Old Southendians 1st XI 2 - 4 Southend 1st XI
Southend confirmed superiority over Old Boys by completing the double over their neighbours at Warners Bridge on Saturday.
Southend were back to full strength with Gareth Ingram returning from suspension, Lee Styles returning from his shopping / theatre trip and Daniel "Stress" Needham back from illness. The match started with Southend dominating from the off and it soon became clear that Old Boys were in for a tough day. However, it took a strop from Neil "Strawbs" Utton to force the Captain to make a substitution and almost immdiately Gareth Ingram went on a mazy run and slipped the ball through for Rich Hill (!) to score. Yes that isn't a typo that definitely says Rich Hill and he neatly finished to open the scoring not looking at all like a man who was scoring his first league goal of the season.
Southend continued to dominate and went 2 - 0 up when Christian Jenkins slammed home a second from a short corner. Then against the run of play Old Boys managed to sneak a goal from a well worked short corner to go into half time with a bit of hope.
The second half continued in much the same vein with Southend dominating but not playing well enough to put Old Boys away. The action then seemed to revolve around James Lockwood who in a horrendous five minute spell managed to miss an open goal and then give away a harsh penalty flick to give Old Boys some hope. Earlier James (always a shrewd judge) had offered some goalscoring advice to "30 goals so far this season" Gareth Ingram pleading with him "not to shoot from there" just as the forward rammed the ball home with a reverse stick shot from out wide. A couple of good saves from Johnny 5 also kept Old Boys at bay.
The last goal came from Neil Utton who drove the ball through a crowd of players to score from close range. In the end though, this was a convincing win over their local rivals, achieved without really playing that well. With two legitimate goals disallowed by the umpires it could have been much worse for Old Boys and winning when not playing well shows how far we have come. Results elsewhere also went for the team who now move clear of the relegation zone and towards safety. A 3 point deduction for Luton and Fords, following a match abandoned because of a 16 man brawl, have also helped Southend's cause. The team now play most of the relegation teams in the next few weeks and a couple of wins should see them safe.
Team - 5, Arnold, Lockwood, Hayman, Styles, Hill, Mellish, Puncher, Jones, Jenkins, Utton, Needham, Ingram
Goals - Utton, Jenkins, Ingram, Hill
Man of the Match - Steve Hayman
Burberry Trousers - James Lockwood
|
