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Strikers Tesfaye Bramble and Mark Rawle, who adopted a left wing role, both returned to the Shrimpers side following length lay-offs and with the Silkmen donning their new almost flourescent orange away kit, United had the luxury of wearing their own home strip as the Shrimpers looked for a point that would guarentee a top half of the table finish.
In a match that was slow to come to life, if indeed it ever did, United created the first opening on seven minutes, Bramble's strong run resulting in a low cross into the area which was claimed by Macc goalkeeper Steve Wilson with Rawle getting ready to pounce. A minute later Lee Glover brought the very best out of a diving Darryl Flahavan from 18 yards.
Danny Adams nodded the ball straight into the arms of Flahavan following a George Abbey centre on 14 minutes before Abbey rolled a weak shot at Flahavan minutes later.
Stephen Broad's right flank cross was flicked into the path of Barrington Belgrave by Stuart Thurgood but the stocky striker could only hit a shot wide of the target. Ricky Lambert then stroked a shot wide of Flahavan's goal from 8 yards for the home side when he really should have done better.
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It was in first half stoppage time that the only real incident of the match occured, following a foul on Damon Searle a but of pushing turned into a full scale riot in front of the dugouts with every player except both goalkeepers involved in the brawl. When tempers eventually calmed down Lancashire referee Tony Leake cautioned Shrimpers skipper Phil Whelan but sent-off Town defender Dave Ridler for violent conduct. To be fair it was the only real excitement in the match!
Belgrave shrugged Danny Whitaker off the ball in the 62nd minute before shooting straight at Wilson from a tight angle inside the six yard box, a minute later Flahavan had to be on his toes to tip Adams' dangerous cross over the bar.
Substitute John Askey glanced a header over the crossbar following an Abbey cross and a couple of minutes later the same player nodded an Adams cross wide of the post.
Flahavan did well diving to his right to push out another Askey header, this time from a Lambert cross before the last action, incredibly 17 minutes from time saw Whelan head an Ian Selley corner well wide after Selley's deflected shot had won the initial flag-kick.
United will be pleased to have finished the season with a hard-fought point away from home, but it really was up to the supporters to provide the entertainment as the match truly was awful. The home supporters certainly had it made as threy were invited onto the pitch at the final whistle to indulge in the 750 cans of beer which had been wheeled onto the grass. United supporters meanwhile headed back to Essex with all the hope and expectation that a new campaign will inevitably bring.
Of course United will be back in July for their usual pre-season warm-up, however keep clicking onto www.thelittlegazette.com over the summer as we'll continue to endeavor to bring all the latest news and views as well as just a few one-off features!
We'll see you all baxck at a football ground in July then!
Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com