Steve Tilson made a whole host of changes, as he had previously confirmed, from the side that lost at Doncaster with Duncan Jupp replacing Lewis Hunt at right back, Spencer Prior coming in for Andy Edwards, Jamal Campbell-Ryce for Mark Bentley, Jay Smith swapping with Luke Guttridge, Mark Gower replacing Mitchell Cole and finally Freddy Eastwood started his first game for a month in the place of Shaun Goater. Rushden had the same side that grabbed a 0-0 draw away at Wycombe bar Dave Savage, who was replaced in favour of Ashley Nicholls. Southend had the opening chance of the match when Kevin Maher’s corner, which had been won through some superb possession football, was headed powerfully wide from the experienced shoulders of Spencer Prior. Prior, 32, was playing his first competitive start since August following a minor injury and due to the form of Andy Edwards had struggled to get into the side. Rushden soon hit back – one minute later to be precise, when a nice through ball from former Shrimper Drewe Broughton was crossed into the box by Greg Pearson for Chris O’ Grady, whose shot was superbly saved by Darryl Flahavan. The former Shortly after the Diamonds had seen a great chance escape the Blues also saw frustration, as Wayne Gray somehow missed the target with only the goalkeeper to beat from eight yards out. Moreover, Gray had positioned himself perfectly – he could have chosen either side of the goalkeeper following a Campbell-Ryce through ball, but the former After a fairly uneventful fifteen or so minutes without a real chance, Rushden could have taken the lead when O’Grady was once again shut out having seen his shot fly wide of Flahavan’s far post. The youngster did excellently well to cut inside Duncan Jupp, before smashing a shot goalbound but thanks to a deflection off of Adam Barrett’s behind, the ball skidded out for a corner kick. From the resulting corner the Seasiders almost conceded again, as Broughton tested Darryl’s reactions with a point blank shot that was tipped over the crossbar. However, Darryl couldn’t save Southend this time, as the Diamonds did grab the lead on 30 minutes. After Marcus Kelly had easily played the ball through Duncan Jupp’s legs, Chris O’ Grady knocked a low cross into the path of Pearson who took a touch to settle himself, before seeing his side footed shot deflect off of both Barrett and Che Wilson and slither past the helpless Darryl Flahavan and Into the back of the net. And it almost got much worse – Spencer Prior slipped after trying to header a long ball forward and O’Grady raced towards goal, but fortunately for Southend, Flahavan was on hand to divert the number nineteen’s raspling shot away for a corner. As referee Paul Melin blew his whistle for half time, the Shrimpers travelling contingent knew their side had been capable of producing better and also that they were lucky to only be a goal down. At the start of the second half, Southend came out with a purpose and that was to get a goal as quickly as possible. However Rushden made it very hard work for Steve Tilson’s men, defending hard and often holding onto possession well. Wayne Gray had a good chance to get that goal only five minutes after the restart, but he could only send Mark Gower’s curling left footed cross to the far post wide from only four yards. Whilst the angle was tight, Gray really should have been celebrating his seventh goal of the current campaign. James Lawson had come on for Mark Gower and on 74 minutes was in on the act as he desperately searched for a goal. Gower’s pin point cross field pass to Jamal Campbell-Ryce was eventually crossed into the box by the Blues latest signing Wayne Gray headed the ball down, but Lawson struck his half volley straight at the goalkeeper. Either side of the goalkeeper, and Lawson would have been celebrating his third Southend first team goal. Going into the last fifteen minutes, the Blues began to get desperate as the Diamonds could smell the win, and Gray was again fustrated by his own poor finishing as he had a carbon copy chance of the chance two minutes previously, but this time he headed over the bar following a teasing cross from Campbell-Ryce. Despite having a reasonably quite game on the goalscoring front, Freddy Eastwood had been constantly involved in the build up play for most of the Southend attacks, but when he did find himself in a goalscoring position in the last minute, he couldn’t produce the goods. An in-swinging Kevin Maher free-kick evaded Barrett and Gray, however Eastwood got himself in the right postion to score, however due to a defender blocking his vision, Eastwood saw the ball late and headed over the crossbar. And an all round nightmare display was completed with yet another Gray miss as the stoppage time slowly decreased until there was no more. Steve Tilson will have to be let down by his player’s performance – especially considering eight of the eleven players on the pitch featured against Rushden last season in a 4-1 victory. Teams: Rushden & Diamonds ( Southend United ( Referee: Paul Melin Attendance 1,300 (350 Blues fans) By Adam Duffill www.thelittlegazette.com |