Last season, the visit of David Webb’s side to Somerset proved to be a traumatic experience as they crashed 4-0 to the Glovers in the hosts inaugural season in what was then the Third Division. Having just missed out on promotion to League Two after a late slump in form, Town again represent one of the better sides of the 23 that the Shrimpers will face, and a measure of how much good work Steve Tilson has done will come tomorrow afternoon.
It is worth remembering that the Yeovil fixture was the only away League trip that Webb presided over in his fourth, and extremely brief, tenure in control of the southeast Essex club. The third came after he left Yeovil as they challenged for the Football Conference title, and there is still some bad feeling towards the Southend legend in some quarters for his raiding of his old club in taking Gareth Risbridger, Ben Smith and Barrington Belgrave to Roots Hall.
Unfortunately Blues were in the midst of a difficult away run when they travelled to Somerset in 2003/4, and in Tilson’s first away game at Torquay United, the Seasiders also lost, this time by three goals to nil. Nonetheless, and despite not having won in their last three jaunts during October, this is a true test of the new managers’ side’s resolve.
It is such a long time since the 1-1 Gay Meadow draw with Shrewsbury Town that away form has completely been thrown out of the window, and a cascade of home encounters has followed, with the 3-0 reverse to Luton Town having blunted a run of six successive triumphs at Roots Hall, the longest sequence of wins in fourteen years since the double-promotion winning seasons of 1989/90 and 1990/1.
That defeat, to the one-time runaway League One leaders and the top-ranked side in the FA Cup at the first and second round stage, should not have affected Blues’ morale too much, especially after a valiant bid to gain some reward during the second period having conceded three soft goals in the first half-an-hour. But Southend do move from one leading club to another in Yeovil.
One man who did not make the literal move to Huish Park was Lawrie Dudfield after an eleventh hour bid to snatch him from the Shrimpers grasp when the forward was at Northampton Town. The centre-forward, who scored his third goal of the season against Oxford United a fortnight ago and netted the fourth in the 4-1 Essex Senior Cup win over Brentwood Town on Monday, has told the Southend Evening Echo that he has no regrets over choosing Roots Hall.
For the first time, Dudfield has come out and admitted his interest in going west. “I went down there to talk to them before joining Southend”, the 24-year-old revealed, before adding in his typically complimentary tone, “They are a good club and a good team, with a very professional set-up”.
Dudfield then gave away his true reason for joining the Shrimpers, “It wasn’t just for footballing reasons that I came here either – my girlfriend is pregnant and Yeovil is further away from our town. I don’t believe in looking back anyway and I’m just concentrating on doing my best for Southend”, although that does seem at the moment to be largely from the substitutes’ bench.
That is due mainly to the highly impressive form of Wayne Gray and Freddy Eastwood, and whilst the latter has been earning all the plaudits for his goalscoring record, it is former Wimbledon front man Gray that has been Southend’s most improved player over the past month. Almost unrecognisable from his early season stuttering frame, the 23-year-old spoke of his delight to the club’s official website, www.southendunited.co.uk last week.
“When the gaffer decided not to play me it was a decision I respected”, the former English Schools sprinter said, “Lately it’s been going really well, Freddy and I are settled and we are scoring goals between us”. And Gray also spoke of his relief at finally finding his feet in Essex: “It was a bit difficult for me at the start of the season, when I ran down the channel and crossed the ball in there was never anybody to get on the end of it”.
And, as so often over the past eighteen months for United, it was the LDV Vans Trophy that transformed a player’s confidence. “When I returned against Colchester United, Tes and I did really well together. Unfortunately Tes got injured and Freddy came in against Swansea and scored three”.
And the positive news for Shrimpers supporters is that the partnership between Gray and Eastwood, who will play his first away game as a permanent fixture in the Southend dressing room, could grow and grow. “Freddy has been great to play with, he takes a lot of pressure off me because we can both go and score goals and both hopefully do the business”. The pair will start tomorrow with Dudfield and Bramble on the substitutes bench.
In midfield, Mark Bentley could be in line for a return to the side after grabbing the opening goal in that Senior Cup win with a twenty-yard free-kick. The former Gravesend & Northfleet man has been left out of the side since serving out his three-match suspension for allegedly stamping on Colchester United defender Stephen Hunt’s head, but the season-ending Achilles rupture for Jay Smith enhances one of his opportunities.
The former Aston Villa man was expected to come back into the squad for tomorrow’s match before the devastating news, but it is another injury, this time to centre-back Spencer Prior, that leaves the door ajar for Bentley. Both Andy Edwards and Prior will undergo late, late fitness tests before the early departure for Yeovil on injuries to the bottom and knee respectively.
Former Cardiff City blocker Prior told the Echo when the injury occurred. “It was about five minutes into the game [against Luton] when I went in for a block tackle with Steve Howard”, Prior said, “I managed to carry on for as long as possible, but in the end I had to come off because it was just too painful”. He was replaced by Edwards, but with the possibility of the 32-year-old being out as well, Lewis Hunt may instead be forced to partner Adam Barrett, with Bentley alongside Kevin Maher in midfield.
Out wide, Michael Kightly is still on loan at Conference side Farnborough Town, so Mark Gower and Carl Pettefer will continue on the right and left flanks respectively. Gower particularly will have less than fond memories of Yeovil after conceding a debatable penalty kick during a crazy ten minute spell either side of half-time. Rumours abound about a fall-out between Steve Tilson and Jimmy Corbett which keeps the ex-Blackburn Rovers man from the squad.
Duncan Jupp and Che Wilson look set to continue at full-back, although both Stuart Williams and Nicky Nicolau have put in good reserve team showings. The troublesome area remains the custodian’s jersey, where Darryl Flahavan is still out and Nick Morgan is forced to deputise once again on behalf of Bart Griemink.
The Glovers could name three returnees from injury in their side. Phil Jevons and Bartosz Tarachulski have contributed many of the goals from the striking positions this season, and both are set to come back into Gary Johnson’s reckoning. Captain Terry Skiverton could also be named in the team after being ruled out for over a month.
Remember that Fans United are encouraging all supporters around Britain to Wear Red for Wrexham tomorrow, and it would be fantastic if, come three o’clock, Blues and Glovers fans could unite to give a very special feel to the game. Full reaction to the match will be available here at The Little Gazette as ever.
Southend United (probable; 4-4-2): Bart Griemink;; Duncan Jupp, Lewis Hunt, Adam Barrett, Che Wilson; Mark Gower, Mark Bentley, Kevin Maher, Carl Pettefer; Freddy Eastwood, Wayne Gray.
Substitutes (likely): Nick Morgan, Nicky Nicolau, Lawrie Dudfield, Tesfaye Bramble, Stuart Williams.
Doubtful: Andy Edwards, Spencer Prior.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com