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SOUTHEND
2 CANVEY ISLAND 1 |
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Around 1500 spectators attended Roots Hall on a warm evening, with the Shrimpers starting eleven as Flavs, Nicolau, Barrett, Hunt, Williams, Gower, Maher, Surey, Corbett, Tes and Judge.After a minutes silence for the sadly departed Ray Scott, It was the caravan-dwelling Islanders that started the game the brightest, possibly with revenge in mind for the FA Cup exit last season, and they knocked it around with confidence but failed to do anything in the final third of the pitch. After several long range attempts by both sides were sent flying over the crossbars, the best chance of the match so far fell to Corbett, who received a square pass from Bramble but his weak shot was saved on the line from barely 6 yards out when a goal looked certain. Inevitably Canvey took the lead when the referee gave a very dubious penalty - indeed, both sets of players stood looking at each other in amazement when he pointed to the spot for an alleged push by Barrett. Boylan stepped up and it was one nil. Tilson was obviously not happy with his team's performance as 5 minutes later he subbed the two trialists, Judge and Surey, for Prior and Husbands. respectively. A 21 man scuffle broke out when Corbett was brought down from behind, for which a yellow card was shown to the Canvey offender. As the first half drew to a close Southend were also awarded a dubious penalty, as Gower was felled in the box. Husbands placed the ball, turned to set himself for his run up, but then Captain Kev intervened with a display of petulance not seen since Graeme Jones away at Rushden. Maher seemed to have a word with Husbands and then push him aside - he was taking this penalty and no-one was going to stop him. Luckily for him, he scored - one all. The whistle blew and off we went for a pint. The Shrimpers came out for the second half with the line up of Bart, Jupp, Edwards, Prior, Wilson, Husbands, Hunt, Maher, Kightly, Tes and Wayne Gray. After around 10 minutes of play, Jupp stormed down the right flank and released Gray one-on-one with the Canvey keeper.Gray showed great control and composure to slot home, bringing the score to 2-1. Southend seemed to be much more in control in the second half, with the back four looking very solid, Kightly running at players and Husbands, on the right wing, delivering some good crosses into the box.Canvey started to disrupt the flow of the game by making substitutions, and Maher was replaced by Porter.As the game drew to a close, Dutch keeper Bart, who had commanded his area excellently, made a superb point-blank reaction save to deny a sure-fire equaliser. Back to the Rock Gypos!!!! |
Southend United recorded their second pre-season
friendly victory with a 2-1 win over near neighbours and Conference new boys
Canvey Island.