However, the Blues faithful might be wondering what footballing God to pray to as four years ago a Freddy Eastwood 89th minute winner, after he came on as a sub believe it or not, took us to the the top of League One, while the basement division seemed to be the way Blackpool were heading!

(And their not to keen on our Fred, who has now scored three times against the Lancashire club for three different sides: www.bfcblog.co.uk/freddie-eastwood-spoils-the-day-again/)

Southend finished a mighty 29 points over Blackpool, who only escaped releagtion by a win!

As you can imagine the new Championship play-off winners have a totally new team, one Clarke. P, whatever happened to him, now including ex-Brentford player DJ Campbell, who was a real handful.

Of that side Keigan Parker, who tore into us that day, may face us next term as he ended the season on loan to Bury from Oldham, though he does have a two-year contract with the Latics taking him into 2011.

For us, Captain Adam remians, for now, but Eastwood and Gower on the bench, that was quite a squad!

And Luke Guttridge man of the match! He's now a free agent after being released by Northampton.

Oh well! Here's my first ever report back for the then TLG, back on the day I was celebrating my 50th birthday and leading into my 40th season as a Shrimper, it looked a lot rosier future then! (I wonder if that was Clarkey who made that 'vital error' leading to Freddie's goal!)

Blackpool 1 Southend United 2 (played on Saturday, January 2nd, 2006)

As I woke up to the sound of champagne and orange juice being poured I suddenly realised I was in a very foggy Blackpool and I was bloody old! The fog went, my age, sadly remains the same.

And the news was that Blackpool was shut, everything, even the Pepsi Max, everyone had gone home or were walking around with a permanent hangover. Much like a few of the Southend players!

For many of this side, poor Adam Barrett certainly, this was a game too far, God knows who upset the fixture computer but I fear for Saturday at Oldham!

Four changes from Bournemouth with Eastwood and Gower on the bench, Gower soon on though as Pettefer went off after a clash of heads.

The fresh blood did not help at the start as Blackpool were forging forward, missing a good chance which blazed into the setting sun at the empty end of an impressive Bloomfield Road for the home supporters, luckily it was a dry day for the 300 odd Southend supporters who had made the journey up, many by plane. Pats on back all round.

Then the penny dropped, bar a well marshalled back four led by former Blackburn captain Wilcox Blackpool were pretty crap. Vigorous defending, simple midfield passes, strong running by the front two, especially Gray before he went AWOL, and it was only a matter of time before we scored.

And after the inside of the post was hit by a superb header by the boy Lawson, Gower got in a great cross which was asking for a header to place it in the net, Bentley obliged, just beating Barrett and the Shrimpers were 1-0 up. Feet up time, the second would surely arrive, best team in league, sorted.

Well, no, this was the definitive game of two halves. Blackpool used all there subs in the second half and decided to turn up. Southend decided to have a rest. Shots rained in, poor Darryl must have wondered who the strangers were in front of him. Take a bow Eagle who saved the day on several occasions with terrific last ditch tackles.

At last Keigan Parker made a great turn just outside the box, cut in; a great shot and Blackpool were level. There was now only one winner........and that was somehow Southend!

On with 20 mins left, the goal scoring machine known as Freddy Eastwood received the ball after another desperate clearance, ran towards the Blackpool goal as the bemused defender made the fatal error of giving him too much time on the ball, a little dummy, which made keeper Lee Jones go slightly to his right leaving a small gap on his near post.

Oh dear! Not small enough for Freddie who smashed the ball into the net and Southend were 2-1 winners and top of the league. I had I had witnessed a mugging!

Still enough time for Wilson to give away a certain penalty in stoppage time except it wasn't given! We cannot complain about these set of officials, though the ref should have given a foul on Wilson just before his ill-judged, and very tired, tackle.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Luke Guttridge: Never stopped working and it can't surprise anyone that Captain Kev plays with such freedom when he has the tenacious tackling and running machine that is our Saint Luke by his side. Oh yes, we seem to win a few games as well!

With Trundle injured for Swansea and Huddersfield in mixed form, even Brentford dropping points, a certain visit to North Essex could be the defining game of this incredible and never boring Southend season.

