After the Swans defeated Shrewsbury Town by a single goal to nil in the last match at the Vetch Field this afternoon, and the Glovers inflicted an identical scoreline upon Blues at Roots Hall, the third promotion spot – which ironically could still see either of the clubs involved named champions of Division Three – has come down to a straight choice between the clubs. Indeed, should Blues win 1-0 at Blundell Park, then Kenny Jackett’s side require a three-goal triumph at Gigg Lane on Saturday.
Of course, should Scunthorpe United be defeated away to Shrewsbury next week, then victories for Southend and Swansea would see the Iron claim the fourth play-off place, and if Yeovil lose to Lincoln City and the two teams on 77 points both emerge victorious by a number of goals, then the Somerset club are still not guaranteed an automatic spot.
However, the situation does come down to three from four after Macclesfield Town went down 3-0 at Cheltenham Town and Lincoln City could only manage a goalless draw with Darlington at Sincil Bank. The losers in the battle for the automatic spots are now guaranteed a home tie in the second leg of the play-off matches.
In oppressively hot conditions at Roots Hall, with both the temperature and the crowd soaring (the latter to a season’s best 11,735), the match predictably started slowly, with both sides playing stylish football without an end product. After just two minutes, Bartosz Tarachulski flicked a Lee Johnson free-kick wide of the left-hand post, and the same tall striker provided a right-wing cross for Terry Skiverton to push a header woefully wide before limping off after just half-an-hour.
That change, involving former Lincoln City front man Marcus Richardson, came just after a Mark Gower free-kick from twenty yards out saw Wayne Gray head across the face of goal towards Eastwood, who acrobatically sent the ball dribbling out of play for a corner. At the other end, new man Richardson had the ball in the back of the net after rounding Darryl Flahavan, but had already been flagged for offside.
The game opened up, and Eastwood soon had another attempt on goal, this time tracking across the 18-yard box before ballooning his right-footed effort. The first save a goalkeeper was forced to make was a remarkable one-handed claw around the right-hand post effected by Flahavan on 34 minutes, as Richardson got past the returning Che Wilson and teed up Aaron Davies for a powerful header that should have produced the first goal.
Right flank-man Andy Lindegaard burst through the middle of Adam Barrett and Wilson on one of the few occasions that the central defender was beaten in yet another colossal appearance, but found his finish lacking direction. Incredibly, the strongly-built Richardson was replaced just before half-time by Andrejs Stolcers after collecting a knock of his own, though it was Southend who threatened last with Gray fouled in gathering a Wilson pass and Gower curling a free-kick against the head of Phil Jevons in the Glovers’ wall.
Half-time: Southend United 0 Yeovil Town 0
If the visitors shaded the first period, then it was the Shrimpers who deserved to glean more from the second half. Just three minutes in, Eastwood chested down a pinged Carl Pettefer pass before slashing across the face of goal from twenty yards. Johnson, son of Glovers boss Gary, then set up Lindegaard, who struck well wide of the right-hand post from the edge of the box.
To their credit, Town were a much more sporting side than had hosted Southend at Huish Park, and much of the gamesmanship that had plagued the Somerset side then had disappeared, even if Lindegaard had not read the script and rolled on the floor to see Wilson booked before jumping straight to his feet. In all truth, the Ely-born defender deserved the caution, but the wide man was rightly told to wait for the referee’s signal before re-entering the field of play.
In the early stages after the interval, Johnson’s free-kick was headed up by Efetobe Sodje before the bandana-sporting centre-half stabbed the ensuing shot wide of the right-hand upright. At the other end, Steve Collis in the Yeovil goal had to undertake his first act of the match when Maher’s pass to Guttridge on the left was crossed onto Eastwood’s head ten yards out; the striker forcing the custodian to push wide.
Two minutes later, Maher was the man on the left providing the ball into the centre, where Spencer Prior flicked on and Gray was left unmarked to head towards goal just ten yards out. However, the ex-Wimbledon front man directed his aerial attempt straight at Collis, who had but a simple save to make.
Gower and Eastwood were involved midway through the second period when the latter set up Luke Guttridge to launch a piledriver that flashed across the face of goal. It was the former Cambridge United midfielder’s last act of the game as he was replaced by Mark Bentley, who surprisingly started on the bench after serving a two-match suspension for picking up ten yellow cards.
