Home defeat - for Southend United
(Image: ROB CRAVEN)
Yesterday at null
Southend United FC
Football
Sport.
SOUTHEND United's under 19 side had their unbeaten run ended by Dorking Wanderers following a narrow 1-0 defeat on Wednesday afternoon
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Ollie Rawlins scored the only goal of the game for Wanderers late in the encounter at Garon Park, just three minutes after Blues had been reduced to 10 men following an off-the-ball incident involving Rio Thomas.
“The boys have been great this year, and they’ve been on a great run with five unbeaten,” said youth team coach Danny Heath after the match.
“In those five games we have played well, and the performances have been good.”
“The squad’s target is to be in the top three as a minimum, and we’ve dropped out of it today and into fourth, but they’ve put themselves in a great position to achieve that.
"There have been games this year where we’ve drawn or lost and we should’ve got more points on the board, and that’s the difference between us being closer to Eastleigh than we are.”
Heath named an unchanged starting 11 for the clash after last Wednesday’s 4-4 draw with Dartford, but first-year wing-back Mitchell Ward was fit enough to return to the substitutes’ bench.
Despite that continuity, it was a slow start for Southend, whose best early opening came after four minutes when Obi Okafor latched onto a wayward pass and fed Jack Stone.
But the forward couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and ended up prodding his shot wide of the right-hand post.
Dorking employed a low block and were able to control possession in the first 20 minutes of the match, and they almost scored on 12 minutes when a move down the right-hand side ended with Luke Bejashvili firing narrowly over.
Nine minutes later Rawlins drew a comfortable save from Josh Barrett, despite his 20-yard attempt taking a slight deflection on the way through.
The momentum of the game began to switch at the mid-point of the first half, shortly after Okafor had robbed defender Jay Richardson and dragged a low shot narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
Two minutes later, Zevieyan Makangu rode a couple of challenges before offloading to Nathan Woodley, who saw a fierce strike deflected out for a corner.
Blues work hard on their set-pieces, and a short corner routine involving Obu Shobowale and Joshua Jackson culminated in the latter hitting the frame of the goal with a rasping 25-yard effort.
Stone then nodded an inswinging Shobowale cross wide at the far post before the defender curled wide with a free-kick from 30 yards out.
Shobowale was proving to be a repetitive threat to the visitors, and he guided a 25-yard shot narrowly wide of the left-hand post in the 42nd minute following patient build-up play involving Alfie Humphrey on the right touchline.
In first-half stoppage-time, Southend were presented with their best chance to take the lead.
After leading a counter-attack from a Dorking corner, Woodley was presented with possession and he bore down on Louis Sullivan’s goal before electing to attempt a lob from 18 yards out and clearing the crossbar with just the custodian to beat.
The second period started with Barrett turning a Rawlins shot around the right-hand post following a Gabriel Jacks pass and, from the resultant corner, defender James McLeod smashed over for Wanderers.
Soon afterwards, Barrett was drawn into action again, making a routine save from Seb Tauta-Caballero’s strike, but a double-substitution put Southend back on the front foot as Joe Poxon and Ward were introduced in place of Jackson and Okafor.
Pulham immediately drew a fine save from Sullivan, pushing his shot around the right-hand post on the hour and, within seconds, the Dorking gloveman had brilliantly tipped Poxon’s effort from the edge of the penalty area over the crossbar.
At the mid-point of the second half, Woodley embarked on a slaloming run that took him deep into Dorking territory and ended with the midfielder forcing Sullivan into a parried stop.
Makangu had an opportunity to turn home the rebound, but his attempt was diverted out for a corner.
Julius Nwike did well to get back and block Jacks as he led a rare Dorking attack in the 71st minute, and Stone then glanced a Humphrey cross wide before Blues were reduced to ten men.
After a Southend corner was cleared, Thomas was determined to have kicked an opponent as play switched to the opposite end, and he was shown a red card for violent conduct.
Stone nodded wide from a Pulham cross as Heath kept two up front to pressurise the visitors, but the Shrimpers were punished in the 80th minute when substitute Henry Gunay picked out Rawlins in the penalty area and he spun to deliver a fierce strike that Barrett couldn’t prevent from crossing the line.
Even after that setback, Southend could have claimed at least a share of the spoils as Woodley smashed over from inside the ‘D’ and Pulham then fired off-target after steading himself in the penalty area, before the skipper failed to capitalise on a final chance when he could only stab wide after being located by Stone’s cut-back.
“There was a lack of quality with our finishing,” Heath reflected.
“That’s unlike us, because we’ve been scoring a lot of goals recently, and we had the opportunities to do that again.
We probably deserved something from the game because of the performance.”
“But when the next step is potentially the first-team or a professional contract, that’s the difference between maybe getting a win bonus or not.
"When you get to first-team level it really counts, when it’s your job and your career and you’ve got bills to pay and you’re fighting for your next contract.”
“We felt we were the better team and we had the better players, and that’s not being disrespectful to Dorking because they are a good team, but when you are the better team, going on to win the game is something you’ve got to learn to do."
Southend United U19s: Joshua Barrett, Rio Thomas, George Pulham, Julius Nwike, Olu Shobowale, Alfie Humphrey, Nathan Woodley, Jack Stone, Zevieyan Makangu, Obi Okafor (Joe Poxon 57), Joshua Jackson (Mitchell Ward 57).
Unused substitutes: Thato Molefi, Jared Nana Asare & Teddy Woolland.
