Another goal near the end, another away defeat.
If not quite the old testament stuff we were warned about, it was still wet enough, and certainly very windy, to make the game a bit of a non event for the travelling faithful, if not for Yeovil, who at least grabbed the three points.
Of course, if Swindon loanee centre half Sean Morrison had stayed on for the whole 90 minutes we might have seen another result, but with another set of incompotent officials, the linesman to the left of us was a classic, probably not.
In fact, if big Steve Mildenhall hadn't put his huge frame in the way of several goal bound Glovers efforts, and a Moose clearance off the line, it may have been worse.
There were some nice runs from Francis Laurent, in that headless chicken way of his, and in the 12th minute he found himself on the end of a Simon Francis cross, but also found the side netting.
Frank Moussa's goal saving act was from a Stefan Stam header from a Yeovil corner which did look to be giving finding the goal until it found the Moose instead.
The first of Big Steve's saves came curtesy of his legs, a shot from Scott Murray in a period when the home side were finding far too many gaps in the Blues defence.
The next followed straight after, this time from the lively John Obika whose shot was turned round the post by an outstretched left hand.
It was Obika again who was involved in the Morrison incident, the young centre back certainly pulled him back when on the way to goal, but had Captain Adam got back in time to prevent Morrison being the last man?
Referee Phillips certainly thought so, and only the highlights will prove if he got it wrong.
With Jean-Francois Christophe now back in central defence, Anthony Grant was already poitioned at left back, it was the Gillingham defence re-united, and in all honesty looked tighter than had gone on before, which is no comment on the Swindon boy's 30 minute cameo, the poor sod had only joined us the day before.
Anyway, at the end of the first and beggining of the second half's the Yeovil eleven somehow missed a couple of sitters. Andrew Welsh going one on one with big Steve who obviously frightened the life out of him, placed it high over the bar!
Next, it was our old friend Murray, clean through again, didn't seem to know what to do, deciding at last to just shoot wide.
On and on the Somerset side came and another fine save from mildy and his long legs kept Mason out.
All through this the linesman on the left was giving corners when they were goal kicks, and throw ins to the Yeovil when they were clearly the away side's. Granty getting yet another yellow card for pointing these strange decisions out. (In fact Macca got a yellow for throwing the ball back to Anthony to take a throw, annoying the ref somehow, instead of us, as I'm afraid to report the Irishman had a bit of a nightmare.)
"He'll get us in a minute", I said to the guy next to me. And he did.
A bizarre incident when Dougie Freedman, who tried all his tricks all through the game, but these days they just don't come off like they used to, seemed to bump in the back of a Glovers player. Both fell down, Dougie clutching his nose, Glovers player clutching anything he could find.
Said linesman had followed the ball like most of us, turned round to see Glovers player rolling around in agony, and waved his flag, free-kick given ten yards from the left hand corner in a dangerous position. Unbelivable!
Yeovil, of course, then took the lead from the free-kick, the ball bouncing around the box before
Bowditch poked the ball home. 77th minute, frustrating!
Captain Adam then took his chance to point out to the assistant referee a few inconsistancies in his decision making!
Still time for yet another Mildenhall save, again with his legs, before Barney, who had been well marked throughout the game, putting a beautiful ball through to Laurent in the third minute of stoppage time, who went on to find the net, but the linesman, on the other side this time, having his flag raised.
Somehow he found the Blues top scorer offside though seeming to start the move in his own half, another decision to cheer us all up, including Tilly on the touchline.
After three succesive wins at Huish Park the luck had to run out eventually, if not the weather, not that it makes it any easier to stomach.
With a tough game next Friday and a makeshift defence again, maybe Johnny will be back, some points are needed to steady the good ship Shrimper.
Southend player markings: Mildenhall - 9, Francis - 6, Morrison - 4, Barrett - 8, Grant - 7, Laurent - 7, Christophe - 7, McCormack - 5, Moussa - 6, Freedman - 6, (Walker 81- 6), Barnard - 6.
| Coca-Cola League One, Saturday, 14th November 2009 @ 15:00; Huish Park |
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| | Goal Attempts | | | 5 | On Target | 0 | | 8 | Off Target | 2 | | Hit Woodwork | | | 1 | Offsides | 2 | | 6 | Corners | 2 | | 15 | Fouls | 5 |
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| Referee | | D Phillips, West Sussex - 5 | | Attendance | | 3906 |
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| Yeovil Town Cards | | Kalala | 43 | unsporting behaviour | | O'Callaghan | 54 | dissent | | Southend Utd. Cards | | Morrison | 31 | serious foul play | | McCormack | 56 | unsporting behaviour | | Grant | 63 | dissent |
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