Top 10 games

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,13:29)]Worse 10

1. Doncaster (H) FA Cup. 0-2. Outplayed at home by non-league team. Alvin Martin out!
2. Watford (H) 0-4. Embarassing. Watford had no fit strikers, so chucked a full-back up front, who promptly notched a hat-trick. Summed up by free-kick routine when everyone dummied it. How did Peter Taylor become coach of Eng U21s?
3. Carlisle (A) 0-5. Stimson as sweeper, Neville Southall in goal. I still cringe.
4. Port Vale (A) 0-5. 9 games unbeaten, but on the wide expanses of Vale Park got taken to the cleaners by a team who hadn't won in nine.
5. Huddersfield (H) 0-2. Beaten by Huddersfield's youth team, in a game where we needed to win to stay up. What really hurt was no-one but Roycie cared.
6. Hartlepool (A) 1-5. Only bright spot was Belgrave's performance as sub.
7. Boston (H) 0-2. Think it was Boston, a Tuesday night game under Wignall in which we hit everything long to Broughton. I think we probably missed a penalty. Have never known the pub so quiet afterwards. Even Barry Harris was quiet for 5 minutes.
8. A 0-0 (A) under Alan Little. Have never been so bored in my life. It was towards the end of the season between two mid-table teams where we went for the 0-0 from the word go. I can't even remember who it was against.
9. Scarborough (H) FA Cup 1-1. Were good for half an hour until Bramble injured. Broughton came on and cost us a game against Chelsea.
10. All those away games under Taylor, Whelan, Martin, Little etc were we went 1-0 down and know it was game over. They all blur into one.

It's incredible how a very positive and "makes you glad to be Shrimper" thread rapidly, in true SZ style, turns in to a doom and gloom session. But we wouldn't have it any other way

. (Time for another Darryl v Bart debate?

)

To get the thread back on track, the most entertaining game I've ever seen at RH was the 4-4 against Northampton in the 86-87 FA Cup. End to end attacking football, 6 goals in 16 minutes, Cadette hat-trick. What more could you want? Made the 4-2 v Swansea this season (which was outstanding) look very pedestrian.

And to get the thread back off track

...

... the worst game has to be the 8-1 defeat at Gillingham the following year.

 

[C C Csiders]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ June 17 2005,14:15)]... the worst game has to be the 8-1 defeat at Gillingham the following year.

And the following week while we were losing 6-2 at Notts County the Gills beat Chesterfield 10-0

 

[fbm]

A twist - best 5 games (league matches only)

1) Newport 4-2 1977-ish - haven't time to check out all the dates exactly but basically we came back from 2-0 down with 9 minutes left
2) Swansea 3-2 away last year - the 8 man match
3) Derby 3-1 away win at the Baseball ground under Fry. Probably the best all round performance by a Southend side ever.
4) Newcastle 4-0 home to go top of the league now known as the Championship (albeit for only 3 hours)
5) Gillingham away 2-1 when we scored 2 goals in the last 3 minutes

Worst 5 league matches

1) Port Vale 1-3 home in early 70's... we were crap and every pass we made in the last 10 minutes went to a Vale player or out of play
2) Oxford 0-5 away at the Manor Ground with in th August of our relegation season from Div 1. If the fences hadn't still been up the crowd would have lynched the players I reckon...
3) Gillingham 0-5 away in our second promotion season under Webby. We were league leaders and the Gills made us look soppy in the second half
4) Watford 0-4 1995. Chris Powell sat by the goalpost at half time in disbelief as we were totally outplayed.
5) Gillingham 1-8 under Dick Bate in 1987. Even our goal was an own goal by them! Very, very embarrassing.

 

[Clarky_Blues]

Man City away 96-97 season was a dire performance. Kinklazde ran rings around us and we lost 3-0. I remember on the way home the local radio station BBC GMR described Southend as a team of Mr Blobby's playing in a Sunday league strip. Think it was the red Elonex kit if I remember rightly.

Whelan was in charge.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Clarky_Blues @ June 17 2005,14:30)]Think it was the red Elonex kit if I remember rightly.

It would have been the rather minging two-tone red version of the Olympic Custard-splat shirt!

 

[Clarky_Blues]

Correct!

