Swansea City 3 Southend United 2

THINGS are simply getting no better for Southend United as yet another poor performance brought defeat at Swansea City's Vetch Field.

New loan signings Brian Barry-Murphy and Ian Selley were drafted straight into the starting line-up but the pair gave no improvement on the display United put up against York City six days earlier. Manager Rob Newman also made a huge mistake by once again naming himself in the starting line-up, apparently looking for a clean sheet.

A clean sheet however was never likely to happen as the home side took the

Leon Cort- fired home Blues equaliser

lead after just 65 seconds, Chris Todd stabbing the ball in off the post after the ball seemed to be nudged out of the hands of Darryl Flahavan. Not content with their early opener Swansea threatened to cause further damage in the opening minutes, but in the sixth minute Southend actually equalised, Newman's cross finding Leon Cort who's low shot from the edge of the area hit City goalkeeper Roger Freestone on it's way into the net to give the 58 travelling supporters at least something to celebrate.

Frustrations began to boil over just three minutes later as Flahavan and Newman had a huge slanging match after Flahavan had blocked Steve Watkin's shot but in the 11th minute Flahavan brilliantly tipped Gareth Phillips' shot over the crossbar. Swansea, who were the only team in the match nearly regained the lead when Mamady Sidibe bamboozled the Shrimpers' defence before striking the outside of the post.

It was in the 32nd minute that the Welsh side got back into the lead, referee Lee Cable harshly awarding a free kick against Ian Selley 30 yards from goal. Andrew Mumford was desperately unlucky when his free kick bounced back off the crossbar but Todd was once again on hand to poke the ball into the empty net from a yard. Very little else happened as a one sided first half drew to a climax

The second half rarely saw any real action whatsoever, Phil Whelan nodding a Stephen Broad free kick just wide of the post three minutes after the interval before a huge talking point 22 minutes later. Whelan, taking an early free kick, accidentally struck the ball against Sidibe, bizarrely Whelan was booked for his 'offence' but more strangely Sidibe was only cautioned for lashing out at Whelan. Following a chip from Stephen Brodie which fell inches wide it was only typical that it was Sidibe who won the match fifteen minutes from time, the Mali-born striker turning Whelan inside-out before striking a low shot out of Flahavan's reach and into the bottom left hand corner.

Mark Rawle, on as a substitute for Barrington Belgrave should have reduced the deficit in the 81st minute, but homing in on goal the strikers pathetic shot was easily blocked before Whelan somehow failed stab the ball home from a matter of yards following a goalmouth scramble.

Phil Whelan - late consolation goal

With four minutes remaining Southend did pull a goal back, Phil Whelan, now playing a centre forward role was played through on goal by Stuart Thurgood and the captain placed a neat finish past Freestone, but it was nowhere near being enough for a Southend side who never seemed interested in winning the match.

Now, with two more difficult away matches coming up at Cheltenham and Hartlepool it's difficult to see where points are coming from and Rob Newman could find himself and his players fighting against relegation come the end of April.

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com