Prior to the day that the Shrimpers made the long haul up north, Andy Edwards went on loan to Grays Athletic in a shock move, considering he was a regular starter not so long ago. Elsewhere Shaun Goater and James Lawson were back – albeit on the substitute’s bench. Joining the two attackers on the bench was Che Wilson, who had scored his first career goal in the demolishment of Brentford the previous Saturday (congratulations from everyone at TLG by the way Che!).
Onto the action, and it was the away side that had the first two opportunities of the match. Firstly, Freddy Eastwood laid the ball into the path of Adam Barrett who rifled the ball over the crossbar and into the stand. Barrett, who had come in for the unfortunate Che Wilson, would continuously be dashing up and down the left-hand side of the pitch throughout the match, clearly enjoying the adoption of his left-back birth.
With five minutes played, Wayne Gray held the ball up well and gave the ball to Mark Gower, whose cross was only centimetres to far for Mark Bentley to score.
The home side finally woke up after the blues early chances, and former
Some fourteen minutes later, and Tranmere were on the attack again. After the Shrimpers had failed to clear their lines, midfielder Danny Harrison’s scuffed shot rolled agonisingly close to the far post, fortunately missing it by a fraction. The pressure continued, and Gareth Roberts’ corner was floated onto the appreciative head of fellow defender Ian Sharps, who somehow missed the target from six yards, heading over the bar.
Former Liverpool right-back Jason McAteer, now playing in central midfield and captaining his team, swung a looping free-kick from fully 30-yards which, having deflected off of Bentley’s backside, was well saved by Darryl Flahavan as he was going the wrong way.
Southend had soaked up the pressure and were looking to pounce, and as another Rovers attack was breaking down three minutes from half-time, Kevin Maher played a delightful through ball to his right hand side for Freddy Eastwood to chase, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, the 22-year-old made a rare mistake by placing his shot quite literally centimetres wide of the post. Eastwood would be kicking himself, as this was the Blues best chance of the game.
Steve Tilson’s men still had one more chance left in them before referee Robert Booth blew his half-time whistle, Another superb Maher pass, this time from a free-kick, saw Mark Bentley head straight at stand-in Rovers keeper Dino Semeret at the far-post.
There were no changes at the half-time interval, as both sides re-entered the field for the second half, but almost as soon as it had started Southend nearly fell behind. The pacey Delroy Facey (sorry about that!) latched onto another nice pass from Jason McAteer and crossed the ball to the far post were Calvin Zola hit a volley that his name-sake would have been proud of! However Flahavan was again on hand to divert the ball wide…with his foot.
McAteer was again involved in the play shortly after, whipping another of his free-kicks towards Darryl Flahavan.
Just before the hour a concerning blow for the Shrimpers. Having just released Andy Edwards out on loan to Grays, it would be ‘Sod’s Law’ that Spencer Prior picked up a knock on his leg and had to be substituted. As Che Wilson was entering the field as his replacement, it was clear to all that Prior was in some discomfort.
Carl Pettefer, an ever-present last season but making a rare start this season, crossed in and it was only half cleared by the head of Sharps, who would have been worried to see that the ball fell beautifully for Eastwood to smash on the volley, against the backside of Sharps, against the goalkeepers fingertips and off of the crossbar and into the stand. This was another good chance for Steve Tilson’s men and with only fifteen minutes to go, could have won the game for the away team had it not been for the deflections.
Whilst Southend went close at one end, Tranmere went very close at the other. Facey played an intriguing one-two with Zola and as Barrett commited himself struck the ball wide of the post not for the first time in this match.
It was Tranmere that almost stole the three points with time running out, As former
As the sub-heading explains, whilst this was a winnable game, look at the positives!
By Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com