Southend travel to Plainmoor on the back of that Cup defeat at Dean Court and a 4-2 victory over Boston at Roots Hall a week ago. Newman spoke about improving the squad, and that has occurred, but not to the extent that the manager may have wished. 21 year-old Dean Marney, a winger who can also operate up front, was signed on a one-month loan contract on Thursday, and goes straight into the squad. He is expected to take up his position on the right hand side of midfield, with another loanee, Tony Scully of Cambridge, switching to the left.
However, despite a meeting with the boss on Wednesday, former Shrimper Dean Austin has turned down the opportunity to return to south-east Essex, preferring to continue plying his trade with non-League Woking whilst pursuing other interests outside of football. The right-back's decision means that Mark Beard should continue on the right side of defence, with Damon Searle playing on the left. Both full-backs put in poor second-half displays in the two previous matches, but with Neil Jenkins seemingly out-of-favour, their positions appear safe.
The centre of defence is another area where Newman has options. Leon Cort was said to be doubtful immediately after Tuesday's game, but he looks to have recovered sufficiently to maintain his ever-present record this season. Dave McSweeney has become his regular partner, but Stephen Broad's performances in the Reserves have shown that Newman has the strength in depth to make a change. Phil Whelan and Tom Jordan are not expected to travel west.
Stuart Thurgood continued in the centre of midfield against the Cherries, but his place alongside captain Kevin Maher is challenged by Jay Smith, who could not force his way into the starting line-up in mid-week having served out a one-match suspension on Saturday. Up front top-scorer Tes Bramble should continue despite struggling with injury in the last two games, but competition for the other forward's position is fierce. Graeme Jones has been appearing up front, but he has not scored for two months since he netted against Swindon in the 6-1 LDV Vans Trophy defeat. Mark Rawle, by contrast, has scored in his last three matches from his position on the left wing, but limped off on Tuesday after little more than an hour. Barrington Belgrave should return to the squad after a family bereavement, and Mark Salter comes back into contention having been Cup-tied against Bournemouth.
Torquay, meanwhile, have problems of their own. Influential midfielder Alex Russell was contentiously sent-off in the Gulls F.A. Cup Second Round defeat at Second Division Blackpool, and top-scorer David Graham was sent from the field for protesting almost immediately after by referee Scott Mathieson of Stockport. Both start their suspensions against Blues. Tony Bedeau, who has been playing as a winger, may start in his traditional striking position, but he has been struggling with a knee injury, and the other option is former Arsenal trainee Jo Kuffour. Martin Gritton, who has netted eight times this season, is almost certain to start.
Injuries have also been a problem for Torquay boss Leroy Rosenoir. Regular goalkeeper Kevin Dearden was injured earlier in the season, and was set to play for the Reserves at Ilfracombe until the pitch was deemed to risky to chance him. He should return to the bench, with former Cambridge and Exeter custodian Arjun van Heusden starting between the sticks. He too was injured just three matches into his Plainmoor career, but his replacement, youth-teamer Jamie Attwell was released after a couple of appearances for the first-team. Experienced 'keeper Kevin Welch was brought in, but has been let go this week with Dearden returning to fitness. Both Kevin Hall and Lee Canoville have also been struggling with injury, but their appearance is unlikely to be revealed until just before kick-off. Midfielder Darren Dunning, on loan from Premiership Blackburn, could be the man to watch.
Rosenoir was at Southend's Cup outing, and was impressed by the application of the Shrimpers football, especially in the first half. By the same token, Rob Newman is expecting a difficult encounter with Torquay being one of the surprise packages of the Third Division this season, occupying eighth place, just a point off the play-off positions having finished the last campaign in 19th. At home they have lost just one League match this year, that being a 4-1 reversal at the hands of Hull City although First Division Gillingham won 1-0 in the Worthington Cup at Plainmoor and Division Two Wycombe thrashed the Gulls 4-0 on home territory in the LDV Vans Trophy. Their promotion push has started to falter in recent weeks, and they have not won for a month, drawing three and losing their last two since disposing of Boreham Wood 5-0 in the F.A. First Round. The two sides should know each other well - both winning one Cup tie apiece in the last three seasons, with a draw in the 2000/1 campaign.
