'We are top of the league, still!'
Six on the trot, five in the league, 15 points keeping us above Crawley who won 1-0 at Northampton earlier, and all thanks to the magic on the bench, Ryan Hall crossing for Bilel Moshni to head home with only two minutes left, then grab another in stoppage time! Brilliant!
Blues boss Paul Sturrock stayed with his 'A' team at the moment meaning returned from injury Anthony Grant, goal scoring hero from Tuesday Ryan Hall, and the mad but influential Frenchman Bilel Mohsni, and Blair, were all on the subs bench, not bad, as it proved to be!
S24 player-to-watch Shaun Miller was certainly the liveliest of the home forwards throughout the match and was aiming for the Southend goal as early as the 4th minute but this effort went wide.
The ball then went straight up the other end for Kane Ferdinand to heads over the bar from close in following a Peter Gilbert corner.
Top scorer Liam Dickinson gets involved with a smart volley that keeps low but well kept out by Alex keeper Stephen Phillips before a slice of luck for the away side when Miller has the ball in the net on 21 minutes to look up and see the assistant's flag raised for offside!
Back the ball went into the Railwaymen's half and a fine 20 yard volley from Michael Timlin is saved by Phillips.
The end-to-end game continued with Alex wondering how they didn't score, Nick Powell hitting the left hand post from 20 yards before the rebound found the lurking Ajay Leitch-Smith who somehow cleared the crossbar!
However, as it their want this season, after these scares it was the Shrimpers who went one up, Harris freed Timlin with a lovely pass, Timlin shot to see Phillips push the ball out to Kane Ferdinand who said thanks very much from only eight yards.
For all the Blues possession, the Beeb had it at 61%, Crewe were very much in the game and you felt there was still plenty of work for the Essex boys to do after the break, and so it proved.
Even so, soon after the players had returned a right wing corner from new corner specialist Gilbert found Dickinson who header found goal machine Mark Phillips whose well hit volley from close range again saw the Crew shot stopper in fine form, but only setting up Leonard whose own header went over the bar!
The Railwaymen were getting more and more into the match and soon United had keeper Morris to thank for two saves right out of the top draw.
First, Leitch-Smith's 12 yard shot was brilliantly pushed around the left post, followed up by Leitch-Smith again with a hard hit 25 yarder that tested a fully stretched Morris to the limit, he rose to the challenge as this time it cleared the post to the left, the locally born youngster must have felt then it wasn't going to be his day.
Which might have been in the minds also of the majority in the 3,808 crowd, 331 of them starting to lose some fingernails, especially Ashley Westwood was allowed the freedom of Crewe, to volley over the bar from only six yards, phew!
Changes had to be made and with such a strong bench no surprise when in the 68th minute Luggy brought on both Grant and Hall for the booked pair of JP Kalala and Ferdy.
Hall, as he does, soon introduced himself to the noiser Alex faithful by seeing a 30 yard strike flash past the right post before, at last, Crewe found the net for real.
75th minutes were on the clock, Leitch-Smith ran into the right-hand side of the box, a hard low cross, and on the end of it from eight yards was Harry Davis who couldn't have hit it any harder in to the roof of the net for the equaliser.
Having been on the back foot for a lot of the half these Luggy lads certainly have bottle and it was Timlin who saw his 30 yard effort pushed over by Phillips, before Sturrock made the most important substitution of the afternoon with only four minutes left, Mohsni replacing Leonard.
Now, I'm not sure waht the home part of the crowd expected, but the Shrimeprs section knew something was going to happen, and with most happy with a point, Bilel delivered, positively with a double strike!
A left wing cross by, who else now he was on, young Ryan, the assister of last season and not far off this, and there was Bilel Mohsni ghosting into the box and heading past Phillips from six yards.
Oh yes, madness breaking out in the away section, that will do boys, but this team don't know when to finish, and when, yes, another Hall cross, (see player markings!), was nodded on by the veteran Harris in the first minute of what was eventually SIX of stoppage time, Mohsni was there again to get enough on the ball to see in end up in the back of the net.
Many have said our results do not match the way we've been playing, and many may be right, I would just say look at the league table, the team that Luggy built is looking very good indeed.
Time for Shrimpers to catch some Shrimps next Saturday, and with tickets still on sale at a fiver, Roots Hall should be packed to the rafters.
Southend United player markings: Morris - 7, Clohessy - 6, Barker 7
Phillips - 6, Gilbert - 7, Kalala - 7 (Hall 68 - 8), Leonard - 6 (Mohsni - 84), Ferdinand - 5 (Grant 69 - 6), Timlin 7, Harris - 6, Dickinson - 6.
Referee: Mr. M. Haywood - 7.
| Competition: npower League Two Date: Saturday, 8th October 2011 Kick off: 15:00 Venue: Gresty Road | ||||
 |
Crewe Alex.
Davis 75
|
1 - 3 | Southend Utd.
Ferdinand 37
Bilel 88, 90+1 |
 |
| Match Finished | ||||
| Starting line-ups | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Phillips | |
| 6 | Adam Dugdale | |
| 15 | Carl Martin | |
| 3 | Harry Davis | |
| 2 | Matt Tootle | |
| 4 | Ashley Roy Westwood | |
| 8 | Luke Murphy | |
| 10 | Ajay Leitch-Smith | |
| 11 | Byron Moore (Bell 85) | |
| 9 | Shaun Miller (Clayton 78) | |
| 25 | Nick Powell | |
| Substitutes | ||
| 19 | Max Clayton (Miller 78) | |
| 13 | Alan Martin | |
| 24 | Casper Hughes | |
| 7 | Lee Bell (Moore 85) | |
| 20 | Oliver Turton | |
| Starting line-ups | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glenn Morris | |
| 15 | Mark Phillips | |
| 12 | Kane Ferdinand (Grant 69) | |
| 23 | Chris Barker | |
| 2 | Sean Clohessy | |
| 3 | Peter Gilbert | |
| 18 | Ryan Leonard (Bilel 84) | |
| 19 | Jean-Paul Kalala (Hall 68) | |
| 8 | Michael Timlin | |
| 22 | Liam Dickinson | |
| 9 | Neil Harris | |
| Substitutes | ||
| 17 | Daniel Bentley | |
| 7 | Anthony Grant (Ferdinand 69) | |
| 6 | Bilel Mohsni (Leonard 84) | |
| 4 | Ryan Hall (Kalala 68) | |
| 21 | Blair Sturrock | |
| 45.2% | Possession | 54.8% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goal Attempts | 3 |
| 1 | On Target | 3 |
| 0 | Off Target | 0 |
| 0 | Hit Woodwork | 0 |
| 6 | Corners | 9 |
| Referee | Attendance |
|---|---|
| Mark Haywood | 3,808 |
| Crewe Alex. cards shown | ||
|---|---|---|
| 73 mins | Ashley Roy Westwood | Unsporting behaviour |
| 87 mins | Carl Martin | Unsporting behaviour |
| Southend Utd. cards shown | ||
| 18 mins | Liam Dickinson | Unsporting behaviour |
| 25 mins | Sean Clohessy | Unsporting behaviour |
| 28 mins | Kane Ferdinand | Dissent |
| 39 mins | Jean-Paul Kalala | Unsporting behaviour |
Click here to see a full list of the football results from Saturday, 8th October 2011.