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

Maher in a rare aerial challenge during the area final second leg of the LDV Vans Trophy against Bristol Rovers

It did not always look that simple. The longest-serving Shrimpers player began the season in dreadful form in terms of his disciplinary record, typical of his penchant for overt reactions to refereeing decisions. Maher entered the campaign with a bang – booked against Cheltenham Town, Rochdale, Cambridge United, West Ham United and Macclesfield Town – picking up a suspension after just five matches.

He missed the 2-1 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, in the process coming under fierce criticism for his absence and looking likely to struggle to win his place back given the accomplished displays of Lewis Hunt and Mark Bentley. Maher being Maher, he was reintroduced straight back into the side for the next game at Notts County, and thanks to his set-piece delivery, Adam Barrett nodded home twice.

Before his enforced absence, the Irishman had also helped create goals for Tesfaye Bramble and the own goal by David Bell at Rushden & Diamonds, and his precision in linking up with Adam Barrett from corners proved to be successful for the Shrimpers all campaign.

Just when it appeared that he had shaken off the attention of the nation’s officials, he was truly mistreated by Mick Fletcher at Yeovil Town. Cautioned first for daring to lift his foot off of the ground by six inches, Maher was then dismissed for an innocuous challenge on Bartosz Tarachulski. This all coming after he had set up Barrett for Blues’ equaliser; it shook his side and United lost 3-1.

Shawn of the responsibility of taking penalty kicks, Maher’s reputation for a lack of goals would be the only other fallibility spotted by the Shrimpers faithful. He managed just the one all year, that coming in the New Year’s Day massacre of Rushden 3-0 at Roots Hall.

He did go missing in the final match of the regular season at Grimsby Town, surely a contribution (or lack of) that cost United their place in League One automatically. He stepped back up to the plate in the Play-Off clashes though, steadying the ship at Sixfields against Northampton and then, on the day that he should have been the best man at his brother’s wedding, proving to be the best man at Southend’s reunion with the third tier of English football – a 2-0 extra time victory over Lincoln City in Cardiff.

Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com