LAST MATCHES:
AFC Bournemouth 3 (Fletcher 39, Holmes 80, Browning 89) Southend United 2 (Bramble 42, Rawle 45). Line-up: Flahavan, Beard, Cort, McSweeney, Searle, Scully (Smith 85), Maher, Thurgood, Rawle (Tilson 69), Jones (Clark 61), Bramble. Subs not used: Gay, Broad.
Leyton Orient 2 (Canham 3, Tate 17) Torquay United 0. Line-up: Welch, Hazell, Hankin, Woods, Hockley, Russell, Fowler (Wills 73), Graham, Dunning (Woozley 45), Bedeau (Kuffour 45), Gritton. Subs not used: van Heusden, Benefield.
LAST FIVE MEETINGS:
26th January 2002 - Southend United 1 (Whelan 49) Torquay United 1 (Williams 81) - Division Three
5th October 2001 - Torquay United 2 (Richardson 51, Graham 62) Southend United 1 (Hutchings 55) - Division Three
30th December 2000 - Southend United 1 (Roget 4) Torquay United 1 (Williams 60) - Division Three
28th November 2000 - Southend United 2 (Williamson 58, Roget 98) Torquay United 1 (Chalqi 79) [aet]- F.A. Cup Second Round Replay
18th November 2000 - Torquay United 1 (Ford 59[pen]) Southend United 1 (Williamson 30) - F.A. Cup Second Round
Southend United (from): Darryl Flahavan, Danny Gay, Mark Beard, Stephen Broad, Dave McSweeney, Leon Cort, Phil Whelan, Tom Jordan, Damon Searle, Neil Jenkins, Dean Marney, Tony Scully, Kevin Maher, Stuart Thurgood, Jay Smith, Steve Tilson, Mark Rawle, Barrington Belgrave, Tes Bramble, Graeme Jones, Mark Salter.
Torquay United (from): Kevin Dearden, Arjun van Heusden, Lee Canoville, Reuben Hazell, Steve Woods, Sean Hankin, David Woozley, Matt Hockley, Jason Fowler, Darren Dunning, Kevin Hill, Kevin Wills, Tony Bedeau, Kain Bond, Jimmy Benefield, Jo Kuffour, Martin Gritton.
OFFICIALS:
Referee: Brian Curson (Leicestershire)
Assistant Referees: Russell Green (Gloucestershire), Lee Provert (Bristol).
Curson has not taken charge of a Southend game this season, which is probably a little fortunate since his 21 games have yielded 62 yellow cards and eight reds. In fact, he has only officiated two Blues matches, those being the 2-1 defeat at Underhill in Barnet's last campaign in the Football League, where he booked Phil Whelan, and the 3-0 loss at Lincoln earlier on in the same season, adding Martyn Booty and Neil Tolson to that of Whelan once again. He did, however, referee Heybridge Swifts 7-0 defeat to Bristol City in the F.A. Cup First Round this year. His career record reads 93 matches, 231 cautions and 26 red cards in a little over two full seasons.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Overall:
Southend United 33
Torquay United 24
Draws: 25
At Plainmoor:
Southend United: 10
Torquay United 16
Draws: 16
Football League:
Southend United: 29
Torquay United 22
Draws: 23
2002/3 Statistics (courtesy of www.soccer-stats.com):
When Goals Scored10 5 0 
0 5 10 
10 5 0 0 5 10 Number of Goals
Where Goals Scored17 8 0 0 8 17 
17 8 0 0 8 17 Number of Goals
How Goals Scored21 10 0 0 10 21 
21 10 0 0 10 21 Number of Goals