Mick
Life President
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- Oct 28, 2003
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We have played Weymouth twice before in competitive matches, both in the FA Cup. A 1-0 away win in 1955 in the second round, the Crichton Lockhart goal helping us progress towards the famous 4th round tie at home to Man City. Fifteen years later we hosted them for a first round tie with just over 7,000 seeing us score 7 times without reply. Saturday sees, hopefully, our first visit to the Bob Lucas (formerly Wessex) Stadium, the Cup tie being played at their former town centre ground that they left in 1987.
The man in charge Saturday is Lee Collins from Surrey. Unusually this season, he is a referee we’ve seen a lot of over the years having been a Football League referee from 2011 to 2019. He was fast tracked through the system and rose to the level of League referee remarkably quickly.
He shares a marked similarity with some of our recent players in that he has been plagued by injuries and not managed anything like a full season for ages.
He started his Football League career off with 6 red cards in his first 11 matches, then calmed down a lot.
His most recent Southend match was at Portsmouth in 2018/19 when we lost 2-0 and our three of the four yellows went to Taylor Moore, Luke Hyam and John White. Prior to that it was Boxing Day 2016 at home to Wimbledon. He did okay in a 3-0 victory with yellows to Ferdinand, Leonard and Fortune. He also showed a yellow and subsequent red to their Lyle Taylor, one who slipped through the net despite an exceptional scoring record at Concord.
Before that was our very first (and one of the worst) of 2016. An abject 3-0 home defeat to Doncaster Rovers, who went on to be relegated! Four yellows for us in that game and one for them. Ours went to White, Thompson, Leonard and, inevitably, Deegan.
Before that he had a poor game in that second successive win at Portsmouth with 10 men as he showed two yellows to Barry Corr and a straight red to one of theirs. Also a yellow for Timlin.
Then came another match against Wimbledon at home in 2014/15 - one of many disappointing home matches at the time - when we lost 1-0. Four yellows in total: Bolger for us and three for them. Before that it was the 0-0 home draw with Bury 2013/14 when he again sent off Barry Corr and cautioned Egan and Leonard (and two of theirs). Previously it was our wretched performance at Newport in the same season where he was comfortably more competent than the players. Atkinson's yellow was the only card of the match. His previous home match was the League Cup defeat by Yeovil. A yellow for Prosser and four of theirs.
And before that, he killed the game for Dagenham with a unjustifiable red card after 8 minutes (which was subsequently rescinded). A further yellow for Phillips and a comfortable 3-1 home win thanks to two goals from Assombalonga. He has refereed Southend on two other previous occasions. Oxford away at the end of the 2011/12 season (one caution for us, two for them) and before that at, co-incidentally, Dagenham in the 3-2 League win when he cautioned Mohsni and again two of theirs. He didn't attract much comment, adverse or otherwise.
He dropped back into non-league two seasons ago, probably due to his injury record, but in his two and a half seasons at this level he has just managed 15 matches, showing 67 yellows and 4 reds, only two of which have been this season (6 yellows, no reds). Amongst those 15 games was Weymouth’s 2-1 home defeat by Chesterfield last season.
Assisting are Sean Rothwell from Plymouth and Russell Jones from Watford. The latter is the Hertfordshire FA Referee Observer Organiser. Fourth Official is Lewis Sandoe, previously from Bournemouth now from Swindon.
The man in charge Saturday is Lee Collins from Surrey. Unusually this season, he is a referee we’ve seen a lot of over the years having been a Football League referee from 2011 to 2019. He was fast tracked through the system and rose to the level of League referee remarkably quickly.
He shares a marked similarity with some of our recent players in that he has been plagued by injuries and not managed anything like a full season for ages.
He started his Football League career off with 6 red cards in his first 11 matches, then calmed down a lot.
His most recent Southend match was at Portsmouth in 2018/19 when we lost 2-0 and our three of the four yellows went to Taylor Moore, Luke Hyam and John White. Prior to that it was Boxing Day 2016 at home to Wimbledon. He did okay in a 3-0 victory with yellows to Ferdinand, Leonard and Fortune. He also showed a yellow and subsequent red to their Lyle Taylor, one who slipped through the net despite an exceptional scoring record at Concord.
Before that was our very first (and one of the worst) of 2016. An abject 3-0 home defeat to Doncaster Rovers, who went on to be relegated! Four yellows for us in that game and one for them. Ours went to White, Thompson, Leonard and, inevitably, Deegan.
Before that he had a poor game in that second successive win at Portsmouth with 10 men as he showed two yellows to Barry Corr and a straight red to one of theirs. Also a yellow for Timlin.
Then came another match against Wimbledon at home in 2014/15 - one of many disappointing home matches at the time - when we lost 1-0. Four yellows in total: Bolger for us and three for them. Before that it was the 0-0 home draw with Bury 2013/14 when he again sent off Barry Corr and cautioned Egan and Leonard (and two of theirs). Previously it was our wretched performance at Newport in the same season where he was comfortably more competent than the players. Atkinson's yellow was the only card of the match. His previous home match was the League Cup defeat by Yeovil. A yellow for Prosser and four of theirs.
And before that, he killed the game for Dagenham with a unjustifiable red card after 8 minutes (which was subsequently rescinded). A further yellow for Phillips and a comfortable 3-1 home win thanks to two goals from Assombalonga. He has refereed Southend on two other previous occasions. Oxford away at the end of the 2011/12 season (one caution for us, two for them) and before that at, co-incidentally, Dagenham in the 3-2 League win when he cautioned Mohsni and again two of theirs. He didn't attract much comment, adverse or otherwise.
He dropped back into non-league two seasons ago, probably due to his injury record, but in his two and a half seasons at this level he has just managed 15 matches, showing 67 yellows and 4 reds, only two of which have been this season (6 yellows, no reds). Amongst those 15 games was Weymouth’s 2-1 home defeat by Chesterfield last season.
Assisting are Sean Rothwell from Plymouth and Russell Jones from Watford. The latter is the Hertfordshire FA Referee Observer Organiser. Fourth Official is Lewis Sandoe, previously from Bournemouth now from Swindon.
