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DAGENHAM
3 SOUTHEND
UNITED 3 |
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Steve Tilson continued his squad rotation policy by starting with Darryl, Williams, Hunt, Edwards, Wilson, Kightly, Maher, Corbett, Gower, Dudfield and fit again Broughton, and it was Drewe who had the best chances early on with a blaze over the bar and a scuffed shot with only the Daggers keeper to beat. Southend really were the better team in the first half, knocking the ball around with confidence, with Drewe and Dudfield linking up well, and Wilson impressing at left back.On 28 minutes Drewe banged one into the roof of the net after good build up work by Gower, and barely 5 minutes later it should have been 2 with young Kightly missing an open goal by shooting over the bar. The half drew to a close and the good showing of Shrimpers fans ( including many Shrimperzoners ) tucked into the lovely burgers and soaked up the sunshine. The line up for the second half came out as Bart, Jupp, Barrett, Hunt, Nicolau, Kightly, Maher, Wilson, Gower, Gray and Bramble, with Hunt continuing at centre back and the versatile Wilson lining up alongside Maher in centre midfield. Bramble was the first to penetrate the Daggers defence, but when clean through was clearly fouled, but the referee ( a sort of Joe Ross Mini-Me ) wasn't interested. Southend were attacking the away end and the Shrimpers faithful were treated to another Wayne Gray goal after only 8 minutes of play; Wilson releasing a great ball to him and Gray cooly finishing. Four minutes later and Gray doubled his tally after a well delivered free-kick by Jupp. Three nil up and we all thought it would be a rout, but the Daggers had other ideas. For some reason Southend seemed to take their foot off the pedal and were punished for some sloppy play by conceding on the half hour, then incredibly three minutes later conceding again. Jupp picked up a slight niggle and was replaced by the Gaffer himself - 37 year old Wickford based Steve Tilson, and the half wore on without too much incident, although Bart did make a superb last minute save, much like against Canvey (it's becoming a habit ). Then, incredibly, it happened - in the last minute of injury time Daggers hit the equaliser and their fans, who had hardly said a word all game, exploded into life as if they had won the League or something. The full time whistle blew and as the Shrimpers faithful filtered out of the ground we saw the crazy sight of the Daggers players doing a lap of honour. |
Southend's fourth pre-season friendly ended in a 3-3
draw at Dagenham - disappointing really, considering the Shrimpers were three-nil up
with barely 20 minutes left.