southend came agonisingly close to scoring on 40 minutes which saw Alan Fettis come running out of goal to try to get to the ball before Dudfield but instead whacked the ball in the back of a defender to send the ball back towards his own goal and only just miss the post. Southend finally got the breakthrough they were looking for when a free kick from Maher was met by the towering header of the local lad Barrett to sent the Southend fans in to a frenzy and see Barrett salute the fans in the South Stand whilst being mobbed by large proportion of the team. The half however was to end on a sour note when Kevin Maher yet again managed to talk himself in to the referees book after conceding a free kick, and now faces a one match ban. The resulting free kick was moved ten yards forward but came to nothing.

Macclesfield started the brighter of the two teams in the second half and were very fortunate to grab a lucky equaliser when a poor free kick was taken by Gremink who instead of heading back to his goal proceeded to watch the Macclesfield number 12 Danny Whitaker chest the ball down and take a shot at the open goal. Griemink attempted to get back in time but was a few seconds late as the ball crawled across the line and leaving the goalkeeper looking foolish and the small away supporters in to celebration and no doubts fits of laughter as well to even up the score. Fans in the South Upper were getting restless and I along with everyone else was fearing the worse. However the fan’s fears were put to rest when man of the moment Adam Barrett headed in another Maher corner after two failed corner attempts and make him the first person to score in both of the brand new white nets at both ends of the ground and put Southend back on the road for the vital points that they needed to lift them off the bottom of the table, chants of “one Adam Barrett “ sounded around the South Stand and Roots Hall was once again buzzing.

Good play from the Shrimpers shortly after saw Dudfield attempt to latch on to a through ball only for the opposing keeper to dive at the former Northampton Town man’s feet to claim the ball first. This collision saw the Silkmen keeper appear to injure himself and saw him be taken off via stretcher to be replaced by the second choice custodian Steve Wilson. Southend were now playing some excellent football and looking like they could score more goals, however this was not to be. As the game wore on the final minutes were becoming scrappy and consisted of kicking the ball out of play and a general passing game in the middle of the pitch. 84 minutes saw Tes replaced by Drewe . Good link up play between Mark Bentley and Drewe saw a tame shot at the keeper as the only part Drewe would play in this game. As the clock wore down Southend nearly threw the game away when a Macclesfield cross was flapped at by Mr. Griemink and headed just wide of the target by the Macclesfield attacker. Macclesfield attempted to threaten to Southend goal but could only manage a few tame shots. After four minutes of agonising injury time the final whistle went and the Southend fans went home happy after a good overall performance from the Shrimpers.

MOTM: It had to be Adam Barrett, he was immense all over the park and showed just how much he wanted to play for the club, some of the players could take a lot from his passion for the club.

What the fans thought ...

Benny The Blue said : "Southend deserved the three points in a game that showed that anyone can win this division! For a team at the top of the division Macclesfield were poor and Southend played well. I don't think the performance was as good as the second half at West Ham or the Bristol Rovers game on Friday but we did well and kept going."

Technician said "Excluding the opener, all our performances have been worthy of something from the game and every team in this division is beatable! We've kick-started our season now and need more of the same throughout!"

Stoned Shrimper said "How come we started today’s game second from bottom and Macclesfield third from top when we were better than them in virtually every department and played them off the park for most of the game?! Barrett would have been man-of-the-match even without his two goals. Ideal candidate for skipper come Maher’s impending absence but of course it will be Spinner. Sound display from Wilson ... kept it simple, won every challenge. Tes and Dudfield looked like our most potent front two partnership of the season so far ... goals will come from them. How can we have Fortress Roots Hall when a section of our own fans help the opposition by mocking our keeper for one mistake .. do they enjoy watching us lose? Brilliant reactions minutes later from Grimink to save us from going 2-1 down.

Stoned Shrimper's MOTM : Adam Barrett.

BoyWonder2 said "First of all, I've only seen the games against Cheltenham and Lincoln but this was our best performance of the lot. Southend tried to play a high tempo style of football in the first half and tired in the latter stages of the second half. Going forward we looked very impressive, Gower was returning to shades of last season and even helped out at the back. Dudfield and Bramble linked up well and Bentley had another stormer today. Our defence looked a lot more solid than in the games I've seen, maybe it was something to do with Che replacing Nicky or Barrett being in there?!"

Shrimpboy said "Again we dominated the game and had most of the possession. Going forward we looked dangerous, and Gower put in an improved performance from previous games. We also defended well, and Macclesfield were limited to just a handful of chances. Tes did well up front, and him and Dudfield looked a good partnership. We just need the strikers to start scoring now!

