Eastwood Hat-Trick Wins Blues Seven Goal Thriller!

It was bad news right from the start of the day for the Blues, as Mark Bentley failed a fitness test and was unable to feature even on the substitutes bench. Mitchell Cole was his replacement, as Mark Gower shifted onto the right hand side of midfield to accommodate former Grays winger Cole on the left.

In what was a bright day at Saltergate, the Shrimpers fell behind on 27 minutes despite some early pressure which saw Spencer Prior go close, as former Mansfield Town striker Colin Larkin turned in Mark Alott’s flick-on at the back post from close range. It was not the first time Larkin had scored against Southend – he also scored for Mansfield at Field Mill last season.

As the half-time whistle was blown, Steve Tilson was forced into a substitution. Kevin Maher’s nose had been bleeding throughout the first half following an early clash of heads, and having failed to recover sufficiently, United captain Maher was replaced by Carl Pettefer. It was later confirmed that former Tottenham youth team captain Maher had broken his nose.

Early into the second half Southend were denied a penalty as Shaun Goater appeared to be pulled back by Janos Kovacs, however the referee disagreed with the numerous shouts from the Shrimpers’ players.

However the Essex side were awarded a penalty shortly after. Darryl Flahavan’s kick was perfectly placed for Mark Gower on the left-wing, and after his cross was misjudged by the goalkeeper, Freddy Eastwood’s powerful drive appeared to strike the hand of Kovac. There was no escape for the centre-half this time, as he was shown the red card and Southend were awarded with a penalty, which Freddy Eastwood duly converted for his second goal in two games. The goal came on 52 minutes – at a crucial time with just seven minutes of the second half played.

If you thought that the goalscoring was about to end there you would be foolishly wrong, for it was Eastwood that was once again troubling the home side’s defence. In a complete turnaround, Southend took the lead for the first time in the match as the 22-year-old beat four players before smashing a shot towards goal, and a cruel deflection took the shot over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

As is sometimes the case with Southend away from home, the lead did not last long. Following a lay-off from Larkin, Stuart Niven found himself with enough space to drill the ball through a crowd of players and into the back of the net at Flahavan’s near post.

Despite conceding four goals in two games, the Southend defence still failed to tighten up and in what was an incredible sequence of events, Chesterfield regained the lead as Kevin Hurst was not challenged whilst dribbling towards goal and duly smashed a low shot past the outstretched hand of Flahavan and into the Southend goal for a third time – just one minute after conceding the second.

So 3-2 to Chesterfield, and things looked as though they were going all of the home side’s way. That was all true for eight minutes, as Shaun Goater gave the game it’s sixth goal with just over a quarter of an hour remaining. Another Gower cross was headed goalwards by Eastwood, and the goat was quickest to react; heading in from close range and leaving ‘keeper Roche with absolutely no chance.

Goater’s goal was his third in as many games, and looked to have secured a very handy away point for the Seasiders. However, young Eastwood clearly hadn’t read the script. After Mark Gower had won Southend a free-kick 25-yards-out, it would have been natural to assume that the ball would fly into the penalty area. However, with no Maher on the pitch, free-kick responsibilities were put on the young shoulders of Fred, who ambitiously curled the ball over the top of the wall, and despite the desperate attempts of Roche, saw the ball crash into the top corner of the net to end all of the drama this game had to offer and send the 541 away supporters home exhausted, but most importantly, happy!

By Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com