Six minutes of second half madness sees points shared

Well, we didn't see that coming, the Shrimpers held a two goal lead fro a single minute against a side who had lost their previous five games, when five minutes later the scores were level and Northampton had picked up an unlikely point even after finishing with ten men.

S24 got it spot on as Blues boss Paul Sturrock confirmed that Bilel Mohsni and son of Luggy Blair Sturrock would be asked to break down the Cobblers defence, with Ryan Hall back on the wing, with new loan signing Michael Timlin on the bench.

Veteran centre-back Graham Coughlan will join him instead of left-back Peter Gilbert, the belief obviously that the Cobbblers with their big boys in the line-up may lead to a lot of work for skipper Chris Barker and Mark Phillips which may need some cover.

The away side had a shock when boss Gary Johnson did not travel to Roots Hall due to being ill and the team was being managed by his assistant David Lee. 

As for the first 45, as expected, our Cobbler to watch and former Luggy target Adebayo Akinfenwa concededa couple of free-kicks in the first 20 minutes, poor Mark, who eventually picked up a yellow card and gace a set piece of his own after fouling the big target man

There were shots from far out, the usual suspects for the Essex boys in Hall and Leonard, well delt with by both keepers, the odd corner or two, but no clear cut chances.

On 26 minutes the Shrimpers No.1 Glenn Morris, who has not had  a great run recently, fumbled a Michael Jacobs free-kick but Chris Barker was quickly on hand to clear the danger.

Then, out of no where, seconds after that incident Southend took the lead, and it was Bilel Mohsni who grabbed it after being found by Sturrock and the Frenchman let loose from long distance to find the top right hand corner.

Jacobs nearly equalised staright after with yet another long ranger that knocked off some paintwork from the Morris crossbar.

The game settled down after that with another Leonard shot from distance from a Hall corner brought the sides up to the half-time whistle.

So what happened after the break was as unexpected as the opening half was uneventful bar Bilel's stunning strike.

Certainly it must have felt to the home faithful that the points were going to stay with the Shrimpers when just before the hour mark, after another Mohsni shot was all to show for the first quarter-hour, Kane Ferdinand passed to Ryan Hall who found the top left hand corner from close to the penalty area.

Now any school boy will telll you that if your side goes two-up don't let the opposition back into the game immediatly, something Southend failed to do because within six minutes the Cobblers were level!

First, only one minute after Hall's strike, the S24 curse struck again and Adebayo Akinfenwa beat Morris from outside the area with a hard hit shot into the middle of the goal.

Then, Nick Mckoy found Arron Davies on 65 minutes, and after three goals from outside the 12-yard box, his low shot was enough to find the back of the net.

Amazing, 2-2, and 361 travelling Cobblers in the 4,805 gate went quite rightly wild, nothing much has been going right for their team lately and this would be a welcome boost after such a poor start to their season, they shuld play more games away from Sixfields where they have lost four on the trot.

So after that six minutes of madness the game settled down again with a couple of yellows shown to Anthony Grant and John Johnson and a Sturrock header wide from a Sean Clohessy cross to get the side going as the game entered the final moments.

Both sides made a late change, Jake Robinson replaced Micheal Jacobs and Jemal Johnson for Blair Sturrock to try and wake the Blues up again after their loss of concentration when they maybe believed the game was won.

And they nearly did it at the end, with a Luke Prosser header cleared off the line following a Hall corner, and the follow-up by Kane Ferdinand shaving a post, then the best effort, Mohsni actually tapping home in the 78th minute after Cobbler keeper Sam Walker spilled a Hall strike, but the linesman's flag was raised.

After that the Blues support must have felt they had blown the day.

However, it nearly got worse, that man Akinfenwa brought the North Bank support to their feet with a header over the bar when maybe he should have done better.

Four minutes of stoppage time followed and there's no doubt who will be happier at the result, hard to know what went on out there as 2-0 for the Shrimpers with a half-hour left turned in to a lost two points.

To make the Shrimpers feel worse Northampton finished with only ten men, two successive yellows between the 90th and 93rd minute saw McKoy sent off.

Still, look on the bright side, ninth place and only a win off the top, and it's set up nicely for next Saturday's trip to Wiltshire and Di Canio's Swindon Town, who came from behind to beat Rotherham United 3-2 this morning.

Southend United player markings (to be posted): Morris - 6, Clohessy - 6, Barker - 6, Phillips - 6, Prosser - 6, Leonard - 7 (Timlin 69 - 6), Ferdinand - 7, Grant - 8, Hall - 7, Sturrock - 6 (Johnson 80), Mohsni - 7.

Referee - Mr. S Hooper - 6.

League Two Round-Up: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14690768.stm

Competition: npower League Two Date: Saturday, 3rd September 2011 Kick off: 15:00 Venue: Roots Hall
	Southend Utd. Bilel 27 Hall 59	2 - 2	Northampton Akinfenwa 60 Davies 65
Match Finished

 

 

50.6%	Possession	49.4%
2	Goal Attempts	2
2	On Target	2
0	Off Target	0
0	Hit Woodwork	0
6	Corners	6

 

Referee	Attendance
Simon Hooper	4,805

 

Southend Utd. cards shown
38	Phillips	Unsporting behaviour
73	Grant	Unsporting behaviour
90+2	Bilel	Dissent
Northampton cards shown
69	Johnson	Unsporting behaviour
90	McCoy	Unsporting behaviour
90+3	McCoy	Second bookable offence