Southend 1st XI 4 - 2 Felixstowe 1st XI
Captain Neil "Strawberry" Utton tinkered with his team selection for the visit of Felixstowe on Saturday and was rewarded with three points. Utton moved Rob Styles from centre midfield to sweeper, retaining the in form Dave Robeson at centre midfield, and relegated Keith Arnold (who was allegedly unimpressed with the decision) from sweeper to the bench.
Southend went into the lead almost from the start when a short corner move that went wrong was turned into a goal by some neat dribbling and a good finish from Neil Utton. Unfortunately things went downhill from there, when Felixstowe managed a rally, scoring two goals (both from short corners) against the run of play, to go into the lead, as well as missing a penalty flick in the same period of play.
Utton then made changes bringing on substitute Keith Arnold up front (probably because he was in such a bad mood on the sideline) and was rewarded with a goal almost straight away (albeit nothing to do with Arnold, no matter what he tells you) when Rob Styles scored one of his trademark short corner flicks.
Southend then scored again to go into the lead when Arnold was at the end of a fine team move, receiving a pass from Phil Harvey (what was he doing that far up?), turning and hitting the ball into the roof of the net (at the same time he was heard to say, that'll teach you to sub me you ******). Arnold also scored the fourth with a nice finish from a great Rob Styles cross. Unfortunately some "Crowhurst-like" finishing meant he was unable to claim a hat trick when he missed a number of chances later on in the game.
In the end though it was three points well earned, and keeps Southend in the promotion hunt in Division 3 SE.
Team - Harvey M, Arnold, Mellish, Harvey P, Hayman, Reynolds, Robeson, Crompton, Utton, Leggett, Styles Jnr, Styles Snr.
Scorers - Arnold 2, Styles Snr, Utton
Man of the Match - Dave Robeson
Southend 2nd XI 1 – 0 University of Essex
This is how the 2nd team captain saw the game:
Results this weekend mean that Southend continue to top the East League Division 5SE, their lead unchanged at 5 points over Chelmsford with Harlow a further 2 points adrift with a game in hand.
A rather testy team of university students arrived at Waterside with it seemed the intention of talking their way to victory. Accusations of cheating and bad sportsmanship after the home team had generously supplied both umpires (as they couldn’t provide one!) certainly didn’t endear themselves to anyone.
A Southend team much changed from the usual following enforced absences through injury & holidays coped well with the lively, energetic and free-talking opposition. Ironically it was an early goal by teacher Micky Walsh that put the students in their place! A shot rifled in from the top of the circle following some clever play by the skipper.
The majority of the game saw Southend efficiently deal with the student’s limited attacks although disappointingly only rarely looking dangerous themselves going forward. In a game of limited sorties, credit goes to both Walsh & James Lockwood for their unstinting running and once again to Stuart Jones who continues to improve.
Team: A Poulaine, L Danbrook, M Watson, G Cheeseman, J McPhee, M Fallows, K Druce (Capt.), J Lockwood, S Jones, M Walsh & J Morgan sub: V Harvey
Goalscorer - Walsh
An alternative view:
I was looking forward to watching the all conquering Southend 2nd XI, as this was the first chance the fixture list had given me since the start of the season. I'm not sure whether it was because I wanted to see who was pushing for places in the first team or whether it was to see how worried we needed to be for the upcoming 1's v 2's game ( I mean we're really never going to hear the end of it if we were to lose that one). After all, a little spying mission can't do any harm can it?.
When I turned up, the opposition looked to be a bit better than I was expecting, and the seconds looked to be a bit weaker than I imagined them to be (no Jenkins, Scott, Lockwood, Etheridge or Puncher). This is a game they could lose I thought. Things started well enough when Micky Walsh scored the opener but seemed to be going against them when centre midfield linchpins Druce and Cheeseman both picked up injuries ("look at Gavin" remarked the first team Captain, "he's only on half of his usual half pace"). However the team remained solid despite the injuries and even managed to withstand an injury to keeper Andy Poulain (we all feared the worst for his knees when he went down in the D screaming like a girl).
All in all I though it was a great performance from the 2's who must surely now have a great chance of winning the league and proved with this weeks performance they are going to be tough nuts for the first team to crack.
Southend 3rd XI 2 - 1 Witham 3rd XI
Southend 3's kept pace with the pack in Div 8SE with a quality away win over 2nd place Witham. Southend played the better hockey throughout and though chances were scarce for both sides, Southend's superior hunger and work rate were the difference between the two sides when the final whistle went. Southend had the better of the early exchanges building well from midfield whilst looking solid and aware from the back. Southends two forwards Jak Taylor and Quiller Hawkins played superbly holding the ball in the opposition half allowing the midfield to move forwards as a cohesive unit putting pressure on the Witham back four. From one such move John Etheridge mazed through the Witham defence and feinted a pass throwing the last defender off balance giving him time to wind up and bulge the net from 12 yards.
Southend has to wait until the second half for the lead to increase due mainly to decent Witham defending and an unusually low return from penalty corners, but as ever Des White was not to be denied his weekly short corner goal 20 minutes from time.
With the pace of the game now slowing the forwards came deeper looking for the ball and the teams shape remained consistent. Southend could have panicked when 10 minutes from time Witham put together their neatest break of the game with a final shot that was just good enough to beat Aussie keeper Justin Gooday (Surely we have to re-name him Justin G'day!). In years gone by Southends 3's may have succumbed to the last 10 minutes of Witham pressure but this years side is made of sterner stuff. Southend finished worthy 2-1 winners dropping Witham into 4th place and keeping the 3's in touch with the pack in 5th.
Good performances throughout the side but special mention should be made of 3rd XI debutant Tony Revell who put in an excellent performance at right back.
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 1st XI 3 - 0 East London
Southend laides gained all three points when the opposition were too scared to turn up and cancelled the game.
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 2nd XI 2 - 0 Wapping Ladies
Ladies 2nds played Wapping Ladies on Saturday and won 2-0. The girls worked hard throughout the game and were 2-0 up at half time after Claire King scored (yet again) from a lovely cross by Ann Marie Byford. The second goal was scored by Sarah Brooks after a challenge on goal by Emma Philips. The defence held off Wapping in the second half, who started much stronger
and Zoe Witheral saved some good attempts at goal. Thank you to all who came to support and who kept all our children amused during the game. |
