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

Jupp celebrates with the League Two play-off trophy and fellow goalscorer Freddy Eastwood

That career-changing strike came as Blues beat Lincoln City 2-0 in the LDV Vans Trophy final. It concluded a strange season for the newly-wed, who at one stage appeared set to leave the southeast Essex coastline, but ended up as the unlikely foil to Freddy Eastwood in the closing stages of United’s biggest match for over ten years.

At the outset, he was one of the first names on Steve Tilson’s teamsheet, almost ever-present throughout the 2003/4 season and ever-dependable. He started the first eighteen matches of the term, and although goals against West Ham United and Lincoln City, as well as Bristol Rovers, in Southend’s difficult opening spell, could be attributed to the right-back, he still seemed assured of his spot in the side.

Lewis Hunt, though, was putting more and more pressure on the manager to gain selection, impressing in Mark Bentley’s position whilst the midfielder was suspended, and then putting in a sturdy display in the LDV Vans Trophy second round tie with Shrewsbury Town.

Question marks were raised as Jupp galloped down the right flank, often out-raiding Carl Pettefer and leaving the full-back position exposed. When he went on these runs, they rarely led to a goal, and there appeared little reward for his work. He came back for the next League Two match, the 4-0 romp over Oxford United, but a 3-0 defeat to Luton Town in the FA Cup live on SKY Sports exposed his weaknesses to the world and Hunt came in against Yeovil Town in a vital fixture.

Although he returned again for the home fixture against Grimsby Town, Jupp was mysteriously missing from the LDV squad that defeated Northampton Town four days later, and it was only when physiotherapist John Stannard revealed that he had picked up a rare knock that rumours over a rift with Tilson and a departure to Milton Keynes Dons were quashed.

It was not until late January, and after an Essex Senior Cup appearance against Canvey Island, that Jupp came back into the reckoning as a substitute, and when Hunt was injured at Chester City, the quiet man of the dressing room took his opportunity. He was a fulcrum of the defence that racked up four consecutive clean sheets around Easter, putting Blues top of the table, and lauded once again.

Then came his coup de grace. With Southend 1-0 to the good ten minutes from the end of the Play-Off Final at the Millennium Stadium, Jupp found himself as the only man in support of Freddy Eastwood rampaging forward. The striker laid the ball into his path, and despite his lull in goalscoring terms, he stroked the ball home under pressure with aplomb to seal United’s spot in League One next year.

Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com