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Taylor, a former Southend player who arrived at Roots Hall in December 1993 following Barry Fry's departure to Birmingham City, was eventually dismissed as Shrimpers boss in February 1995 when he was replaced by Steve Thompson. Taylor, who rejected the vacant Southend job in October 2001 - weeks before the Brighton appointment - had previously been helping out with the training at United, where he spotted young Shrimpers striker Daniel Webb. Webb, now 19, joined Brighton on loan for the second half of last season, and Taylor didn't hesitate in taking the striker north in December. Webb should be part of the Tigers squad that travels to Essex.
Southend meanwhile are still smarting from an unfortunate 4-1 reverse at Scunthorpe United last weekend. In a strange match in which Southend hardly deserved the thrashing which was eventually dealt to them, all Rob Newman's side had to cheer was a well-taken goal from Jay Smith, who indeed rejected a move to Hull before signing permantely for Southend from Aston Villa in November.
Another player who has been rumoured to be interesting Taylor is United goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan. Flahavan is expected to return to the starting line-up against Hull have successfully come through Wednesday nights Essex Senior Cup clash at Dagenham & Redbridge. This will mean that Daniel Gay, who has deputised for the last five matches, will be dropped to the bench.
Making his debut for the Shrimpers in the centre of defence will be 19-year old Tottenham Hotspur defender Stephen Kelly. Kelly, who made an impression in the Spurs team that beat United 4-1 at Roots Hall during pre-season, has been brought in on a month's loan to ease Newman's defensive problems. The Southend rearguard had been left rather thin on the ground with the injuries of Stephen Broad (groin) and Phil Whelan (knee), both players have recently undergone operations on their injuries, but Newman's worries for this match extended further than that with both Mark Beard and David McSweeney serving one match suspensions, the duo having both accumulated five bookings so far this season.
As a result Daryl Sutch should switch back to his preferred right back position with Kelly partnering Leon Cort in the centre of defence. Further forward the Shrimpers midfield and attack should have rather the same feel to it as at Scunthorpe a week ago.
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Back in August, on the opening day of the season in fact, Southend claimed a well-earned 2-2 draw at City's old Boothferry Park ground. Neil Jenkins, making his United debut, curled in a superb equaliser early in the second half to cancel out Stuart Green's early goal, but after Stuart Elliott had put the Tigers back in front it was left to substitute Tes Bramble to strike home a deflected equaliser in the last minute of the match much to the delight of the 205 Southend supporters.
TLG PREDICTED LINE-UP:- Darryl Flahavan; Daryl Sutch, Damon Searle, Stephen Kelly, Leon Cort; Kevin Maher, Jay Smith, Daniel Marney, Steven Clark; Tesfaye Bramble, Mark Rawle.
Subs from - Daniel Gay, Stuart Thurgood, Barrington Belgrave, Tom Jordan, Neil Jenkins, Mark Salter and Steve Tilson.
REFEREE: Andy Penn (West Midlands)
ASSISTED BY: Ian Gosling (Kent) and Mike Hughes (London)
LAST MATCHES:
Scunthorpe United 4 (Cort 11[og], Kilford 36, Calvo-Garcia 43, Hayes 70) Southend United 1 (Smith 17), attendence 3,096 @ Glanford Park.
Southend - Gay, Beard, Searle, Sutch, Cort, Smith, Maher, Marney, Rawle (Belgrave 69), Bramble. Unused - Jenkins, Thurgood, Jordan, Tilson.
Hull City 0 York City 0, attendance 18,437 @ Kingston Communications Stadium.
Hull - Musselwhite, Regan, Anderson (Whittle 45), Holt (Melton 45), Joseph, Williams (Webb 76), Delaney, Greeen, Ashbee, Forrester, Elliott. Unused - Jevons, Fettis.
LAST FIVE MEETINGS-
Sat, Aug 10th, 2002 - Hull City 2 (Green 8, Elliott 68) Southend United 2 (Jenkins 62, Bramble 90) - Division Three
Tue, Jan 22nd, 2002 - Southend United 2 (Rawle 36, Hutchings 71 [pen]) Hull City 0 - Division Thre
Fri, 21st Dec, 2001 - Hull City 0 Southend United 0 - Division Three
Tue, 1st May, 2001 - Southend United 1 (Bramble 45) Hull City 1 (Edwards 4) - Division Three
Sat, Oct 21st, 2000 - Hull City 1 (Eyre 11 [pen]) Southend United 1 (Roget 59) - Division Three
SHRIMPERS versus TIGERS - the full league history
2002-03 - A, 2-2
2001-02 - H, 2-0 - A, 0-0
2000-01 - H, 1-1 - A, 1-1
1999-00 - H, 1-2 - A, 0-0
1998-99 - H, 0-1 - A, 1-1
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1983-84 - H, 2-2 - A, 1-2
1979-80 - H, 3-0 - A, 0-1
1978-79 - H, 3-0 - A, 0-2
1965-66 - H, 0-2 - A, 0-1
1964-65 - H, 2-1 - A, 0-0
1963-64 - H, 1-1 - A, 0-1
1962-63 - H, 0-1 - A, 2-1
1961-62 - H, 2-1 - A, 0-0
1960-61 - H, 3-1 - A, 1-0
1958-59 - H, 1-1 - A, 2-3
SUMMARY -
at Roots Hall: Plyd - 14, Won - 6, Drawn - 3, Lost - 5, For - 21, Agnst - 14
at Boothferry Park: Plyd - 15, Won -2, Drawn - 7, Lost - 6, For -10, Agnst - 15
Complete Record: Plyd - 29, Won - 8, Drawn - 10, Lost - 11, For - 31, Agnst - 29