Coca Cola League One, Monday, 2nd January 2006 @ 15:00; Bloomfield Road
Parker 76 Bentley 39 Eastwood 89
Starting Line-ups 1 Jones 6 5 Butler 6 27 Warrender 7 2 McGregor (Morris 46) 5 6 Clarke, P 7 31 Wilcox 6 15 Donnelly 6 10 Vernon (Murphy 46) 5 17 Wiles (Gobern 72) 6 4 Southern 5 7 Parker 7 Substitutes 25 Pogliacomi 28 Morris (McGregor 46) 7 30 Gobern (Wiles 72) 8 Doolan 9 Murphy (Vernon 46) 6	13 Goal Attempts 12 3 On Target 5 10 Off Target 6 0 Hit Woodwork 1 6 Offsides 2 5 Corners 6 19 Fouls 8	Starting Line-ups 1 Flahavan 7 11 Pettefer (Gower 5) 3 Wilson 6 15 Edwards 7 6 Barrett 7 2 Jupp 6 16 Guttridge 6 12 Bentley 7 8 Maher 7 20 Lawson (Eastwood 74) 6 10 Gray 7 Substitutes 24 Wright 5 Prior 14 Cole 7 Gower (Pettefer 5) 6 23 Eastwood (Lawson 74)
	Referee M Messias, S Yorkshire Attendance 5271
	Blackpool Cards Southern 64 unsporting behaviour Parker 84 unsporting behaviour Southend Utd. Cards (none)

Completed Saturday, 6th May 2006		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Southend United	46		13	6	4	37	16		10	7	6	35	27		23	13	10	72	43		82	+29
2	Colchester United	46		15	4	4	39	21		7	9	7	19	19		22	13	11	58	40		79	+18
3	Brentford	46		10	8	5	35	23		10	8	5	37	29		20	16	10	72	52		76	+20
4	Huddersfield Town	46		13	6	4	40	25		6	10	7	32	34		19	16	11	72	59		73	+13
5	Barnsley	46		11	11	1	37	19		7	7	9	25	25		18	18	10	62	44		72	+18
6	Swansea City	46		11	9	3	42	23		7	8	8	36	32		18	17	11	78	55		71	+23
7	Nottingham Forest	46		14	5	4	40	15		5	7	11	27	37		19	12	15	67	52		69	+15
8	Doncaster Rovers	46		11	6	6	30	19		9	3	11	25	32		20	9	17	55	51		69	+4
9	Bristol City	46		11	7	5	38	22		7	4	12	28	40		18	11	17	66	62		65	+4
10	Oldham Athletic	46		12	4	7	32	24		6	7	10	26	36		18	11	17	58	60		65	-2
11	Bradford City	46		8	9	6	28	25		6	10	7	23	24		14	19	13	51	49		61	+2
12	Scunthorpe United	46		8	8	7	36	33		7	7	9	32	40		15	15	16	68	73		60	-5
13	Port Vale	46		10	5	8	30	26		6	7	10	19	28		16	12	18	49	54		60	-5
14	Gillingham	46		13	4	6	31	21		3	8	12	19	43		16	12	18	50	64		60	-14
15	Yeovil Town	46		8	8	7	27	24		7	3	13	27	38		15	11	20	54	62		56	-8
16	Chesterfield	46		6	7	10	31	37		8	7	8	32	36		14	14	18	63	73		56	-10
17	Bournemouth	46		7	11	5	25	20		5	8	10	24	33		12	19	15	49	53		55	-4
18	Tranmere Rovers	46		7	8	8	32	30		6	7	10	18	22		13	15	18	50	52		54	-2
19	Blackpool	46		9	8	6	33	27		3	9	11	23	37		12	17	17	56	64		53	-8
20	Rotherham United	46		7	9	7	31	26		5	7	11	21	36		12	16	18	52	62		52	-10
21	Hartlepool United	46		6	10	7	28	30		5	7	11	16	29		11	17	18	44	59		50	-15
22	Milton Keynes Dons	46		8	8	7	28	25		4	6	13	17	41		12	14	20	45	66		50	-21
23	Swindon Town	46		9	5	9	31	31		2	10	11	15	34		11	15	20	46	65		48	-19
24	Walsall	46		7	7	9	27	34		4	7	12	20	36		11	14	21	47	70		47	-23