Southend United booked their place in the second round of the FA Cup with a nervous win over their Blue Square North opponents handing them their first defeat in 16 games, both goals coming in the last 16 minutes.
The Midlanders found returning Blues keeper Steve Mildenhall in brilliant form and were then undone by Simon Francis' close-range strike and James Walker's excellent curling effort.
Telford had a great chance to take the lead midway through the first half when Andy Brown went through one-on-one, only for Mildenhall to race out to close down the angle quickly and make the block as the shot came in.
In reply, Simon Francis curled a tame 25 yard free-kick over the crossbar but chances were proving to be few and far between during the opening exchanges.
A right-wing corner from James Meredith soon fizzed across the face of goal in the 28th minute before Adam Barrett flicked a header wide of the left post from another Francis free-kick at the other end of the pitch.
Martyn Naylor was then left completely unmarked by the Southend defence, but sliced his shot horribly wide of the post and Brown curled a 20 yard shot wide of the target after a misplaced pass from Alan McCormack.
The home side finally managed their first shot of the evening on target in the 36th minute when Francis curled a 25 yard free-kick straight at Ryan Young after Anthony Grant had been brought down by former Canvey Island centre-back Gavin Cowan.
Telford continued to create the best opportunities and Mildenhall was forced to make a great save low to his right to keep out Lee Moore's shot, then moments later produced an even better effort to deny the Telford striker once again.
In a bid to improve his side, Blues boss Steve Tilson switched to a 4-4-2 formation in the 68th minute as he brought on Charles Ademeno in place of Scannell and pushed Betsy up front with Walker.
It almost made an immediate difference as Betsy's right wing came was sliced towards his own goal by Stuart Whitehead whose blushes were spared by Young as he tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Southend were now beginning to get on top and, in the 74th minute, they made the breakthrough with Betsy again the provider. His left wing corner found the head of Jean-Francois Christophe who outjumped the Telford goalkeeper Ryan Young, who claimed he was fouled but the referee ignored the appeals, and teed up Francis who diverted the ball into the top left hand corner of the net from six yards.
James Walker, who promised before the game he would show the home crowd what he can do, put the game beyond doubt on 79 minutes, when he cut inside and curled his shot from 25 yards into the top corner. Sadly, other than that, I don't think he proved very much!
Telford's heads understandably dropped and Southend were able to cruise in the final ten minutes allowing Tilly to bring on O'Keefe and Hazell while setting up a home game against Luton Town in the next round.
Which was about the best thing that came out of the night!
The Midlanders found returning Blues keeper Steve Mildenhall in brilliant form and were then undone by Simon Francis' close-range strike and James Walker's excellent curling effort.
Telford had a great chance to take the lead midway through the first half when Andy Brown went through one-on-one, only for Mildenhall to race out to close down the angle quickly and make the block as the shot came in.
In reply, Simon Francis curled a tame 25 yard free-kick over the crossbar but chances were proving to be few and far between during the opening exchanges.
A right-wing corner from James Meredith soon fizzed across the face of goal in the 28th minute before Adam Barrett flicked a header wide of the left post from another Francis free-kick at the other end of the pitch.
Martyn Naylor was then left completely unmarked by the Southend defence, but sliced his shot horribly wide of the post and Brown curled a 20 yard shot wide of the target after a misplaced pass from Alan McCormack.
The home side finally managed their first shot of the evening on target in the 36th minute when Francis curled a 25 yard free-kick straight at Ryan Young after Anthony Grant had been brought down by former Canvey Island centre-back Gavin Cowan.
Telford continued to create the best opportunities and Mildenhall was forced to make a great save low to his right to keep out Lee Moore's shot, then moments later produced an even better effort to deny the Telford striker once again.
In a bid to improve his side, Blues boss Steve Tilson switched to a 4-4-2 formation in the 68th minute as he brought on Charles Ademeno in place of Scannell and pushed Betsy up front with Walker.
It almost made an immediate difference as Betsy's right wing came was sliced towards his own goal by Stuart Whitehead whose blushes were spared by Young as he tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Southend were now beginning to get on top and, in the 74th minute, they made the breakthrough with Betsy again the provider. His left wing corner found the head of Jean-Francois Christophe who outjumped the Telford goalkeeper Ryan Young, who claimed he was fouled but the referee ignored the appeals, and teed up Francis who diverted the ball into the top left hand corner of the net from six yards.
James Walker, who promised before the game he would show the home crowd what he can do, put the game beyond doubt on 79 minutes, when he cut inside and curled his shot from 25 yards into the top corner. Sadly, other than that, I don't think he proved very much!
Telford's heads understandably dropped and Southend were able to cruise in the final ten minutes allowing Tilly to bring on O'Keefe and Hazell while setting up a home game against Luton Town in the next round.
Which was about the best thing that came out of the night!
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