Scunthorpe Ironed Out By Impressive Southend

Unsurprisingly there were no changes whatsoever to the Southend United starting eleven that trounced Colchester last week, however Wayne Gray returned for the first time since a hamstring injury, and managed to get some match practise later on in the game.

There were none for Brian Laws Scunthorpe side either – however the Irons were still sorely missing 18-goal striker Billy Sharp who remained sidelined through injury.

However, despite the non-appearance of Sharp, Scunthorpe still managed to shock the league leaders as early as five minutes in, as Matthew Sparrow’s teasing left-footed cross was not totally dealt with by a sliding Efe Sodje, who saw the ball bounce through his legs before Andy Keogh was tackled desperately and superbly by the ever-dependable Adam Barrett. The ball fell for the Republic of Ireland under 21 striker just outside the six yard box, and with the ball looking certain for the back of the net, Barrett made a clean and well timed sliding tackle to clear the danger.

Southend certainly took Scunthorpe more seriously after that, and stepped up a gear as Freddy Eastwood responded in perfect fashion on nine minutes. Eastwood, who was somehow not voted inside the top 50 football league players this week, picked the ball up around the half-way line, and having run about 20-yards played a perfect one-two with Shaun Goater before unleashing a powerful drive underneath the dive of Paul Musslewhite and into the back of the net. Freddy certainly looked happy with the goal, and if there was ever not a reason to place him in the top 50 players with team-mates Guttridge and Flahavan, he certainly gave his critics one with this strike.

If you thought the game may quieten down after the goal, you’d be very much wrong as the Iron’s Ian Baraclough rifled a low shot at goal from 30-yards, following Duncan Jupp’s headed clearance, but Darryl Flahavan was equal to it.

Following his goal last weekend Kevin Maher showed a new and improved confidence when shooting – his shot was perhaps to far out to expect a goal from, but it still gave Paul Musslewhite in the Scunthorpe goal a reason to get his gloves dirty.

With twenty minutes played, the Shrimpers went close to doubling their lead again – this time Southend’s second goalscorer last week Che Wilson curled a right-footed shot goalwards following some flowing first time passing including Guttridge, Goater and Gower, but Musselewhite was again on hand to push the ball away.

Following his chance in the fifth minute, Andy Keogh had almost been dormant, however he showed he still had signs of life when the ball broke loose inside the penalty area, and with only Darryl Flahavan to beat, Keogh fluffed the shot across goal and the ball bounced into the thankful arms of the Southend custodian. In all fairness to Keogh, the angle was tight but that was no excuse for not testing Flahavan.

Kevin Maher then nearly scored a goal at the wrong end of the field as he successfully headed a dangerous inswinging cross from Baraclough out for a corner – albeit just inches wide of the far post, before Lee Bradbury had the last action of the half as he smashed a shot wide of the post, having beaten his marker and having received a well constructed pass from Eastwood.

Whilst Bradbury was probably kicking himself in the dressing room for that missed opportunity, he made sure he came out in the second half and showed that he was once a Premiership striker for a reason. As Kevin Maher floated in one of his legendary free-kicks, Sodje rose up above his marker and headed the ball across goal for Bradbury to tuck home, showing his superb instincts for goal in the process. All this with just ten minutes of the second half gone.

So with Bradbury and his team-mates in high spirits, they almost let Scunthorpe back into the game. Michael Rose bent a powerful free kick shot around the wall and if it wasn’t for the quick reactions of Darryl Flahavan, it would have been into the net; however Flahavan clearly wanted his thirteenth clean sheet of the season, and parried the ball wide of the post.

With just under a quarter of an hour remaining, the Blues made the game safe as Shaun Goater twisted and volleyed the ball into the net from 12 yards following a cross from Luke Guttridge. The debate of whether the ball had remained in play before Guttridge managed to get his cross in or not was a long one, however the referee stood by his decision and gave the goal, despite the on-going protests of the Iron’s players.

It wasn’t all good for the home team though, as both Freddy Eastwood and Luke Guttridge hobbled off injured, but with hopefully they are just minor knocks as Southend look to mount their challenge for promotion once again when they travel to MK Dons next week.

By Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com