SOUTHEND United once again dropped into the Division Three relegation zone on Saturday afternoon as a performance which rapidly deteriated during the first half saw the Shrimpers become mere whimpers as they crashed to a 4-0 defeat against Yeovil Town at Huish Park...
There's no doubt that Yeovil Town are flying at the moment. After all the Glovers clinched the Conference Championship by mid-April last season, scoring one hundred goals and collecting one hundred points along the way, without losing a single home League match and have got off on a similar note this time around and look certain for at least a promotion play-off place come the season's end. The good news for the Somerset side on this sunny November afternoon was that they had what seemed to be the simple task of defeating Southend United on their own patch of grass.
The odds were certainly in the home sides favour, they were coming off the back of a 4-1 trouncing of Second Division Wrexham in the FA Cup whilst the side from Essex could only muster a draw with Canvey Island, of the Ryman League, in the same competition. However perhaps nobody quite expected the complete walkover which followed. Yeovil scored four but in all honesty it could have been many more against a visiting side which seemed to lack commuincation, spirit, a decent gameplan and most importantly of all confidence.
Yeovil on the other hand were brimming with confidence and their football fully emphasised it. At times it was all too easy for the home side as their slick passing football became all too much for United. In fact it could have been worse for Southend, midfielder Gavin Williams, who was the main architect in the drubbing of Wrexham was due to cause havoc once again but had to pull out at the last minute after injuring his knee in the pre-match warm-up. However it was a fantastic team effort from the Huish Park men with every player playing for each other, each and everyone of them seemingly aware of his colleagues movements and Southend were simply torn to pieces.
The Shrimpers on the other hand could only manage to lump long, hopeful punts up field to Drewe Broughton and Tesfaye Bramble in the hope that something might come of it all. Invariably it did not, but a glimmer of early hope came with Town's apparant reluctance to track down Bramble and Jim Corbett when they ran at pace towards goal. Indeed Colin Pluck really should have made his way into referee Paul Armstrong's book for a reckless chop on Corbett in the fifth minute and the same player clearly feined an injury minutes later when he seemed somewhat embrassed after a superb tackle from Bramble.
Unfortunately referee Armstrong from Thatcham made his presence felt right from the start; indeed the failure to caution Pluck could have been excused but certainly not once he had booked both Jay Smith - stand-in captain in place of suspended Kevin Maher - and Broughton for very innocuous fouls. The incompetant official even made a mistake following the first opportunity of the match, somehow awarding the homester's a corner after Kevin Gall had blasted over Darryl Flahavan's crossbar following a Nick Crittenden effort which the Shrimpers keeper had originally pushed away. Shortly afterwards Flahavan was in action again, but he comfortably gathered Lee Johnson's long range drive.
Southend enjoyed by far their best spell of the match around the mid-way point in the first half and a great strong run by Bramble saw goalkeeper Chris Weale make a fantastic block with his legs before Tery Skiverton managed to clear the danger and then Broughton fired an effort wide of the post from 25 yards moments later.
However United were taken out of their stride when Yeovil took the lead with a somewhat fortunate strike in the 33rd minute. A Johnson corner eventually fell out to Lee Elam - the man who replaced Williams in the starting line-up - and his low 25 yard drive seemed to take a series of deflections before flying past Flahavan and into the bottom left hand corner.
It was just a downhill ride for Southend after that as David Webb's side rarely got involved in the match, often bamboozled by Yeovil's classy football and the hill soon became steeper when the lead was doubled just seven minutes later. A great move culminated in Johnson - seemingly a key part of every Town move - spotting Darren Way, totally unmarked on the left hand edge of the penalty area. Way cut inside before striking a superb low shot past Flahavan and into the far corner of the net.
Then, on 43 minutes Armstrong intervened to further United's worries. Lewis Hunt seemed to have the ball under complete control when he was needlessly barged to the floor by Gall, but instead of awarded the Shrimpers a free kick Armstrong, almost in jest, gave it to the home side and incredibly found a yellow card for Hunt. The outcome was to be predictable. Johnson stepped up and curled a magnificent 25 yard free kick past the helpless Flahavan and into the top right hand corner to give the home side a three goal half time lead.
Webb made a double change at half time in a bid to try and rescue something, if only pride, from the match and Broughton and Corbett made way for Michael Husbands and Duncan Jupp with the latter taking up an uncharateristic central midfield role, and he was soon to be joined in the engine room by Mark Warren who is also rather unaccustomed to that particular position. Strangely though it was probably the battling skills of those two individuals which helped save the Shrimpers from a real humiliation with the duo excelling in their new temporary roles.
The match was however put beyond any doubt ten minutes after the break when Armstrong and his official contribed to give the home side a most controversial penalty. A fiercely driven cross from the right flank by Johnson saw the ball smash against the upper arm of Mark Gower before the Blues midfielder could even react. Armstrong was willing to let the incident pass but his assistant on the near side desperately waved his flag before placing it across his chest for a spot kick. The Southend fans and players erupted in unison and a large proportion of the travelling support on the terrace behind the goal chased the assistant the full length of the goalline and Gower was booked was part in the protests.
When all had eventually calmed down, to an extent at least, Williams comprehensively beat Flahavan with a neat penalty into the roof of the net before everything went off again and the visting players contiuned to pester both officials. Armstrong then played a bit of 'pick and mix' and after some choosing picked out Neil Jenkins and instantly flashed a red card in his direction. It's hard to believe that the same quiet and shy character that is Jenkins would use dissent but presumably the Thatcham-based official thought so and Southend, now four goals down, were also down to ten men. Jenkins will now recieve a three match ban beginning on November 29th with the trip to Torquay United.
Needless to say the match still continued to flow all one way but thankfully Yeovil couldn't quite extend their goal rout any further although substitute Kirk Jackson thundered a header, from a Pluck cross, against Flahavan's crossbar and Flahavan also made a decent stop from a Gall shot after a decent run from the tall striker.
United's only chance of the second period ironically arrived in injury time in what provced to be the very last action of the game with Warren's free kick bringing a fine stop out of Weale, albeit at the second attempt.
There is little doubt that Southend will want to erase the memory of this match very quickly, and it seems that they have the chance as there is apparantly a game on Wednesday night...(Southend faced Canvey Island in the F.A. Cup first round replay later that week).
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