After the Shrimpers were drawn to face Swindon Town at home in the area semi-final of the LDV Vans Trophy, they sat around on Saturday afternoon and watched Boston United progress into round three of the FA Cup. This meant that Blues’ battle with the Pilgrims would have to be put back, this date eventually decided for Wednesday 12th January 2004.
The important business of League Two saw Southend travel to Brisbane Road, home of East London rivals Leyton Orient. The Shrimpers’ 600 or so supporters were housed in the Main Stand with both the opposite West Stand and the North Terrace knocked down over the summer. An utter shambles ensued, whilst on the pitch the O’s took the lead through a contested Matt Lockwood penalty. It wasn’t long before United were in front courtesy of two very scrappy goals, first with Freddy Eastwood nodding in a Kevin Maher free-kick, and then Adam Barrett and Wayne Gray combining to convert their captain’s corner. Unfortunately, Blues decided to sit on their lead, and inevitably Andy Scott earned Orient a point with an unmarked header.
The single point, just the second of a possible nine, left Southend tenth and needing a win at Gigg Lane against Bury. That the Seasiders managed, though not without a scare at one of their favourite grounds. Eastwood had just fired over the crossbar when Gray sent Andy Marriott the wrong way from the penalty spot after David Flitcroft handled Maher’s cross. Bart Griemink made a world-class save to tip a Chris Porter header around the post and denied Dave Nugent before Eastwood missed a simple chance from three yards after Wayne Gray had split the defence with an excellent run. That looked to be a turning point when Adam Barrett was adjudged to have handled Nugent’s cross, but Griemink pulled out yet another save, this time twelve yards away from Danny Swailes.
Drewe Broughton completed two months with Rushden & Diamonds and returned to Roots Hall with the Nene Park outfit unable to afford to sign him, but two days later he was on his way again, this time on an initial two-month deal with another League Two side in Wycombe Wanderers, although a term of his contract was that he could not play in the Boxing Day clash against Southend. The League Managers’ Association, meanwhile, threatened legal action against the Shrimpers over the non-payment of manager Steve Wignall, Bernie Friend revealed in the Southend Evening Echo, but this was later discovered to be incorrect as the former boss was finally paid the last instalment of his £16,000 pay-off.
Back on the pitch, a second successive 1-0 win bolstered Blues to fourth as Lawrie Dudfield stepped up in the closing stages to score as a substitute. Somehow the Seasiders were not ahead earlier against Chester City as Mark Gower hit the post and brought a fine save out of shotstopper Wayne Brown before Gray fluffed a shot into the ‘keepers hands – and all that before half-time. The Seals came with just a point in mind, but Dudfield took it away from them as he expertly controlled a mishit clearance from former United defender Andy Harris and fired low past Brown into the bottom left-hand corner with just two minutes left on the clock.
On Boxing Day, Eastwood became the third consecutive striker to seal a single-goal triumph, this time at Adams Park, home of Wycombe Wanderers. The game only just survived a two o’clock inspection after the Chairboys failed to initiate their undersoil heating, mainly because the police did not want 1500 Shrimpers supporters roaming Buckinghamshire. Roger Johnson blatantly handled a Mark Gower cross, the first of many incident missed by referee Paul Melin, but Eastwood made sure that nobody failed to recognise his presence with an outstanding run past two defenders and drilled shot low to Frank Talia’s near post. Craig Faulconbridge hit the crossbar in the first half and Johnson the post at the right end in the second, but Wycombe failed to get on the scoresheet.
In front of over 7,000 at Roots Hall in the final game of 2004, the Shrimpers failed to perform in the same way as they had nearly twelve months earlier against Scarborough in the year’s opener and they slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Mansfield Town, whilst retaining their fourth place. Winger Simon Brown and striker Derek Asamoah were the only threats on goal for either side throughout the game, and the former’s run set up Paul Warne to tap in from fifteen yards. United could have grabbed an undeserved leveller in stoppage time when Jake Buxton handled a Carl Pettefer centre, and then Dudfield had a late effort ruled out for an undisclosed offence – the assistant referee failing to differentiate between offside and Mark Bentley’s header being out of play.
It was an unsatisfactory end to a highly satisfactory year, and if Steve Tilson’s men can continue to improve at the same rate in 2005, then it could be a very special twelve months. Let’s hope that that is the case. Happy New Year from all of us at TLG!
Newsround (click on headline for full story):
Sat 04 Dec | Southend Face Robins Hurdle In LDV
Sat 04 Dec | Boston Match To Be Rearranged
Mon 13 Dec | League Managers’ Association Threaten Shrimpers
Mon 13 Dec | Broughton Back With Blues
Wed 15 Dec | Drewe Wanders Off Again
Results Service (click on match for full TLG report):
Tue 07 Dec | Leyton Orient | D2-2 | 3852 | Freddy Eastwood, Wayne Gray
Sat 11 Dec | Bury | W1-0 | 2522 | Wayne Gray (pen)
Fri 17 Dec | Chester City | W1-0 | 4837 | Lawrie Dudfield
Sun 26 Dec | Wycombe Wanderers | W1-0 | 5669 | Freddy Eastwood
Tue 28 Dec | Mansfield Town | L0-1 | 7082
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com