Southend United 2 Norwich City 1

The Guard Of Honour Before The Match

Simon Charlton curls the ball around the wall for Norwich's goal

However the party looked like it was to be pooped when after just three minutes Simon Charlton curled a free kick brilliantly past Darryl Flahavan’s right. The Blues stopper had no chance after Andrew Hughes had tapped the ball off to Charlton who immaculately left-footed the ball into the back of the net. (0-1)

Southend then continued to lose out as Norwich attacked the Blues’ south stand goal. Former Leeds United and UEFA Cup player Darren Huckerby caused problems as he cut in from the left-hand side on a number of occasions. However much to the amusement of the crowd he managed to stumble in almost every dangerous situation. Huckerby can only be described Norwich also reoccurred a problem that saw them relegated from the Premiership last year as they failed to hit the target on a number of occasions when putting on the pressure.

Southend then showed just how to finish as Freddy Eastwood provided another masterclass of finding the back of the net. Guttridge sent the former Grays man through as he sped away from the heels of Gary Doherty. With Wayne Gray ready in the centre of the goal, most would have expected a ball across the goal. Despite this last seasons twenty-four goal man powered the ball past England international Robert Green from an very tight angle. (1-1)

Mark Bentley (out of shot) scores Southend's winner

The Shrimpers’ then went from strength to strength and were spurred on by a suprisingly lively crowd. It was only six minutes later, on eighteen minutes that Mark Bentley spectacularly found the back of the net as he was given the ball by James Lawson. Lawson had picked the ball from a half cleared corner and then saw Bentley dip the ball into the far corner of the Canaries goal. (2-1)

Although the Shrimpers kept possession very well it was Norwich who had the lionshare of the chances and posed the most dangerous play. Darryl Flahavan was called into action often in order to deal with crosses and corner. The small stopper has now surely proven his ability to cope with the higher balls into the penalty area. Other dangers included the left foot of Simon Charlton as he sent another shot fizzing past the left-hand post.

The last action of an exciting first half came when Maher sent in a charismatically flat freekick towards the back post. Bentley attacked the ball and flicked the ball towards the back post where he found Green flying towards his left to tip the ball over the bar.

Although the second half was nowhere near as exciting as the first it began with a tenacious tackle from Luke Guttridge. The determined midfielder was very lucky not to get his name in the book of referee Mr. Thorpe.

However the lack of real action did not deter the Shrimpers from playing some wonderful football. The slick passing movement of Southend was reminiscent of the play that saw the Shrimpers’ reach the summit of the League Two table last year. In fact the football was so good it almost forced a penalty as Gary Doherty pulled back the lively Eastwood. Mr. Thorpe aired on the side of caution and decided to go with the ‘friendly’ element of the game.

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