Spotland has been a good hunting ground for the Seasiders over the past four years, with three victories and a draw in the last four meetings, and United have not been beaten by the Lancastrians at home either in that space of time. On each time Southend have won there, it has been the first time that ‘Dale have been defeated at home, but this year that have already suffered that agony, losing 2-0 to Swansea City in midweek.
However, that should not deter Blues from attempting to get their first three-point haul on the table for 2004/5, an important win if the southeast Essex club intend to live up to their position as dark horses for a play-off place. Manager Steve Tilson was undeterred after the 2-0 opening day loss to Cheltenham Town, but was in more buoyant mood following the 1-1 draw at Lincoln City on Tuesday.
He told the club’s official site, “It was a totally different tempo tonight, whether the heat got to us on Saturday I don’t know but everything was a lot quicker and we were certainly the better footballing side”. The 38-year-old added, “I was happy to get a point on the board and I thought we deserved that point”.
Looking forward to the match tomorrow afternoon, crowd hero Tilson commented, “We’ve got a point now, that was the most important thing for me, you need to draw your away games and win the home ones and we’ve got a valuable away point. That’s encourages we now go to Rochdale on Saturday, who have lost 2-0 to Swansea, full of encouragement. We will play at the same tempo and try and win the game”.
One man that Tilson will certainly not be able to call upon is energetic midfielder Jay Smith. He spoke to the Southend Evening Echo yesterday, detailing exactly what his situation was: “Two weeks after the operation I’ll be able to jog again, but after six weeks I’m determined to be back playing”. The former Aston Villa youngster appeared briefly in the exhibition Youths vs. Past Masters match at Meet The Blues day, but he will still have to undergo surgery to remove the metal plate from his foot.
Encouragingly, Smith said, “It’s not going to take that long to get fit again once I’ve had the operation. I would have liked to have got it done before the start of August and then that would have given me more time to get back fit and help the rest of the lads, but that hasn’t been possible”. Thankfully physiotherapist has reported to the club’s official site that the rest of the squad has a clean bill of health.
One man most certainly in full fitness and in good touch is striker Wayne Gray, who told the Echo his opinion about his controversial penalty decision, which he coolly converted three minutes later. Gray pleaded, “I’m not sure if it should have been given. I’ve gone for the ball – the keeper’s caught my leg, we’ve both kind of collided in a way and it was one of those that could have gone either way. Thankfully the ref gave it though”.
Gray should start again at the weekend, and is likely to be joined up front again by Drewe Broughton. The former Kidderminster Harriers forward was in fine form on Tuesday, linking well with Gray and winning the majority of the balls pumped up on to his head. Lawrie Dudfield will feel himself unlucky not to be in the side, but Tesfaye Bramble will certainly be out serving the second of his three-match suspension.
In Smith’s midfield, Mark Bentley made a good return to the centre of the park alongside Kevin Maher in midweek and will be hoping to continue his alliance with the former Tottenham Hotspur right-back. Club captain Maher was highly critical of his team-mates after they had lost to Cheltenham, but his own performance was also much-improved on Tuesday night.
Lewis Hunt appears likely to continue to miss out, despite having an excellent pre-season campaign both in midfield and at centre-half. Ex-Derby County man Hunt will may be rejoined on the substitutes bench by the unfortunate Michael Husbands, who made a big impact against the Robins and was then cast out of the squad three days later.
His absence from the side is mainly down to the ability of ex-Motherwell loanee Mark Gower and former Portsmouth talent Carl Pettefer on the right and left respectively. Gower in particular will be looking to improve from his early season form, whilst Pettefer continues to recover well from his serious summer injury. James Corbett stands by for selection, but Michael Kightly will miss out again.
At one stage of the match against the Red Imps, Spencer Prior appeared to be signalling to the bench to be taken off, but he remained on the field until the final whistle, and he can fully be expected to keep his slot in the centre of the defence. Prior’s place should he fail a fitness test would be taken by Adam Barrett, who has yet to make his Southend debut after signing a two-year deal in the summer.
Another unlucky player is Che Wilson, who is still in line to cover any of the defensive positions. Wilson is most likely to replace Nicky Nicolau, who has been a little off-colour during the last two matches, at left-back, although Duncan Jupp in the right full-back place is by no means certain to retain his position. Andy Edwards will complete the defence, whilst Bart Griemink should keep his place ahead of Darryl Flahavan after a very good display between the sticks against City.
‘Dale for their part have been struggling horribly with injuries. With a tiny squad to start with, manager Steve Parkin will be dismayed to learn that Scott Warner has dislocated his shoulder in the match against the Swans and faces a six-week lay-off. That occurred in the sixth minute of the game, and soon afterwards Daryl Burgess also had to be taken off. However, he has a 90% chance of playing after twisting his knee.
With a similar opportunity of taking the field is front man Paul Tait, who failed a late fitness test on a twisted ankle before the game against Swansea. Another man who could make a return is captain Gary Jones, who has been out of touch with a sore foot. Trialist Paul Weller (the former Burnley midfielder and not the record artist) has been out with a calf strain and has been unable to secure a contract.
Boss Parkin has remained upbeat though, and he told the Manchester Evening News, “We are not feeling sorry for ourselves and if we perform as we did against Swansea then I am sure that, especially at home, results will start to go our way”. Southend, and their travelling supporters, will be wishing that it does not begin tomorrow.
LIKELY SQUADS
Rochdale | Southend United | |
4-4-2 Neil Edwards Wayne Evans Alan Goodhall Daryl Burgess Greg Heald Leo Bertos Gary Jones Neil Brisco Patrick McCourt Grant Holt Paul Tait --- Matthew Gilks Gareth Griffiths Jamie Clarke Kevin Townson Leighton McGivern --- | Starting Line-Ups GK DR DL DC DC MR MC MC ML FC FC Substitutes 1 2 3 4 5 Also Available * * | 4-4-2 Bart Griemink Duncan Jupp Nicky Nicolau Spencer Prior Andy Edwards Mark Gower Kevin Maher Mark Bentley Carl Pettefer Drewe Broughton Wayne Gray --- Darryl Flahavan Lewis Hunt Adam Barrett Lawrie Dudfield Che Wilson --- James Corbett Michael Husbands |
REFEREE: Russell Booth (Nottinghamshire)
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear) and Paul Simpson (County Durham)
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com