Southend United 2 Darlington 0

Last updated : 29 January 2005 By Mark Wallis

The Quakers started the afternoon just two points and places behind United, and despite having comprehensively tonked Steve Tilson’s men 4-0 at the New Stadium back in October, the visitors from County Durham came south with the sole intention of coming away with a goalless draw and, if at all possible, cause serious injury to one or more of United’s key players. It would be interesting to hear manager David Hodgson – who is as bad as his team – explain his sides appalling tactics.

Still, Southend could breath a huge sigh of relief when the Football League’s poorest referee – Trevor Kettle – pulled out of the match at the final minute, although surely even he would have awarded the Shrimpers a blatant second minute penalty when Northamptonshire official Andy Penn somehow missed Brian Close clutching Kevin Maher’s long free kick with both hands inside the area.

Despite the failed appeal Southend threw everything they could at Darlington in the first half, and the visiting side would have been great relieved to have reached half time with all still to play for.

Darlington had a lot to owe to goalkeeper Sam Russell who pulled off a series of fine-stops to keep Southend at bay, with the first coming on just three minutes when he made an great reaction stop to cling onto Mark Bentley’s deflected shot following a neat ball from Lawrie Dudfield.

Russell did well to claim a Dudfield header, from a Carl Pettefer centre, at the second attempt before he parried Wayne Gray’s fierce drive over the crossbar.

A rare attack from the visitors saw Darryl Flahavan eventually hold onto a slippery low shot from Alun Armstrong, but back up the other end Bentley should have done better when, unmarked, he directed a header from Nicky Nicolau’s pin-point delivery, straight at Russell.

Che Wilson fired wayward after Dudfield had cut-back a deflected Maher shot and the last chance of the first half saw skipper Maher’s zipping low shot deflected just wide of the post off Matt Clarke.

Half-time: Southend United 0 Darlington 0

Second half chances were not quite as forthcoming as before the interval, but still Southend came at their opponents, who became frustrated as they were forced onto the back foot. Somehow Quakers midfielder Adolfo Gregorio managed to get away with whacking his fist into the face of Pettefer right in front of the referees assistant. Hodgson knew exactly what had happened and immediately replaced Gregorio with Chris Hughes, who it seemed was brought on to cause some severe damage, and he was only cautioned for a deliberately late knee-high challenge on Bentley.

Shot-stopper Russell did very well to block Dudfield’s low shot with his legs before Gray stabbed into the custodians hands after Dudfield flicked on a long Lewis Hunt throw-in.

Then, on 77 minutes the breakthrough finally arrived. Substitute Freddy Eastwood burst forward before squaring the ball to Bentley who smashed home a low first time drive into the bottom left hand corner from 15 yards. (1-0)

The match was then wrapped up in the second minute of stoppage time when Mark Gower, another late substitute, knocked the ball into the path of Eastwood who swiftly turned before firing in from close range. (2-0)

MATCH FACTS
SOUTHEND UNITED...(0) 2 DARLINGTON…(0) 0
Football League Division Three, Saturday, 29th January 2005 @ Roots Hall

Goals: Southend: Bentley 77 (low drive; inside area; timed at 76:41), Eastwood 90 (turned and tabbed in; inside area; timed at 91:35).
Bookings: Southend: None. Darlington: Maddison (42 – foul), Chris Hughes (62 – foul).
Sent-off: None.
Total Goal Efforts: Southend 16, Darlington 8
Shots/headers on target: Southend 9, Darlington 2
Shots/headers off target: Southend 3, Darlington 6
Blocked shots: Southend 4, Darlington 0
Hit Woodwork: Southend 0, Darlington 0
Corners: Southend 4, Darlington 4
Free Kicks: Southend 10, Darlington 13
Caught Offside: Southend 2, Darlington 5

Match Time:
First Half: 46:29. Second Half: 48:22. Total: 94:51.
Indicated stoppage time: First Half: 1 minute (Actual: 01:29), Second Half: 3 minutes (03:22)

Referee: Andy Penn (Northamptonshiree FA), 5 out of 10 (General Control 1/5, Application of Laws 2/3, Personality & Appearance 2/2)

Attendance: to follow

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com

NB. Shots/headers on target includes all goals and Free Kicks includes all penalties.