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Whatever manager Rob Newman said to his players at half time though, it certainly worked, and on the sound of the final whistle Newman, with a grin beaming from ear to ear rushed onto the pitch to shake each one of his players by the hand, after all it was the first time that a United side had come back from a goal behind away from home and won since a 4-2 victory at Hartlepool United nearly four years ago. It wasn't just Newman that was grateful, at the end all of his players came over to the Southend fans, many of them shaking hands with the support which was simply superb throughout the entires game.
It was with the first chance of the match, after just three minutes, that United went behind. The Shrimpers defence seemed remarkably dozy as Terry Dunfield's low corner was whipped into to the near post where Michael Nelson, unmarked, sent a half volley past the helpless Darryl Flahavan.
Bury enjoyed the large proportion of the first half possession, but it really was a dour 45 minutes. Lee Unsworth curled a shot not too far wide of the target on 21 minutes, and Dunfield headed a Nelson cross over the crossbar two minutes later, but other than Bramble's disallowed effort there was little else worthy of note.
To be blunt, action wise the second half was hardly a spectacle; but United dominated. Bury had their half chances, being the home side they always would, but Southend's defence had become water-tight all of a sudden and it appeared that absolutely nothing else was going to get through, meaning all that was left was for the Shrimpers to get themselves on the scoresheet, and shooting towards their vociferous support this always seemed more than a possibility.
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Ten minutes into the half Blues were frustrated when what looked like a freak own goal was bizarrely ruled out. Bramble chased down a long ball forward but could only softly head the ball towards goal, however Bury goalkeeper Glynn Garner, with the ball firmly within his grasp, completely slipped on the wet surface and took the ball into the goal with him. As the linesman flagged Southend supporters thought he'd given the goal but strangely he'd awarded a free kick in favour of the home side.
Ian Selley stabbed a Neil Jenkins knock back inches wide before Director Ron Martin appeared amongst the visiting supporters. Cue a plea for the North Bank, as chants of 'We're the North Bank of Roots Hall' rung around the away stand, and the prsence of Martin seemed to spur the supporters onto even more encouragement and almost immediately, on 67 minutes, out of the blue came the equaliser, a huge ball forward dropped into the path of Graeme Jones, and as Garner advanced the Blues frontman nonchantly nodded the ball over the onrushing keeper and into the net.
Southend were re-vitalised, they had a new lease of life and there waas now only one winner, and that was the team playing in red. Jenkins also had an effort cancelled for an offside, but United grabbed the lead on 80 minutes, Bramble set off on a twisting, turning run, and with the Bury defence almost mesmerised he cut into the area, but although he could have gone for goal himself Bramble spotted Jenkins in a better position and unselfishly laid the ball back where Jenkins slipped a shot low into the bottom left hand corner to send the visiting supporters into raptures of delight.
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Bury hardly threatened to get back into the game, and with little time left Southend easily hung on for victory, that's United's third away win of the season and it's only the first week of October, we've equalled last season's tally already. Let's hope that Newman's men can now add to their two consecutive victories...
Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com