It's the Dark Blues v the er, Navy Blues (or Cherry Voltages, who knows, got some kit to sell.)
After some tough training at the Shrimpers Sterling base the club's first match on their Scottish jaunt will take place at the Bayview Stadium against Scottish First Division side Dundee on Saturday, July 16th at 15.15, in front of around 150 travelling Southend supporters!
The home of the Scottish Second Division team East Fife will host the four team tournament that will also see the Fifers take on Raith Rovers earlier on the same day at 13.00.
In the vent of a draw at the end of 90 minutes there will be no extra time but straight into a penalty shoot-out, could be good practice for the JPT tie at home to Orient on August 9th!
Teams will be allowed to list seven players on their subs list and at it's discretion use five, with only three of these listed in the second half.
The next day the losers face a third/fourth play-off, the winners, of course, the final.
The squad will be staying and working hard under Blues boss Paul Sturrock University from Thursday and the following five days.
Sturrock told www.southendunited.co.uk: "This is a very important part of our-pre-season preperations and I'd like to thank the Shrimpers Trust again for part sponsoring it. I've been pleased with how we have started and we will be working very hard whilst we are away. There are some very intense sessions planned at Stirling for morning and afternoon each day and it will be a good team bonding exercise. We will also step things up in terms of the opposition we will be playing which will also be an excellent test"
All players on the trip, including trailist right-back Ryan Leonard, have been reported fit bar injured strikers Barry Corr and Blair Sturrock, but it will be interesting to see the starting eleven, a clue to the side Luggy will pick against Hereford on August 6th?
So how is the Dundee pre-season going? A Dark Blue speaks out: http://cupardee.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile, Dundee right-back Matt Lockwood will certainly take some part in the game, having been a rumoured Shrimpers transfer target for many years along with Neil Harris, the difference being that good friend Harris, they played in the same Rayleigh boys side, actually signed.
Loockwood told www.echo-news.co.uk: “I grew up supporting Southend and they’re my hometown club so, just like Neil, so of course I always wanted to play for them. I was in the youth team there and it disappoints me that I never got to play for them because I was good enough to do it. Sometimes things happen for a reason and I really hope Neil does well for the club. There are more chances for strikers though because clubs will have four or five or them in their squad but it isn’t like that with left-backs. Southend have Peter Gilbert who does a good job so they don’t need me as well.”
Lockwood joined Dundee last summer but used to live in Rochford, believes that Bomber has made the right move.
He continued: “I rang Neil straight after he joined Southend and said to him if Carlsberg did transfers then they would have done this one. He’s a local lad so he now only has to travel 10 minutes up the road and to get a three year deal when you’re 34 is unbelievable. Nobody could turn that down and I did actually ask Neil for his agent’s number because he’s done brilliantly there. It will be great to play against Neil though and hopefully I’ll be close enough to give him a kick during the game.”
Fair enough Matt, but not too hard!
You pick Southend's possible starting X1, here are the side's two sides that took the pitch in the 3-0 win against Dartford last Monday, players not in Scotland in italics, our choice in bold.
Southend United (first half): Morris, Clohessy, Phillips, Barker, Prosser, Thomson, Parkinson, Sawyer, Currie, Crawford, Thomas. (Played 4-4-2)
Southend United (second half): Bentley, Leonard, Coughlan, Mohsni, Gilbert, Johnson, Grant, N'diaye, Hall, Harris, Asante. (Played 4-3-3)
& we go for Jemal Johnson and a two wideboy approach for starters, and why not?
Hopefully Ricketts will be in the squad before the start of the season!
The Lockwood Files
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthew Dominic Lockwood | ||
| Date of birth | 17 October 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Rochford, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Dundee | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1995–1996 | Queens Park Rangers | 0 | (0) |
| 1996–1998 | Bristol Rovers | 63 | (1) |
| 1998–2007 | Leyton Orient | 328 | (50) |
| 2007–2008 | Nottingham Forest | 11 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Colchester United | 6 | (0) |
| 2009 | → Barnet (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2009 | → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2010 | → Barnet (loan) | 19 | (2) |
| 2010– | Dundee | 35 | (5) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 April 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
(Player info supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lockwood)
Shrimpers Pre-Season Schedule
Monday, July 11th - Dartford 0 Southend United 3
Tuesday, July 12th - Great Wakering Rovers 0 Southend United 5
Saturday, July 16th - Dundee (at East Fife), 15.15.
Sunday, July 17th - East Fife or Raith Rovers (at East Fife), 13.00 or 15.15.
Wednesday, July 20th - Braintree Town (Away), 19.45. (SUFC X1)
Friday, July 22nd - IPSWICH TOWN (HOME), 19.45.
Thursday, July, 28th - NORWICH CITY (HOME), 19.45
Saturday, July 30th - Canvey Island (away), 15.00. (SUFC X1)