 

[Guest]

My appearances at the Hall were always erratic before I gave up my Saturday job and was able to attend most of the time, so a lot of these classics I missed out on..... so most of mine come from the last three seasons or so:

10. LDV Vans Trophy Final vs. Blackpool, March 2003: I didn't care about the result really, seeing Southend finally reach a cup final was enough for me! A great day out, I had a lump in my throat as 20,000 Shrimpers sang 'Stand Up If You Love Southend'

9. FAC 1R Replay, Victoria Park v Hartlepool, November 2002: Not the greatest game ever I admit, but the feeling was awesome. This was also my first away game in over five years. 1-0 down since the first half, we sneak an 89th minute equaliser before we nick it off them at the death and score a last-gasp winner. Bedlam ensued among the hardy bunch who'd travelled up on a cold Tuesday night!

8. LDV Vans Area Final, Memorial Stadium v Bristol Rovers, February 2005: We should have been 2 or 3 up by the time $%&*kins changed his system about, then Agogo missed that pen, then they equalised, and finally Gower, who had been poor most of the game, cut in and smashed a shot in off the bar to send the away terrace wild!

7. Division Three, Roots Hall v Rushden And Diamonds, March 2003: We were hardly having the best of seasons this time, we seemed to be incapable of drawing matches and we were not in good form. However, a stunning opening stunned title-chasing Rushden whose fans had been larging it before the game and we went 2-0 up, and held on despite them making it 2-1 by half time.

6. Division Three, Roots Hall v Darlington, April 2004: 2-0 down at the break in my experience meant capitualtion, but we came out fighting in the second half, pulling done back to gave us belief, the second was a respectable draw, the third a pipe dream? Not that day, as we struck a harsh blow to our relegation rivals.

5. League Two, Roots Hall v Swansea City, October 2004: Almost didn't make this one after a drunken night out in C********r the night before meant I got to the ground at 2.55pm (couldn't get up), was just walking to my seat when Freddy got his first, I almost fell down the West Stand steps in surprise and celebration. The rest is history. After this game, I knew we could do something this year, we had outplayed the then league leaders.

4. FAC 1R Replay, Park Lane v Canvey Island, November 2003: Another mad dash to get somewhere from Uni, everyone had written us off and even I wondered as they twice went ahead. Then Jay Smith showed us why Southend value him so much even now.

3. Division One, Roots Hall v West Ham, April 1993: I got the chance to sneak to Roots Hall with a West Ham supporting friend while my Parents were away (they practically banned me from going to games 'cos they don't like it), saw us beat them 1-0 in a packed Roots Hall with a great atmosphere. This confirmed any nagging doubts about which team was right for me!

2. LDV Vans Area Final, Roots Hall v C0lchester United, February 2004: After missing the away leg due to a bad back, I was desperate to get to this one. And what a match, the atmosphere was electric, we got to a major final. I had no voice afterwards!

1. League 2 Playoff Final, Millenium Stadium Cardiff v Lincoln City, May 2005: I missed most our automatic promotion challenge while I was in Australia, when I got back we were in a slump and I though all was lost. The feeling when Freddy scored the opener was fantastic, the whole day was fantastic. I didn't regain my voice for two days!

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

MtS - no.8 definitely wasn't York. That game would have had some spice, what with Little and half that team beng ex York. Besides that would have been a 'home' game for me as I was about to sit my finals.

I think that game may have been somewhere like Lincoln or Scunthorpe. We might have actually lost, just to complicate matters!

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,14:43)]I think that game may have been somewhere like Lincoln or Scunthorpe. We might have actually lost, just to complicate matters!

So, you don't know when it was, who it was against, or even the result. Hmmm could be a hard one to work out.....

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Quote[/b] (BILLERICAY BLUE @ June 17 2005,15:09)]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,14:43)]I think that game may have been somewhere like Lincoln or Scunthorpe. We might have actually lost, just to complicate matters!

So, you don't know when it was, who it was against, or even the result. Hmmm could be a hard one to work out.....

Have checked the fixtures and it was not the York game - that was a home game. The one I'm thinking of was definitely away. It was the most boring game of football I have ever had the misfortune to watch.

This game was to football, what Savage Garden is to music.

I think it was probably Hull (A) on Tues 21 March 2000.

It was the type of game where we could have played all month without scoring and looking at the results, thats a fair call as we didn't score again for over a month.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,15:34)]I think it was probably Hull (A) on Tues 21 March 2000

A special day for all Shrimpers as it marked the end of the Reign of the Chipmunk!

