Lincoln City 2 Southend United 2

Last updated : 18 March 2004 By Mark Wallis

There cannot possibly be any excuses involving thought's of Sunday's LDV Final or the such like, unfortunately Southend's baffling second half showing in Lincolnshire cost them two vital points having put themselves very much in the driving seat at half time.

Leon Constantine, who now has eighteen goals to his name this season, struck twice inside six minutes just after the half hour mark to put the Essex side two goals in front, and having dominated the first period Souuthend should have produced much of the same in the second half, but simply they did not.

For whatever reason Steve Tilson's men seemed to think that the match was won at two-nil and simply spent the second half sitting back on their cushion, which became even more precarious after Francis Green had pulled a goal back for the home side within just six minutes of the re-start and the Shrimpers were letting Lincoln get their reknowned high balls into the penalty area time after time and Matthew Bloomer was causing all sorts of problems with his collosal long throw-ins.

However, despite the obvious two points lost, Southend have moved two places up the Division Three table, leapfrogging Cambridge United and York City to slip into seventeenth spot, but Macclesfield Town - the closest relegation zone rivals - closed the gap to just seven points with an impressive victory over Swansea City.

Southend have now in fact lost just one of their last twelve matches, but having picked up three successive draws, the Shrimpers really need to start taking maximum points from games to push themselves up the table and ensure Football League safety, which, it seems, simply three victories from the final nine matches would achieve.

Tilson stuck with the same starting elevenm who earnt a one-one draw with Swansea at Roots Hall three days earlier with inspirational midfielder Mark Gower still missing with what is believed to be a niggling knee injury.

Playing against a side who are more than well known for their long ball game, Southend played their hosts off the park in the first half by doing what they do best; keeping the ball on the ground and playing football.

Indeed it was United who created the early chances and Drewe Broughton saw a fierce shot wel blocked for a corner following a Lawrie Dudfield cross before a dangerous Kevin Maher corner saw Leon Cort stab two attempts goalward before Broughton eventually brought a fine stop from Imps goalkeeper Alan Marriott.

Darryl Flahavan was required to slide of his goalline to gather the ball in front of the onrushing Peter Gain on 25 minutes before some superb quick reactions from Constantine saw Southend grab th lead on 30 minutes. Tall defender Jamie McCombe's back header didn't quite have enough momentum to carry back to Marriott and Constantine was onto the loose ball in a flash and, at full stretch, poked a shot over the head of Marriott and the best diving attempts of Paul Morgan on the goalline couldn't prevent the Shrimpers from taking the lead.

However, only just had the visiting suppoters finished celebrating the opening goal before all of a sudden their side were two goals to the good just six minutes later. A inswinging Maher flag kick was only cleared as far as Duncan Jupp who drove a lofted ball back into the box where Broughton headed down for Constantine to smash home a fabulous full volley from just inside the area.

As half time approached though Flaavan had to make an impressive close range save to deny Gary Fletcher at the far post following a long ball up field which was flicked-oj by Marcus Richardson before the dying seconds of the first period saw Dudfield sprint into the box before cutting inside and finding his angled shot well held by Marriott.

The first half wasn't pretty for play-off chasing Lincoln, they didn't play well, but it was also on the cards that the home side would up their game in the second half and unfortunately content United weren't prepared for it.

Leon Constantine gave United a two-goal lead, but it was lost in stoppage time.
Instead of keeping to their first half gameplan and searching for the third goal which would have, without doubt, put the game beyond Lincoln's grasp, Southend just desperarely hung onto their lead against a side who at every opportunity belt long balls or throw-ins into the penalty area. In all honestly Bloomer's amazing throw-ins were much more dangerous than any corner the home side could muster and unfortunately Flahavan simply couldn't cope with all the high balls and only helped in spreading panic throughout his already unsure defence.

It was a error of judgement from the Blues keeper, failing to deal with a throw from Bloomer, which brought City right back into the match only six minutes after the re-start, as, with Flahavan fliundering, former Peterborough United striker Francis Green had the simply task of bundling home a loose ball from a matter of yards, he somehow almost missed with his acrobatic effort, but it was certainly 'game on' for the home side.

