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The crowning glory of useless trialist came in the shape of a guy called Babatunde. We have no idea where he came from, but he started the second half upfront, wore white boots and the number twenty-two shirt, was substituted again twenty minutes later and will never been seen again!
Another striker, Keize Ibe, who has previously been with Yeovil Town, showed some good touches and took the first goal well, but will not make a Football League players whilst Akwasi Edusei, another frontman, is possibly, but only possibly, worth another look.
On a much more positive note, former Tottenham Hotspur left back Mark Wright impressed again and is maybe worth looking at on a short term contract whilst Brad Hand and Daniel Woodards both put in decent second half displays.
An impressive crowd of 776 endured a highly inactive first half where United never once looked like conceding, but couldn’t find the back of the net despite much pressure. Mitchell Cole caused all sorts of problems and Mark Gower looked sharp against a Maldon regauard of Paul Goodacre – who we assume failed in his Shrimpers trial – and ex-Blue Nicky Smith.
Edusei saw a zipping cross drop just wide of the post and the same player couldn’t quite meet a Carl Pettefer centre in all there was in the way of first half action.
The second half was better, although in terms of performance it didn’t match its predecessor despite good contributions from half-time replacements Mark Bentley and Lewis Hunt.
Woodards saw a neat effort drop just wide of the post before Maldon created two openings on the hour mark. Firstly former Southend youth teamer Joe Ilett raced clear, sending a low shot just wide of Bart Griemink’s post and then the Dutch shot-stopper dived to his left to deny Tommy Noble.
Blues should have taken the lead on 69 minutes, but a fantastic save denied a Bentley volley after good work by Pettefer and Hunt had sent up the chance.
United took the lead on 85 minutes. The tricky Cole turned on the edge of the area before firing a shot against the crossbar and into the path of Ibe who controlled well before firing home from six yards.
The lead was doubled in the last minute with what was literally the final kick of the game, Bentley picking the ball up 20 yards from goal and delivering a peach of a curling shot into the top right hand corner.
SOUTHEND:- Bart Griemink; Duncan Jupp (Lewis Hunt ht), Mark Wright, Andy Edwards, Spencer Prior (Che Wilson ht); Kevin Maher (Mark Bentley ht), Mark Gower (Mitchell Cole 66), Carl Pettefer, Mitchell Cole (Kurt Husnu 33 [Daniel Woodards ht]); Keize Ibe (Babatuinde ht [Keize Ibe 66]), Akwasi Edisei (Brad Hand ht). Subs not used – Wayne Gray, Adam Barrett, Jay Smith.
REFEREE:- Rayford Lee.