Steve Tilson's men were absolutely superb in seeing off Bristol Rovers - albeit under the leadership of Steve Wignall - Swansea City, Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers and of course Colchester United over two legs on their route to the Final, and for Southend fans who had waited 98 years for a major Cup Final, simply being there was what it was all about.

The day, mainly was sunny, there was the occassional drop of rain, but due to extremely high winds, the Millennium Stadium's retracable roof was closed for this match, and thus Southend made history by playing their first ever match 'indoors'.

Still, the hi-tech Millennium Stadium air-conditioning gave out a slight breeze around the sweeping three-tier stands, and with the whole ground enclosed, despite being slightly under half-full it all made for a fantastic atmosphere from each end, with one dressed in orange and the other in all blue.

Mark Gower, who had missed United's two previous Division Three matches returned to the side alongside Mark Warren, who replaced cup-tied duo Mark Bentley and Lawrie Dudfield. Gower stepped onto the left blank whilst Lewis Hunt moved into midfield alongside skipper Kevin Maher to accomodate Warren in the back line.

John Murphy give's Blackpool a controversial lead inside 75 seconds.

After such an unlucky start, Southend took time to find their feet and Blackpool, especially through Bullock, threatened with most of their spurts forward, and it was a Bullock cross wahich saw Mike Sheron's shot bounce wide of the post.

Flahavan did brilliantly well to block at the feet of Danny Coid following a fine ball by Tony Dinning, whilst in the meantime the Shrimpers first opportunity saw Hunt run and shoot at 'Pool shot-stopper Lee Jones from 20 yards.

As United finally got themselves going, Gower cutled a free kick into the arms of Jones and a similar set piece, from Maher, drifted inches wide of the post.

It was the Second Division side however who created the first chance of the second period when Sheron shot wayward after sprinted towards goal and then a low centre found Coid in space, but the wideman dragged an angled shot wide of the post.

Leon Constantine flicked a Drewe Broughton flick-on, from a Maher corner at Jones before Tommy Jaszczun somehpw went unpunished after sending an unprovoked kick into Gower's left knee.

With Gower struggling immediately after the kock, the crucial second goal arrived for the Seasiders on 55 minutes. A low Bullock entre wasn't cleared by the Southend defence and as the ball dropped to the far post Coid cut back and rilled a decidedly accurate right foot shot into the bottom right hand corner.

After the second goal, Flahavan was required to block a Sheron shot after a Dinning through ball, but it was all one way traffic until the very dying stages, with Southend throwing everything at Blackpool in an attempt to grab an all-important goal.

Mark Warren chases the ever-dangerous Martin Bullock at The Millennium Stadium.

Three minutes later a fine move saw Gower brilliantly get down the touchline before slipped the ball to Jupp who's cross was headed into the hands of Jones by substitute Tes Bramble, who formed a three-pronged attack having replaced Che Wilson. Unfortunately in the middle of all the action, Maher picked up his tenth booking of the campaign, and wull now serve a one match suspension for the Division Three match against Huddersfield Town at the McAlpine Stadium in just under three weeks.

Broughton, wearing white boots for the special occassion, nodded a Gower flag kick over Jones' crossbar before Hunt drove a shot into a midrift of Jones from the edge of the penalty area.

Constantine then drove a low effort into the side netting before the inal chance of the match, three minutes from time, brought, amazingly, only Blackpool's third effort on target having of course scored from both their previous efforts. Flahavan made a great one-handed save to tip a Murphy shot around the upright.

The three minutes of stoppage time managed to slip by without any real action, and Blackpool, for the second time in three years, lifted the LDV Vans Trophy. It was great to see every one of the Southend supporters stay inside the stadium to witness their side claim their medals and the Shrimpers were roundly applauded off the pitch.

Let's be honest now, we'd all have certainly got to Cardiff and lost than not get there at all, wouldn't we? Anyway, it's back to the real stuff now, and I hope to see as many of you as possible at Carlisle United on Saturday...