Southend did have their opporunities to regain their two goal lead, Carl Pettefer saw a shot deflected inches wide of the post following a quickly taken Maher free kick and a superb run from man-of-the-match Constantine eventually brought a pin-point centre whiuch saw Dudfield's powerful and accurate header bring a wotld class save out of Marriott, diving to his right to tip the ball around the post. Constantine also tested Marriott with a neat turn and shot a few minutes before time, but the second half was Southend mainly on the back foot.

Thankfully for United, Lincoln didn't create an awful lot of clear cut chances, but the longer they rattled Southend the more worried the visiting supporters became.

Another mammoth Bloomer throw saw Richardson's header only kept out by the desperate goalline clearance of Cort before Flahavan's hands were warmed with a fierce snapshot from the same player.

Sunstitute Simon Yeo burst onto a long ball forward before stabbing a shot wide of Flahavan's post before incompetent referee Andy Penn stunned Southend by signalling for five minutes of added time onto a half without a single stoppage.

Then, three minutes into the stoppage time, came the killer blow. Yet another long punt upfield saw Yeo race clear and the nippy striker made no mistake this time, calmly slotting a shot past Flahavan and ino the bottom left hand corner. The goal cued disagraceful scenes as many Lincoln supporters needlessly rushed onto the pitch to celebrate, but Southend still had another five minutes to play (yes Mr Penn found even more added time) out. Thankfully the point was successfully clung onto, but Southend will unbdoubtedly rue squandering their two goal half time lead.

Lincoln City

2-2

(Attendance: 3,943)

Southend United

Francis Green 51

Simon Yeo 90+3

Referee: Andy Penn

Match Time: 100:48

1st half: 48:02, 2nd half: 52:45

Leon Constantine 30, 36

Alan Marriott

Jamie McCombe

Paul Morgan

Ben Futcher

Peter Gain

Kevin Ellison --

Ben Sedgemore

Matthew Bloomer

Gary Fletcher

Francis Green

Marcus Richardson

8

7

7

7

6

5(78)

6(60)

6

7

7

6(78)

Darryl Flahavan
Duncan Jupp
Che Wilson
Leon Cort
Lewis Hunt
Kevin Maher
--

Mark Bentley
Carl Pettefer
--
Leon Constantine
Drewe Broughton

Lawrie Dudfield

4

5

6

5

6

6

7

7

8

5(90)

7(82)

Kevin Sandwith

Simon Yeo

Dene Cropper

Simon Weaver

David Wattley

-(78)

7(60)

-(78)

-

-

Carl Emberson

Jamie Stuart

Mark Warren

Dave McSweeney

Tesfaye Bramble

-

-

-(82)

-

-(90)

14

7

5

2

0

15

6

3

Total Goal Attempts

Shots/headers On Target

Shots/headers Off Target

Blocked Shots

Hit Woodwork
Free-Kicks

Corners

Caught Offside

11

8

0

3

0

16

8

5


Match Stats

LINCOLN CITY…(0) 2 SOUTHEND UNITED…(2) 2
Nationwide League Division Three, Tuesday, 16th March 2004 @ Sincil Bank


Goals:
Lincoln: Green 51 (acrobatically flicked home a loose ball after Flahavan had failed to deal with Bloomer's long throw-in; inside area; timed at 50:43), Yeo 90+3 (a long ball up field saw Yeo brake free inside the box and stab the ball past the advancing Flahavan; inside area; timed at 92:50). Southend: Constantine 30 (sprinted onto a short headed backpass by McCombe before, at full stretch, poking the ball over the head of goalkeeper Marriott; inside area; timed at 29:03), Constantine 36 (smashed home a superb volley after Maher's corner had only been half cleared; inside area; timed at 35:28).
Bookings: Lincoln: Ellison (73 - foul). Southend: Maher (54 - dissent), Pettefer (77 - foul).

Indicated stoppage time:
First Half: 3 minutes (Actual: 03:02), Second Half: 5 minutes (07:45)


Referee:
Andy Penn (West Midlands), 2 out of 10 - Absolutely appalling! I though that everybody involved in Division Three football knew how Lincoln played, but apparently not Mr Penn who gave City a free kick every time one of their players was challenged in the air by a white shirt, and fell for their dubious play-acting every time. Booked Carl Pettefer for kicking the ball and played a sensational amount of injury time in a match which had just one short stoppage in the first half.


Attendance:
3,943 (approx 275 away fans)

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com