Craven's Marks Out Of Ten

GK Ryan Clarke | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals Conceded: 2 | Rating: 5.5

The man most people were making a fuss about before the game as Steve Tilson apparently ‘deliberated’ over who he was going to pick, but such was the outstanding performance from the Shrimpers back-line that Nick Morgan, or maybe even Terry Alderton could have been in goal and they would still have let no more than two into the net.

The first goal looked decidedly offside, but in the absence of a flag, Clarke seemed to go down a little to quickly. The second Swans goal was an unmarked header – no blame attached there. However, he was almost caught out by a lob at the end of the first half, and had Lee Trundle’s effort straight from the fourth goal restart gone in, then Clarke would have been lambasted.

RB Duncan Jupp | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 6

Other than Clarke, probably the player who showed the least of his ability on the day. Jupp has very good days, and then off days, and this was one of the latter. Found far too many white shirts and then didn’t think about some balls up field. Improved as the match went on, and grew in confidence coming forwards, but was not at his best.

CB Spencer Prior | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 1 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 9

Jupp’s lack of form was in stark contrast to Spinner’s immense display. Maybe buoyed on a little by the fact that the Welshmen in the crowd were giving him some stick due to his Cardiff City connections, there was not a single ball that didn’t connect with Prior’s head when aimed up at Trundle and Connor, who are no shrinking violets themselves. None of the Swans bully-boy tactics were enough to put off Prior, who capped his display with a majestic header from a Maher corner. Prior 1-5 Barrett in the goalscoring stakes now!

CB Adam Barrett | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 8.5

Part of Spinner’s fine performance was down to the rock alongside him. Barrett was almost as good as his central defensive partner, and his mark is only really separated by the bonus of Prior having scored. The former Bristol Rovers man was probably charged with assisting Clarke through the game, as they were ex-team-mates at the Memorial Stadium, and in addition to that he was sliding in, timing tackles to perfection and bringing the ball out of defence with such aplomb that he would not have looked out of place at the top level.

LB Che Wilson | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 6.5

Jupp and Wilson were both kept quiet by the hard-tackling Andy Robinson and Bradley Maylett who they came up against. In the end, both sides of the halfway cancelled each other out, and neither side were able to penetrate in (or from) the final third of the Shrimpers half. But the decent work put in by the Blues full-backs was enough to allow the hosts’ wingers more freedom going forwards.

RM Carl Pettefer | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 8

Continued his good work from last Friday, but rarely does a winger put in so much effort without actually getting the rewards in terms of goals or assists. Perhaps this is due to Petts’ status as a defensive midfielder playing out wide, perhaps it is because he doesn’t get himself into the right areas to get shots in, but it is one facet to his game that he could improve, as at the moment he is getting stuck in, covering any forward runs that Jupp makes and generally doing a fine job. Will be interesting to see how serious Gower’s injury is and how that may affect his performance – it didn’t today.

CM Lewis Hunt | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 7.5

Once again, much the same as he has done in the past. In the middle of the park, Hunt is very much a defensive midfielder, and offers something completely different to the side than Mark Bentley does when he plays out there. However, in both the Boston match and again today against the Swans, he has been an important cog in a side that goes forward well, but needs a little extra defensive steel with first Tes Bramble in goal a week ago and now an inexperienced shotstopper in his place.

CM Kevin Maher | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 1 | Rating: 8

Club captain, and again doing a sterling job in the centre of the field. Maher is capable, and he showed it again today with a strong, leader-like ninety minutes, controlling the pace of the game and the direction of the football for the most part and not allowing Kristian O’Leary and Roberto Martinez, arguably one of the best central midfield partnerships in League Two, to dictate what was happening. Good, if not outstanding, delivery for Prior to head in.

LM Mark Gower | Minutes on pitch: 30 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 8

Unfortunately, Gower’s injury has come just as he was getting back into his stride in the first team at Southend United. The playmaker had set Wayne Gray away to fire in the cross for Eastwood’s first after just 7.64 seconds, and was up and down the left-hand side like a man inspired, searching for that third consecutive home strike. He didn’t get it, and that was mainly because he was savagely taken out by Brad Maylett, and having partially recovered from that blow, was then knocked down by Eastwood. We can only hope that he recovers quickly.

CF Freddy Eastwood | Mins on pitch: 90 | Gls: 3 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 9.5

Freddy Eastwood made an explosive debut

And don’t say I didn’t tell you so. After seeing him for the reserves at Millwall eleven days ago, we at TLG tipped the Grays Athletic man to get into the side somehow, and Bramble’s injury allowed him that chance. Now he has grabbed it, and unfortunately his price tag from the Conference South side may just have rocketed up.

It was the so-called ‘perfect’ hat-trick of left foot, right foot and header, but it was every bit as effective for Blues fans as Wayne Rooney’s supposed wonder start for Manchester United on his debut in the so-called Champions League. The impact made was immediate – 7.64 seconds were on the clock as the ball crossed the line from his head to put Southend one-up.

His movement continued to be good, and his chasing back was exceptional given that Steve Tilson had taken him to task over it after his match at the New Den. In the second half, he got another bullet cross from Gray, and he nodded in again without a Swans defender in attendance. Willy Gueret looked dumbfounded.

Then, as a show of his tenacity, he battled hard for a ball on the left, won it, got a lucky bobble and in shooting a lucky deflection and the ball passed Gueret for a third and the match ball. I hope that he can produce more of the same, and the signs are there that he will, but for the meanwhile he was right to milk the applause as Steve Tilson allowed him to come off early.

CF Wayne Gray | Minutes on pitch: 90 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 2 | Rating: 8.5

Wonderful again, and this time Gray managed to link up with another player in Eastwood and not Bramble. Faultless from the former Wimbledon man who ran his socks off and was not rewarded with a goal but with two fine assists to his strike partner. Both are similar players, but if Gray is prepared to play second fiddle, then they may work as a partnership. Finally though, Southend players have found the inside left and inside right channels that Gray craves, and that has been a telling factor in his up-turn in form.

LM James Corbett | Mins on pitch: 60 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 8.5

This was as good as we have seen Corbett, and especially out on the left-hand side. Corbett, like Pettefer, is not a winger, and he does carry a little extra weight. But he put it to good use, made some good runs and generally was the most intelligent player on the park once he had come on. Some of his touches were beautiful, and he showed that he is worth a place in the side.

CF Michael Kightly | Minutes on pitch: 0 | Goals: 0 | Assists: 0 | Rating: 6

Kightly had about as much time on the pitch as Eastwood took to score, never got closer than ten yards to the ball, and just got a nice little jog towards the Swansea goal.