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Are you sure?

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,16:58)]Are you sure?

Doh!
I got my Hull City games wrong, that was home in March 99 wasn't it?
Apologies people!

 

[chaco27saf]

Oddly enough I was thinking about this after I saw his sig before.  I haven't been to ten games, but I was trying to rank those that I did attend, so here is my list.

1)28/05/05-Lincoln City (N) 2-0 - Easy decision to put this game at the top.

2)11/02/05-Scunthorpe United (H) 0-0 - It was a scoreless draw, and the standard of refereeing was absolutely atrocious, but it was my first Southend game, and after already supporting the team for a couple of years prior, finally being at Roots Hall was amazing.

3) 19/04/05 Macclesfield (A) 2-1 - Last minute winner, the excitement in the stands and by our players on the field was unmistakable.

4) 19/03/05 Cheltenham (A) 3-0 - The first win I saw, and an undeniably dominating performance by the team.

5) 26/03/05 Rochdale (H) 3-0 - The only time I went to two games in a row, and I was able to witness two 3-0 wins.

6) 05/03/05 Chester (A) 2-2 - Wasn't a good performance from the Shrimpers, but I believe it was Mts who after the game commented that the fact we were able to nick a point was something that would have never happened in season's past, and that cheered me up, because in all honestly, we shouldn't have gotten anything from the game.

7) 10/04/05 Wrexham (N) 0-2 - The only loss I ever saw, and even that was after regular time.  I was gutted at the end of the game, to lose in E/T is awful, I truly feel bad for the imps, because it was such a similiar sitaution but the play-off final was a much bigger game.

8) 07/05/05 Grimsby (A) 1-1 - We missed out on an auto place, a gutting experience, especially since I (like many others I'm sure) thought that we had no chance in the playoffs immediately following that game.

 

[Shoebury Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Hong Kong Blue @ June 17 2005,12:43)]

Quote[/b] (Shoebury Shrimper @ June 17 2005,12:24)]8. 1-1 v bury. Oh benji we love you we are going up to the old division 2.

Could have sworn we won 1-0.

HKB You are correct in my attempt to type quickly and get info from another site the info went

pos f a
1 1 0

changed it

 

[Angell Delight]

Quote[/b] (C C Csiders @ June 17 2005,13:07)]4. 0-3 vs Liverpool 78/79 Anfield

The Kop singing "Southend" made me cry, and they were not being patronising

Yeah that was the tie in which my Dad took a sickie from work to go and hoped no-one would find out but was pictured close-up on the back of the Echo next day and was rumbled!!

My 10 (1988-present):

1. Blues 2 Lincoln City 0 - Millennium Stadium, 2004-5
2. Peterborough 1 Blues 2 - London Road, 1989-90
3. Blues 3 Birmingham City 1 - Roots Hall, 1993-4
4. Blues 1 West Ham 0 - Roots Hall, 1992-3
5. Everton 1 Blues 0 - Goodison Park, 1991-92
6. Blues 3 Spurs 2 - Roots Hall, 1989-90
7. Charlton 0 Blues 3 - The Valley, 1995-6
8. Norwich 0 Blues 1 - Carrow Road, 1995-6
9. Blues 5 Bolton 2 - Roots Hall, 1996-7
10. Blues 4 York City 4 - Roots Hall, 1997-8


Comments:

1. Magnificent, enough said.
2. My first ever promotion - Crowny's 2 goals but who remembers the mad scramble in our 6yard box stoppage time where all the dust flew up and you were just hoping and praying the ball would come out flying towards the centre-circle!

3. I have NEVER known such a hostile crowd at the Hall and it was fantastic. Fry's return with Brum just after leaving was sweet revenge....plus we made Karren Brady cry apparently

4. Crowd of 13,000 at the Hall to see Blues put a spanner in the Shammers promotion works (whilst also giving us a good chance to avoid the drop). Collymore made Angell's goal brilliantly and Roycey was absolutely magnificent at the other end. Best of all my Hammers mate who I went with was gutted....
5. We may have lost but the atmosphere we created at Goodison was incredible and the team responded by playing one of the best teams in the country off the park on their own patch. Beardsley's goal won it but how on earth Neville Southall managed to keep a clean sheet only he knows! Best ever GK performance against the Blues IMHO.
6. Rumbelows Cup 2nd leg, we'd lost the 1st 1-0 at the Lane (we were in Division 4 at the time). Not only did we beat a Spurs side with Lineker, Gascoigne, Nayim and Stewart in it we also hit the post in extra-time before going out on away goals. I've never agreed with the away goals rule since then

