Southend Mens 1's 4 - 5 Waltham Forest
"Fantastic effort from under strength and much changed team"
Southend restarted their league campaign with a greatly changed team thanks to illness and unavailability. Youngsters Stuart Jones and Luke Danbrook came into the side along with veteran Gavin Cheesman which gave the team a new look.
We set up with Gavin in his usual centre midfield role, relegating John Reynolds to the left with an all youth right side of Stuart and Luke and off we went.
The game was end to end from the start and Southend's first goal came when Stuart Jones completed a fine move slamming the ball into the net from the top of the D. Another goal from Phil Legget with a fine deflection from a Rob Styles pass was enough to get us into the lead.
Unfortunately this seemed to inspire Waltham Forest who equalised following a horrendous error from Steve Hayman and then went on to score three more to go 5 - 2 up.
Southend then pushed Styles Snr and Robo further forward, knowing the venerable Cheeseman would cover them, and dominated the game from there on. It seemed that we were camped in the Waltham Forest half for an age and goals were inevitable. Leggett scored two trademark goals from close range and it was only a matter of time. However in the end the umpire blew for time when surely another few more minutes would have resulted in us getting something from the game, which we would have deserved.
The interesting thing will be to see what team Captain Neil "Strawberry" Utoon puts out next week. Will he keep the players that played so well this week or will he bring back those who were missing (Lee Styles, Paul Mellish, Chris Crowhurst, Strawberry and Puppy). I imagine there will be a few first team players nervously awaiting the Captains decision.
Goals - Leggett 3, Jones
Team - Christie, Styles Snr, P Harvey, Danbrook, Hayman, Cheeseman, Robeson, Jones, Reynolds, Leggett, Arnold
Southend 2nd XI 8 – 2 Dunmow 2nd XI
Goalscorer(s): Jenkins 4, Puncher, Styles L., Morgan & Crompton
Christmas lingers on for Southend as Chelmsford curiously went down 2-0 at Sudbury this weekend leaving them in 3rd place, 8 pts adrift, with 2nd placed Harlow one point better off.
Despite the absence of 4 of the regular 2’s players, 3 relegated to the 1st XI (unlucky losers once again!), their replacements seemed adequate enough and with a bit more coaching might yet be able to challenge for a place in future starting line ups. The home team also welcomed back their captain elect, Steve Lockwood (for all those who had forgotten), for his first game of the season.
Southend attacked from the outset, dominating the early period of the game. However, overplaying and shooting straight at the keeper (who had a super game despite the score line) created much gnashing of teeth from those watching at the back. It was with some relief then when after 10 minutes Southend managed to find a way through, some swift inter-changing of passes preceding a fine finish from Jenkins, his first of four. At last, now let’s put this game out of reach, hold on, what happened there? Bloody hell 1-1 already. We’re playing 4-4-2 boys NOT 1-9! Having abandoned the total Gung-Ho approach Southend proceeded to demonstrate a level of skill and commitment unmatched by their opposition and went into the break with a comfortable 4-1 lead.
The 2nd half began as have so many of the 2’s games this season with the Southend team still contemplating their half-time team talk and almost immediately conceding another goal. Now fully focused, Southend pressed forward once again, completely dominating play and scoring 4 more, goals from Styles, Puncher and another 2 for Jenkins.
Thanks go to Marcus for turning up as cover despite having had flu all week and having to play almost all the 2nd half (replacing the once again injured Druce who having track suited up and lit up found himself having to replace the completely knackered returning skipper 2 minutes later!). Additional thanks go to Jak Taylor for agreeing to be the “official” sub without playing.
Team: M Scott, L Styles, M Watson, J Etheridge, I Crompton, K Druce, J McPhee, B Puncher, J Morgan, C Jenkins, S Lockwood (capt), J Lockwood & J Taylor
Southend Mens 3's 1 - 1 Old Southendians 4's
Southends 3rd XI looked rusty against Old Southendians 4's in their first run out since December. Old Boys, fielding a number of 'recovering' senior players looked lively from the start, the older players picking off Southends attacking efforts and moving the ball
quickly to some pacey youngsters. Southend conceded 20 minutes into the half from a short corner, the strike coming off a Southend foot on its way to the backboard causing the defence to pause and watch the ball
cross the line, but the goal quite rightly stood. Southend plodded to half time without conceding further and managed to summon some fight for the second half. The game was end to end with neither side threatening
to dominate and Southends equaliser came from the one outstanding play in the match when a five pass combination took the ball down the left
flank, Jak Taylor hammering the ball into the D to be coolly slotted in by Gary Hastings. Southend had the better of the last 15 minutes as Old Boys 'older boys' tired but weren't able to convert further. Final score
a fair, but less than impressive, 1-1.
The dropped points push Southend into 6th place just under Saffron
Waldon who they face at Waterside next week.
Southend 4s 1 - 3 Saffron Walden 6s
No room for complacency…
The last time Southend met Saffron Walden, Southend came away with a six goal win and an opposition vying for revenge when we next met.
In the first half there was very little to choose from between the two teams, with Southend gradually returning to their previous form, and the opposition fielding an impressively improved side of youngsters. There were chances both ends, but it was Saffron Walden who eventually took the lead with an excellent shot from an impossible angle. Just before the half time break a John Evans run was interrupted by an illegal tackle from the defence and the resulting penalty flick – for which no-one was brave enough to volunteer – was taken by Peter Benson but unfortunately not successful.
The second half continued in much the same fashion but it was again Saffron Walden who were to benefit from their attacking play. Two goals later and Southend looked beaten, but a sudden revival of play following a Mitchell Jones goal meant that Saffron Walden spent most of the remaining 15 minutes defending heavily in their own half. But even the final short corner, in which all 11 players came up for a shot at goal, could not save Southend and it was Saffron Walden who took the points.
An excellent return match notable for some great play and revenge being reeked!
Southend & Benfleet Ladies 1st XI 3 - 0 Braintree
Another excellent performance by all the Ladies, it seemed like we were back on form after the Christmas break.
We started really strong, with lots of talking and excellent solid passing. We were able to move the ball around and use the fast pitch to our advantage. We took an early lead, with a fantastic goal scored by Claire Powell after several attempts by others also in the circle, it took some quick passing but we managed to get the goal fairly easily.
Our defence managed to mark their players well without letting them get away with much, fantastic positioning by Rebecca Goddard on their centre player and well done to Anne Johnson for keeping a tight fix on their young winger, Superb marking.
At half time we certainly hand the upper hand and Claire Powell managed to score another two goals (Hat-tric Queen) during the remainder of the game. Again though supported by excellent play and passing by the mid-field and forwards. A truly great game to watch and to play in.
We finished on time winning 3-0. Excellent result and a great effort by all. Well done and thank you to Chloe Harris for helping us out and a get well soon for Sarah Watkinson.
Team: L,Ballard. S,Revell. R,Goddard. G,Swain. A,Johnson. K,Colman L,Sharples. N,Bryant C,Harris. H,Middleton. C,Powell. N,Barker.
Goal Scorers: C,Powell 3
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 2's 9 - 0 Havering
Southend 2s played Havering this week in a game they showed confidence in from the start, With the first goal scored by Emma after only 5 mins...Sarah Brooks then went on to score her first hat-trick of the season. The defence played so well through the game our goal keeper wanted to nip off for a pot noodle!! By half time and another goal from Emma the score was 5-0. The
second half was much the same, excellent play by the mid field ment the ball was rarely in our half and this pressure allowed a very cool and calm Sarah
Brooks to score another 2 goals followed by one goal each for both Bridget and Claire King to bring the final score to 9-0... |
