What a night, what a game, what a player.
With Kane Ferdinand still out injured Lee Sawyer rightly pushed Louie Soares back to the bench with what looked on paper to be an attcking line-up that would take the game to the Shrimpers play-off rivals from Kent.
However, it was to be the winger on bail from a 20-week custodial sentence, step up Mr. Ryan Hall, better than being sent down, who was to set the Roots Hall pitch alight with a stunning dispaly and nearly grab the home side all three points, but in the end a draw was arguably a fair result, though if the match officals had been up to the pace of the game we might have had a different outcome.
As he's going to be mentioned a lot in this report for the sake of speed and space Ryan will now be known as RH and it was RH who started it all going when after three minutes his free-kick was nearly put into his own net by lumbering former Shrimper Garry Richards, followed by RH striking from 20 yards out just wide of Gills keeper Alan Julien's right hand post.
Southend had started as brightly as their boss Paul Sturrock had hoped, yet without taking the lead al la Barnet there remains a weakness at the heart of the home defence that is always there to be exploited and Gillingham are too good a team going forward not to take advantage of it.
With only seven minutes on the clock Curtis Weston was allowed the freedom to run through the centre of the park, not the first player this season, and find the S24 player-to-watch Cody McDonald, also unmarked, also given the same free pass to advance, but this time directly into the penalty area and the former Norwich man needed no further invitation to shoot low and hard passed Blues No.1 Rhys Evans for his 18th goal this term.
A healthy Gills away support of just under a thousand sang the usual songs of a team that's just gone one up before, only two minutes later, the Blue Voice were able to throw them right back in to the North Bank!
A free-kick 25 yards out given against RH, too far? Ryan Hall stepped up, a terrific strike around the wall, it's in the back of the net, a stunning equaliser.
During the celebrations RH pulled his shirt over his head to show the east stand a t-shirt with a thank you message on it in reference to the club's brave decision to stick by the player despite his recent court appearances.
It was all happening, and three minutes after that it was the Kent based side who had reason to celebrate, in annoying circumstances.
A free-kick against Blair Sturrock on the edge of the area had been given by referee Brendan Malone, yet there was his assistant with the dreaded flag across his chest, this from the official who gave a throw-in earlier when the ball was clearly not all over the line.
Anyway, Mr. Malone had a chat and changed his decision to a penalty, which the rather rotund Adebayo Akinfenwa , who did nothing to make the home faithful believe they had missed out on not signing him, slotted home, a good effort to reach the ball by Evans.
Sturrock did have a great chance to wipe that out when a left wing cross from RH fell nicely for the striker 12 yards out to...........smash over the bar. Oh dear!
Referee Malone, who maybe should think about a course with Weight Watchers himself, then missed a strong challenge by Richards on the half-hour who was clearly leading with his arm, nearly decapitating the son of Luggy.
This was to lead to seven minutes of first half stoppage time as Richards cleverly stayed down and Sturrock went off to reappear with his head heavily bandaged while Malone decided the incident was not even worthy of a free-kick to the Blues.
What now followed is a dangerous period where teams who feel an sense of injustice can be taken advantage of with the game taken away from them, and sure enough Gillingham sensed blood, literally in Sturrock's case.
The turning point to the Shrimpers getting something from the game came when, after already tipping over the bar a point blank header, a tremendous long range volley by Barry Fuller was brilliantly pushed around the post by Evans.
This allowed them to go into the break only one behind and regroup, which they eventually did, these Shrimpers are made of the right stuff under Luggy, with a mention in dispatches of top scorer Barry Corr who can look lazy at times but not tonight, he never stopped working for the overall cause.
The Gills did come out strongly as Jack Payne's 20 yarder shaved the outside of the post and Evans again did well to keep out MacDonald closer in, but they couldn't deny RH being the man of the evening.
Following some fine football through the midfield on 53 minutes, Ryan Hall picked up the ball on the right hand side of the area, cut inside, and fired home a terrific left footed strike in to the top left hand corner of Julien's goal who simply had no chance, Incredible stuff.
Now unstoppable RH had a half volley that went just wide left followed by another free-kick the same distance out as his opening goal, but this one curled wide four minutes after the hour.
Sturrock, soon to be replaced by Harry Crawford, was to waste another chance late on, but it was Gillingham who were so close to winning the match in the 88th minute when ex-Captain Kevin Maher sent over a corner that found the head of Matt Lawrence and looked to have found the net before Chris Barker headed of the line. Close!
There's only so much excitement that a game can produce before hearts start giving way and the points were to be shared, leaving Southend remaining five points behind the Gills and the play-off positions but without one RH at RH it could be been far worse.
Even with only one point from the last six the Shrimpers can make the tough trek to Tilly's Lincoln City in good heart, and having the irresistible RH in the starting line-up and not in Chelmsford prison could make the vital difference.
Whoever the judge is at Basildon Crown Court Thursday morning has a decision to make that will have a major influence on the business end of the season for Southend United.
Southend Player Markings: Evans - 8, Clohessy - 7, Coughlan - 7, Barker - 7, Gilbert - 6, Sawyer - 7, Easton - 6, Grant - 6, Hall - 9, Sturrock - 5 (Crawford 83), Corr - 7.
Referee: Mr. B. Malone - 5.