7. On a Tuesday night, a fantastic performance to turn over a promotion rival. Dublin and Thomson definitely scored and I think the 2nd was from Tilly's boot but not 100% on that. Our strong away following were still singing in the stands 10mins after the final whistle!
8. Gary Jones Boxing Day backheel winner in the snow. We even started some of the "Chase Out" chants for the Norwich fans in the hope it would affect their players which I'm sure it did. Well-deserved 3pts marred however by the broken leg sustained by Mike Lapper.
9. No-one expected it but we absolutely demolished the unbeaten leaders at the Hall who eventually made it (comfortably) into the Premier$hite. John Nielsen's fabulous volley was one of the best goals I've seen from a Shrimper.
10. Strange game, neither side was fighting for promotion but what a cracker! One excellent curler from Adrian Clarke I remember - I also recall Mark Tinkler getting York's equaliser in stoppage time.


Special mention to the 10-1 drubbing of Aldershot and the legendary 1-0 win at Bury that would have made my top 10 if I'd have actually been able to go to the games! Another that would've been pretty high was the 4-0 drubbing of Newcastle to put us top of the "old old" Division Two (Championship) albeit for just those 3 special hours

just a week or so after we'd thumped Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn 3-0

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

1) Vs Lincoln in the play off obviosly 2-0 (aet) - DUNCAN JUPP JUPP JUPP
6) Vs Orient (a) 2-0W - who let the abbey out? (my 1st away day)
4) Vs QPR (h) 4-0W - what a run steve Clark
3) Vs Col Ewe 3-2W LDV (a) - My first Col Ewe match
2) Vs Col Ewe 1-1(5-3pens)W (a) - Fantastic!
10) Vs Blackpool 0-2L - Great weekend
9) Vs Brighton 2-0W (h) - David Lee......get in
8) Vs Swindon 2-0W LDV (h) - Nicolau "direct from a corner"
7) Vs Macclesfield 2-1W (a) - ALAN McCORMACK!!!
5) Vs Notts County 2-1W (a) - Barrett brace

sorry about the order.

Some i had to leave out:
Northampton home and away this season
Carlisle on a tue night, when Kev got the winner with a cross to Danny Webb in the 90th min (3-2W)

and many more

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Shrimper2thecore @ June 18 2005,15:03)]9) Vs Brighton 2-0W (h) - David Lee......get in

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (chaco27saf @ June 17 2005,17:37)]6) 05/03/05 Chester (A) 2-2 - Wasn't a good performance from the Shrimpers, but I believe it was Mts who after the game commented that the fact we were able to nick a point was something that would have never happened in season's past, and that cheered me up, because in all honestly, we shouldn't have gotten anything from the game.

Over a very fine pint of ale with Napster, Cousin Weir and some Chester fans, IIRC...  It's true - under Wignall, Newman, Little or Chipmunk, we would have rolled over when Chester's second went in, especially away from home.

We were rubbish that day, and yet still came away with a point - and that says an enormous amount about the belief and work-ethic that Tilly and Brush have instilled in the players.

Matt

 

[* ORM *]

A few of ORM's selections.

1) Gigg Lane, Bury 1-0. I know the Millstad is fresh in everyone's memory but this has to be the top choice for me.

2) Liverpool Jan 79 0-0. Apart from league matters quite simply the biggest cup match I've ever been priviliged to watch as a Southend fan. Nothing else comes remotely close.

3) Winning promotion at Stockport (just like today I threw a sickie to attend that one)

4) Millstad play-off

5) Winning promotion at Peterborough

6) Home vs Spurs in the cup. An inch away from causing one of the biggest upsets in the competion that year (and a fantastic contribution from the legend

).

7) 10-1 vs Aldershot

There are far too many other games to compete for a top 10 slot most of which have been posted already. The season before last home game vs Darlo stands out, Gower's winner, ORM surging down to the front of the West to give him a hug before realising that he was 37 not 7 (you can see what a $%&* I looked on the DVD).