Shrimpboy's MoTM : Adam Barrett. "By a mile. He was a rock at the back, and he looked dangerous on every corner we had. He has to be captain for the games that Maher will miss, he was shouting and organising the defence all afternoon.

Benfleet Shrimper said " This was my first game of the season and I'm overjoyed with a win. It's great to see Adam Barrett bag some goals for the Shrimpers, but would like to see the forwards do the same! 1-1 what a blunder from bart, can't believe a baldy scored from centre circle! But it was good to see Tes back to his best, unlike others... cough cough... Gower. And finally, what the hell was that stench in the east greens?... that put a downer on the victory!"

Shepherd's Bush Shrimper said "Adam Barrett got Bart out of jail after his howler, but the keeper redeemed himself with fine save from quick free kick.Dudfield and Bramble looked useful as a partnership, I'm sure goals will come from them.The best Macclesfield team I've seen in years, so pleasing we beat them.Che Wilson did well, Duncan Jupp had a mare. All round good team display. Lastly - £13.50 for South Lower? You're having a giraffe!

Shepherd's Bush Shrimper's MOTM : Adam Barrett. "As has already been said, by a country mile. Great to see someone who is so passionate about playing for Southend."

W4 Shrimper said "My first game of the season, so it was great to be back! Excellent first half showing by Bramble, who I thought looked in better shape than previous years. Who was that total muppet pretending to be Jupp in the first half? Barrett looks cracking. I won't believe that Macclesfield goal as long as I live.

W4 Shrimper's MOTM : Adam Barrett "Two goals, rock at the back, great communicator, should be skipper ahead of Maher."

Ron Manager said "Barratt for England! Maher booked, again. Bramble played well. We won, finally. Bring on Rushden.

Ron Manager's MOTM : Adam Barrett

Shrimpergarry said "Solid performance from the boys again. Toblerone footed Jupp had a 'mare, but we'll put it down to an off day as he's been one of our best players this season. Both Wilson and Bramble justified their inclusion and Dudfield looked closer to the player we saw last season. Griemink's howler was bizarre, but other than that he looked solid. Good to see some passion in the team and a defence that talks to each other.

Shrimpergarry's MOTM : Adam Barrett "He has to be the only candidate - he's a Roots Hall legend already!"

Mad Cyril said "Gower's form is a major worry to me. Tes and Lawrie looked a good partnership but won little in the air. Griemink is a better 'keeper than Flahavan despite what the kids say. Corbett should have replaced Gower. Let's not get carried away, it was only Macclesfield!"

Mad Cyril's MOTM : Adam Barrett

Napster said "Pele couldn't score from the halfway line, yet some bloke from the Fourth Division can! Fluke, that's what it was! Griemink made up for it soon after with a cracking save. Wilson to start next match? Tes to prove his critics wrong?

Napster's MOTM : Steve Tilson. "Back to his best."

moneypit 32 said "Excellent first half performance but lost our grip somewhat in the second, which made for a nervy last few minutes. I would still rather have Bart in goal than Darryl as we don't look like conceeding from every set piece anymore. Maher was booked again - so what, he hasn't given anything less that 100% so far this season. Our new star striker is a central defender. Tes and Lawrie played well together, but let's try playing it to their feet eh?

moneypit32's MOTM : Adam Barrett. "It can only be Barrett - very solid defensively and linked up well with the attack on numerous occasions. A real box to box player!"

ORM said "At long last the boys are back, even though Jupp played cack. Some moaned about the East Green stench; some wondered why Dreweee was on the bench. He can stay there and I won't be sorry, up front now is Tes and Laurie. Do we have a team that will be able to progress from this and climb the table ? Do I really have the time to sit here and find things that rhyme?"

ORM's MOTM : Adam Barrett - "He's found his home."

What the managers thought ...

STEVE TILSON (SUFC) :
The first win is always the big one and I'm glad that we have got that now. It was against a side that hasn't lost this season so it was a fantastic result. I felt the first half we played really well and played some good stuff. In the second half it was a poor goal to concede but all credit to the lads; they bounced back. That's two goals from set pieces which is pleasing to see ... and that's probably two more than last year!"

BRIAN HORTON (MTFC) :
"It was disappinting to give two goals away to set pieces. I get down when we lose games and it's the teams job to pick me up, not other other way around. That said we are never going to win all of our games so the job now it to get on with preparation for the game against Chester City on Saturday."