Away v Rushden & Diamonds - Saturday 18th April 2009 | |
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A fixture that had been stifled by a blustery Northamptonshire wind came to life inside the final ten minutes as first Craig Calver was dismissed for violent conduct and then, within three minutes, Reynolds instigated joyous scenes by finally forcing the ball over the goal-line after a persistent Shrimpers attack.
To their credit, Blues continued to battle hard, despite their performance being short of the standards attained in the previous two fixtures, even after being reduced to ten men. This was proven in the 86th minute as central defender Reynolds, who recently won the Shrimpers Trust SUFC Youth Team Player of the Month award for March, notched his second goal for the Under-18s this term.
The move was started by Jamie Dennis, who swung a high free-kick into the Rushden penalty area. The ball was cleared as far as Merrick James-Lewis, whose shot was charged down into the path of substitute Marcus Milner. Again Southend were thwarted, but the ball spun skywards and Reynolds reacted quickest to nod past the goalkeeper and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Manager Ricky Duncan had brought in Teddy Nesbitt for Callum Whittaker, with Ade Osifuwa moving into his preferred central defensive role to accommodate the debutant left-back, although elsewhere, United were unchanged from the team that defeated Leyton Orient nearly a fortnight previously.
With the wind at their backs in the first half, Rushden were able to control the tempo of the match as the visitors struggled to maintain possession for any substantial period of time. Nathan McDonald pushed an early free-kick around the post, whilst on 18 minutes Nesbitt overcame his initial nerves to effect an important block 15 yards from goal.
Nabil Shariff poked wide of the right-hand post shortly afterwards, but his team soon trailed as Southend took the lead against the run of play in the 25th minute. Justin Hazell started the move when he won the ball before offloading sharply to Calver on the left-hand side of the penalty area, and the Leigh-born first-year completed the move by running onto the cross and smashing into the net.
The goal seemed to settle United down, and Hazell was only denied another sight at goal when Diamonds captain Sean Calcutt nodded off of his head from Harry Crawford's swirling cross. However, it was still the hosts who threatened more regularly, with Osifuwa clearing two dangerous centres himself before a midfielder sent a rasping shot against the top of the crossbar in the dying minutes of the first half.
The Shrimpers would have expected to have enjoyed more of the play after the interval, but Rushden continued to pass the ball well and hustle their opposition, making the fixture difficult. Twelve minutes into the second period, Diamonds deservedly equalised as Dan Easlea pulled away from Dennis at the back post and found Adam Sharpe in front of goal, the forward making no mistake with a comfortable finish.
Hazell's last action of the match was to exchange a one-two with Medi Abalimba in order to fashion an opening that eventually saw a wild shot flashed wide. Abalimba joined his colleague on the bench as Milner and Kyle Asante brought fresh legs and pace to proceedings.
Before the pair could make an impact, Osifuwa was called upon to make another important challenge, this time denying Calcutt, before Asante collected Davis Abbey's pass, only to hurry a weak shot into the gloves of the 'keeper.
Dennis headed a Reynolds free-kick across the face of goal on 82 minutes, but a potentially decisive moment arrived seconds later as Calver tangled with Aynsley McDonald when the defender tugged him back to stop the forward making a forward burst. The referee showed a red card to Calver, making the Shrimpers' task even tougher.
Reynolds, and his team-mates, stood up to the situation to deliver a dramatic winner and, despite McDonald having to push a Matt Evans cross-shot onto the bar during stoppage time, Southend were able to collect another three points towards their quest to claim the South-East Conference title.
The Blues now head to Brighton, Gillingham and Millwall and Head of Youth Ricky Duncan knows his team are just three games away from being crowned champions.
"We've had a good year and the boys have worked so hard to get into this position. It would be brilliant to win the league, especially as we would become the first ever Southend side to do it. Winning the league would be great but it doesn't matter as much as producing players for the first team. We've had that this year and we've also had a player (Femi Orenuga) sold on to a Premier League club to make the club some money so we've got all the things you judge yourself on as a youth coach. It's going well and hopefully we can finish off the job now but it won't be easy because we have some very hard games left."
Southend United U18s: Nathan McDonald; Jamie Dennis, Adetayo Osifuwa, Duran Reynolds, Teddy Nesbitt; Medi Abalimba (Marcus Milner 66), Davis Abbey, Merrick James-Lewis, Justin Hazell (Kyle Asante 66); Harry Crawford, Craig Calver.
Substitutes not used: Callum Whittaker, John Owinja, Kane Ferdinand.
Goals: Hazell (25), Reynolds (86).
Sent-Off: Calver (83 - violent conduct).
Cautioned: Dennis (89 - delaying the restart of play).