Cheltenham Tn	Lincoln City	Rochdale	Cambridge Utd	West Ham Utd	Bristol Rovers
Macclesfield Tn	Rushden & D	Wycombe Wdrs	Notts County	Kidderminster H	Colchester Utd
Darlington	Boston United	Swansea City	Scunthorpe Utd	Shrewsbury Tn	Northampton Tn
Shrewsbury Tn	Oxford United	Luton Town	Yeovil Town	Grimsby Town	Northampton Tn
Leyton Orient	Bury	Chester City	Wycombe Wdrs	Mansfield Town	Rushden & D
Kidderminster H	Boston United	Notts County	Mansfield Town	Swindon Town	Darlington
Swansea City	Scunthorpe Utd	Bristol Rovers	Northampton Tn	Shrewsbury Tn	Bury
Chester City	Bristol Rovers	Lincoln City	Cheltenham Tn	Rochdale	Cambridge Utd
Bristol Rovers	Wrexham	Leyton Orient	Macclesfield Tn	Oxford United	Yeovil Town
Grimsby Town	Northampton Tn	Northampton Tn	Lincoln City

Griemink claims from Steve Howard against Luton

When Griemink arrived at Roots Hall, there were a few raised eyebrows, and during the club’s pre-season friendly campaign, the doubters continued to surface, especially after Blues capitulated to concede three second-half goals inside the final fifteen minutes at Dagenham & Redbridge to draw 3-3. Griemink had shown himself to be hesitant against former Shrimpers youth team talent Tony Boot, and possessed a similar affliction to Darryl with the crossed ball.

The fears were to prove unfounded. On the first day of the season, he was beaten by two decent strikes against Cheltenham, more of a problem on the part of Nicky Nicolau than the tall custodian. Against Lincoln three days later, similar problems with marking in the back line contrived to allow the Red Imps to take the lead in a 1-1 draw but, after a penalty helped Rochdale to win at Spotland, Griemink kept his first clean sheet at home to Cambridge in a goalless draw.

Marlon Harewood, who would later cause trouble for more skilful and experienced back-lines in the Championship, aided West Ham with a goal at the beginning and end of a game that Southend dominated, both on the break and with little the 32-year-old could do. He will, though, have been disappointed to have let in a late and scrappy goal at the Memorial Stadium.

His bravery came to the fore in the 4-1 win against Rushden & Diamonds. Protecting what was, at the time, a narrow 1-0 lead, Griemink clattered into David Bell on the half-hour to deny him a simple goal. The save was vital as Blues went on to win 4-1 with Darryl Flahavan taking over, and knee ligament damage keeping his counterpart out for six weeks.

Griemink came back into the side, ironically with Flahavan suffering a rare injury for the 4-0 victory over Oxford, an occasion on which he had little, if anything, to do. Sadly, a week later on national television, he came in for criticism as he virtually threw Luton Town into the lead, and the League One champions never looked back. Yeovil Town swept the Seasiders away, but that was due to their fine attacking play.

In the next three games, Griemink conceded three goals, but in the fourth, against Bury, he made yet another vital contribution to Blues’ campaign. With United a Wayne Gray penalty to the good, Adam Barrett conceded a last minute spot-kick to hand Bury the chance to equalise at Gigg Lane. Flahavan saved from Danny Swailes, and Southend won 1-0. It was a defining moment.

Clean sheets followed against Wycombe, Rushden and Notts County, when, in another poor 0-0 Roots Hall draw, Griemink was ruled out again, handing Flahavan the chance to take his place. From then on, the six-foot four-inch shotstopper could not win back his place. Next year, there is competition for places again.

Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com