And on the pitch, the Blues squad are eager to prove that they aren't in the Championship just to be the whipping boys. In fact, the bookies seem to think that there are five or six teams in the division worse off than us – which is better than last season where the Shrimpers were almost certainties for the drop in the bookies eyes. Of course, we all know what happened instead of relegation.
Steve Tilson opted to stay loyal to 35-year-old Spencer Prior and the lean-looking Lee Bradbury, despite the signings of Peter Clarke from 
And that decision proved to be inspired, as prior to a Vincent Pericard shot that was saved by Flahavan, Bradbury's hard-chasing run forced City goalkeeper Steve Simonsen to bring the former
Freddy Eastwood stepped up and despite the deafening silence that surrounded Roots Hall coolly side-footed the ball into Simonsen's left hand corner and sending the former Everton stopper the wrong way at the same time. 14 minutes into Southend's centenary season and they had their first goal, no real surprise about the goalscorer.
The Seasiders then looked to stretch their lead further as Jamal Campbell-Ryce's curling cross was met at the far post by Mark Gower, who with from an acute angle saw his goalbound header cleared off of the line by a defender.
After 25 minutes, Luke Guttridge looked for his first goal of the season, but was prevented well by Simonsen who dived to catch his low strike well following a superb array of passing by the Shrimpers – 12 to be precise before the shot.
Stoke wasted their best chance of the game on the half hour - Pericard flicked on Simonsen's goal kick and with the Blues defence slow to react, Mamady Sidibe found himself one-on-one with Darryl Flahavan. But just when it seemed a goal was certain, Sidibe smashed his shot straight at Flahavan before the reliable stopper pounced and jumped on the ball as Sidibe looked to take the loose ball around him.
On the stroke of half-time, Mark Gower's corner evaded everybody and was almost bundled into the net by a mixture of Adam Barrett and
The second half saw Steve Tilson's side take a more defensive approach as they looked to squeeze out Stoke's attacking threat by giving them no space to play in whatsoever in the final third of the pitch.
Some brave defending saw the Shrimpers prevent a Stoke leveller. Firstly, Simon Francis managed to turn Sidibe's goalbound effort for a corner, before Vincent Pericard danced through the entire Southend side before seeing his shot from six yards out blocked inspirationally by Adam Barrett, who had to slide in to make his last ditch tackle which was quite literally a goal-saving challenge.
Ten minutes into the second half and Freddy Eastwood nearly struck a masterstroke as his clever flick from a Luke Guttridge pass gave him the space to smash a speeding drive that shaved the top of the crossbar from twenty yards out.
Seconds later and Eastwood was tormenting the City defence again, this time latching onto Mark Gower's pin-point pass down the line and having beaten Duberry for pace, saw his side footed shot hit the legs of Simonsen and fly out for a corner.
From a separate corner some five minutes later, Kevin Maher played a short pass into Mark Gower, who played a looping cross into Adam Barrett and his header at the far post rebounded off the post.
T
hen, an incident that caught the eye of the national press occurred. Luke Chadwick collapsed on the field of play, reminisent to the horrible scenes at Roots Hall, when Mike North collapsed at the start of the decade. Thankfully Chadwick did not die on the pitch but was taken to critical care. All at TLG wish him the very very best.
Steve Tilson's plans to stop Stoke from having space in the final third worked, and Stoke were struggling to see their shots reach the goal, with many being blocked by a committed Shrimpers defence. However, central midfielder Dave Brammer was unfortunate to see his low drive inside the box caught by Darryl Flahavan with five minutes to go.
With the Shrimpers defence beginning to tire, Peter Clarke was brought on for his debut as was Billy Paynter up front, whilst Lewis Hunt joined Clarke at the back as the Shrimpers did everything they could to hold on for victory.
The home faithful were shocked to see the referee's assistant indicate six minutes of added on time at the end of the game, but the resilient Seasiders continued to pull out all of the stops to prevent a Stoke equaliser, and delight and relief filled Roots Hall as the referee finally blew the final whistle.
A hearty performance from the boys in blue, and many more like that may see a third promotion in consecutive seasons for Southend United…alright maybe I am getting slightly carried away!!!
Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com