Pettefer’s incisive pass then found Eastwood down the middle, but the highly-rated sharpshooter dribbled his shot to the right of goal. In a rare moment of magic from Yeovil, Paul Terry’s persistence in retaining the ball whilst lying on the ground allowed Johnson to blast wide from thirty yards.
A quarter-of-an-hour before the end, Kevin Maher set up Carl Pettefer to cross from the right-hand side, and Spencer Prior nodded back across the face of goal was met by Bentley, whose own header was sent just inches wide under pressure from a sprawling Collis. Steve Tilson then made a brave substitution, bringing on a third striker in Lawrie Dudfield for Gower, who had given a slightly improved performance.
Unfortunately, it was not rewarded. Dudfield attempted to lob Collis with an outstretched right foot thanks to Wilson’s chip forward, but in one moment the shotstopper had sent the ball forwards and the visitors were on the counter-attack. Aaron Davies hit a fierce shot from twenty-five yards, and it hit the back of Prior. Somehow Jevons had been left unmarked, and he turned the ball in from twelve yards over the unlucky Flahavan. (0-1)
The ageing Prior had an instant chance to try and restore parity, but his dipping volley from just outside the penalty area failed to trouble Collis. Despite Blues dominating possession thereafter, the travelling contingent of 1,598 left the ground happy after the three-man back-line employed by one-time Latvia manager Johnson stoically denied the hosts. It was a sad end to the regular season at Roots Hall, despite Mark Gower receiving the Evening Echo Goal of the Season award for his strike at Bristol Rovers and Adam Barrett being crowned the club’s Player of the Year. Hopefully it will be the last Southend match staged there in 2004/5.
Full-time: Southend United 0 Yeovil Town 1
0 D3 1 4-4-2 TEAMS 3-5-2 Darryl FLAHAVAN Steve COLLIS Duncan JUPP Kevin AMANKWAAH Spencer PRIOR Efetobe SODJE Adam BARRETT Terry SKIVERTON Che WILSON Andy LINDEGAARD Carl PETTEFER Lee JOHNSON Luke GUTTRIDGE 66 Paul TERRY Kevin MAHER 74 Colin MILES Mark GOWER 80 Aaron DAVIES Freddy EASTWOOD 30 Bartosz TARACHULSKI Wayne GRAY Phil JEVONS Bart GRIEMINK Chris WEALE Andy EDWARDS Michael ROSE Mark BENTLEY 66 74 Kevin GALL Lawrie DUDFIELD 80 30 Marcus RICHARDSON Alan McCORMACK 45 Andrejs STOLCERSSOUTHEND UNITED
YEOVIL TOWN
11,735
Phil Jevons 84
SUBS
Match Statistics |
Southend United (0)…0 Yeovil Town (0)…1 @ Roots Hall, Southend-on-Sea in Division Three on Saturday 30/04/05 |
Goal: Yeovil Town: Jevons 84 (lofted rebound from a Davies shot over Flahavan; inside area; timed at 83:24). |
Bookings: Southend: Wilson 52 (foul) |
Sent-off: none |
Total Goal Efforts | Shrimpers 12 Glovers 11 |
Shots/Headers On Target | Shrimpers 4 Glovers 3 |
Shots/Headers Off Target | Shrimpers 8 Glovers 7 |
Blocked shots | Shrimpers 0 Glovers 1 |
Hit Woodwork | Shrimpers 0 Glovers 0 |
Corners | Shrimpers 8 Glovers 2 |
Free-kicks | Shrimpers 9 Glovers 9 |
Offsides | Shrimpers 4 Glovers 5 |
Sundries |
Match Time | 95:47 (First half: 47:05, Second half: 48:42) |
Indicated Stoppage Time | First half: 1 minute, Second half: 3 minutes. |
Referee: Paul Melin (Surrey FA) 9 out of 10 (general control 4/5, application of laws 3/3, appearance and personality 2/2) – did not make many poor decisions, although his linesmen were under a constant barrage from Gary Johnson. May have bottled a late decision when Bentley appeared to be floored by Kevin Amankwaah. |
Attendance: 11735 (1598 away fans) |
Programme Cover: Adam Barrett in typically determined mode against Leyton Orient |
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Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com