Southend United 2 Oxford United 1

Tes Bramble turned in a magnificent man-of-the-match performance.

Southend dominated this encounter from start to finish against a visiting side who have enjoyed a good run of form themselves, but on this mild January evening Oxford were quite simply never at the races, indeed their late consolation goal arose from a rare lapse of concentration in the Shrimpers rearguard.

Tall central defender Leon Cort set Southend on their way, heading a Daniel Marney free kick into the arms of ex-Shrimpers loanee goalkeeper Andy Woodman on eight minutes before Woodman did well to hold Marney's low 25 yard drive seconds later.

Great work by Steven Clark and Tes Bramble saw the latter centre for Kevin Maher to nod over the bar before both Damon Searle and Bramble sent efforts just off target.

Oxford's first real effort of the evening arrived on 23 minutes, Scott McNiven's rasping long range drive deflecting just wide of Daniel Gay's post. From the resulting Bobby Ford corner Bramble launched a huge clearance upfield which Mark Rawle latched onto, the lively striker shifted out wide before clipping the ball into the area where Bramble, who had made a sensational dash almost the entire length of the field, drilled a low shot at the legs of the well-positioned Woodman.

Bramble spun and stabbed a shot inches wide on 27 minutes before Andy Scott fired just over the top from the edge of the penalty area for Oxford.

Southend eventually grabbed the lead that they deserved less than a minute before the break. A Maher free kick was lobbed forward to Clark who's shot was blocked, but the loose ball dropped out to the rigtht where Rawle was on hand to take a touch before curling a neat left foot drive past Woodman from just inside the area.

Mark Rawle curled in Southend's opening goal.

Things didn't get any better for Oxford after the interval as the Southend pressure refused to cease. Rawle poked a shot at Woodman on 52 minutes following a neat Bramble centre before a Maher corner saw Cort's dangerous looping header tipped onto the top of the crossbar by Woodman.

Clark had been brilliantly played through on goal by Jay Smith on 69 minutes, but having neatly taken the ball past Woodman, the former West Ham United winger unfortunately ran the ball just slightly over the goalline before cutting the ball back. However, Southend did manage to double their advantage a minute later, and courtesy of a truly brilliant goal. Yet again the source was a Maher free kick, and this time the ball fell right to the feet of Bramble who still had a lot of work to do, but the powerful striker brilliantly turned and beat his man with sheer power and pace before racing towards goal and unleashing an unstoppable drive past the helpless Woodman.

A good run and shot by Marney saw the ball zip over the top of Woodman's crossbar before, with their first effort of the second half, Oxford midfielder Dave Savage found himself in space inside the penalty area, but his shot was brilliantly blocked by the fully spread body of Gay.

Marney again shot off target following a great run by the impressive Clark before Bramble hit a shot into the hands of Woodman from 15 yards.

Steven Clark impressed once again.

Quite where whistle-happy referee Paul Armstrong accumulated over six minutes of injury time was somewhat bemusing, but Southend, who made three substitutions during that stoppage time, had no problems in holding onto their advantage and a third successive victory brought the a League double over Oxford, just three days after completing a similar feat over Rochdale.

Now, with Southend suddenly firing on all cylinders, we're beginning to look forward to Saturday's trip to Glanford Park where Newman's men will be looking for revenge against a Scunthorpe United side who grabbed a undeserved Roots Hall victory less than a month ago.

SOUTHEND (4-4-2, with ratings out of 10):- Daniel Gay 7; Daryl Sutch 7, Damon Searle 7, Leon Cort 8, David McSweeney 7; Jay Smith 8, Kevin Maher 8, Daniel Marney 7 (Stuart Thurgood 90), Steven Clark 8 (Neil Jenkins 90); Tesfaye Bramble 9, Mark Rawle 8 (Barrington Belgrave 90). Unused subs - Tom Jordan, Steve Tilson.

OXFORD (3-5-2):- Andy Woodman; Andy Crosby, David Waterman, Matthew Bound (Christian Edwards 58); Scott McNiven, Bobby Ford, James Hunt (David Oldfield 58), Dave Savage (Jefferson Louis 90), Matt Robinson; Andy Scott, Steve Basham.

TLG MAN OF THE MATCH: Tes Bramble.
Truly magnificent performance from the powerful striker. Always a threat to the Oxford defence and scored a brilliant goal. Often drifted out of the centre, but always to good effect, either searching for the ball or getting out wide and delivering decidedly accurate crosses. Used his strength to great effect to help waste away a few valuable seconds near the end and worked hard all evening.

Attendance: 3,203 (approx 190 away fans)
Referee: Paul Armstrong (Thatcham) 5 out 10.

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com