York City 2 Southend United 0

The crowd at Bootham Crescent rejoiced on a beautifully warm and sunny March afternoon and the tannoy announcement of 'nothing will ever kill York City' was met with the biggest cheer of the afternoon.

And to be honest, other than City's two goals - which more easily more than enough to see off a pitiful Southend side - there was much to get excited about during a game which, to be frank, was truly awful.

The first chance of the match, in the nineteenth minute, brought the opening goal and almost predictably it fell to Lee Nogan - a player who always seems to score against United. The pacey striker, who has in fact had two seperate spells on loan at Roots Hall, waltzed through the Shrimpers rearguard with relative ease before beating goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan with a weak, mishit shot which the United custodian really should have saved with ease.

Then, with what was the last chance of a dire first half, City put the match beyond any doubt with their second goal. A low shot by Darren Edmondson seemed harmless enough but midfielder Lee Bullock managed to get a toe onto the effort and the ball eventually deflected into the net off of Leon Cort.

Unfortunately the second half was no better, Southend's first chance of the match arrived on 54 minutes when David McSweeney side-footed a looping Kevin Maher cross into the side-netting before City's debutant striker Keith Graydon drove a low shot just wide nineteen minutes later.

For the record, United managed their only effort on target in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the match, Rawle poking a lame shot straight at redundant goalkkeper Michael Ingham.

That's it. It was rather easy writing this match report from what must be the most dull match that this reporter has ever witnessed. A lot of work is going to have to done by whoever the new manager is to transform this team of losers into a team of winners; it's not going to be an easy task.

YORK CITY (4-3-3):- Micheal Ingham; Christopher Smith, Graham Potter, Gary Hobson, Chris Brass; Lee Bullock (Stephen Brackstone 76), Richard Cooper (Leigh Wood 90), Darren Edmondson; Jonathan Parkin (Anthony Shandran 82), Lee Nogan, Keith Graydon. Unused subs - Craig Wilding, Paul Stockdale.

SOUTHEND UNITED (4-4-2, with ratings out of ten):- Darryl Flahavan 5; Daryl Sutch 5 (Steven Clark 53, 5), Damon Searle 6, David McSweeney 7, Leon Cort 6; Stuart Thurgood 6 (Gavin Strachan 53, 7), Kevin Maher 5, Tesfaye Bramble 5, Neil Jenkins 7; Mark Rawle 4, Barrington Belgrave 4 (Brett Darby 70, 6). Unused subs - Ronnie Henry, Daniel Gay.

TLG MAN OF THE MATCH: David McSweeney.
This was a very poor performance from United and to be honest singling out one particular player for praise was not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. The award however goes to central defender McSweeney who made a solid return to action in the place vacated by Stephen Kelly. Made some very important and well timed tackles and was probably one of the most vocal Southend players on the pitch.

Attendance: 4,312 (218 away fans).
Referee: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear) 6 out of 10.

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com