There were only two changes to the Shrimpers side that saw off
Yeovil had to make changes as well: regular central defensive pairing Scott Guyett and Terry Skiverton missed out through injury, being swapped with Colin Miles and Adam Lockwood, who had only recently returned from a loan spell at Torquay United.
Despite the result, it was the home side that had the early possession, and Kevin Amankwaah nearly used it to great effect in the opening minute of the match, drilling a low cross into the box that somehow missed everyone. Had nearby team-mates Phil Jevons and Nathan Jones got a touch on the ball, it would have quite surely been a goal.
John Terry may be going to the World Cup with
Possibly Yeovil’s best chance of the game fell for Matt Harrold on ten minutes. After Jevons had pulled the ball back into the penalty area from the edge of the box, skilful midfielder Aaron Davies struck a powerful low shot goalwards only for Darryl Flahavan to parry superbly. However, the ball fell perfectly for Harrold, who has come into some decent form of late since coming into the Yeovil XI, and having made contact with the ball must have thought he had grabbed another goal to add to his increasing tally, only for Adam Barrett to stretch a despairing leg out and somehow divert the shot away from goal. Quite how the local born defender managed to save the ball from the goal is something I still can’t quite work out.
Two minutes later, and it was the Shrimpers who were in the attacking third. Kevin Maher engineered a cunning free-kick move, playing the ball sideways to his right to the shock of the defenders, only for Freddy Eastwood to rifle a free shot up and into the top of the stand behind the goal.
However Southend would score some twenty minutes later. Freddy Eastwood was again involved, this time heading the ball into the path of Bentley who smashed the ball into the net at the near post having chased onto the headed pass. The goal hit a Yeovil with a huge blow, especially as they had managed to keep the well-known strike pairing of Goater and Eastwood quiet for the majority of the first half and had the best of the chances at the same time.
The goal boosted the Blues confidence without doubt, and Kevin Maher’s cross was almost converted by Goater with a flying diving header that evaded the far post following a string of passes from the away team.
After a first-half of dominance, Yeovil would have been desperate to turn possession into goals and no doubt that would have been at the forefront of Steve Thompson’s half time team talk, however Steve Tilson’s team talk appeared more effective, as the Shrimpers came out for the second half attacking in a ‘gung-ho’ nature. There were chances flying in everywhere and yours truly was struggling to get all of them down!
First goalscorere Bentley raced into the penalty area in a similar fashion to how he scored his goal, except this time he was held illegally by Amankwaah before seeing his attempted pass to the open Freddy Eastwood rebound off of Paul Terry’s hand. There was no penalty awarded despite two fouls; however the ball did finally fall into the path of Eastwood who attempted to take the ball around the goalkeeper before stumbling on the damp surface and watching the ball roll out of play for a goal kick.
Mark Bentley almost added to his goal with another one on 49 minutes, heading wide before Kevin Maher smashed a shot over the bar.
Maher actually had another shot a minute later; Mark Gower crossing accurately to the edge of the box from a corner kick for the Shrimpers captain to volley first time towards goal, only for Town defender Kevin Amankwaah to head off the line.
Yeovil responded with a couple of chances of their own, as Phil Jevons was only a whisker away from levelling the game with a thundering 30-yard free-kick that only just missed the target. If only Jevons didn’t dive so much, he would no doubt be a pleasure to watch and if the opportunity arose to buy the former Everton youngster for a reasonable price, you wouldn’t say no.
The second chance came just after the hour as Matt Harrold again gave the Shrimpers problems. Having evaded the tackle of Efe Sodje, who was facing his old club having signed from Yeovil a couple of weeks ago, the ginger-haired frontrunner turned onto his left foot and fired a shot straight at Darryl Flahavan.
Southend were denied a penalty for a third time on 67 mintues, as former Shrimpers left-back Nathan Jones clearly tripped Mark Gower who had forced his way to the byline, however referee Clive Penton again made an error and waved for play on. The Southend argument was surely if Gower hadn’t been upended, surely he had done a Jevons (dived!)?
However despite the lack of refereeing ability inside
With the game virtually wrapped up, Freddy Eastwood was replaced by Lee Bradbury, who was making his debut and worked extremely hard – making the most of his ten-odd minutes on the pitch.
The match ended on a sour note as Mr Penton did further embarrass his performance – sending Adam Barrett off for a second bookable offence with four minutes to go, neither of the bookings were bookings and Clive Penton can be added to the list of named and shamed referee’s that have fallen for Jevons’ diving. So, In the last three years Southend have a had three players sent-off and lost twice at Huish Park, however this time they won.
By Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com
*pictures will follow tomorrow*