Centre-back Mark Phillips will return to face Chelmsford in the Essex Senior Cup when the Shrimpers reserves travel to the county capital Wednesday evening, his first game since undergoing surgery on a hernia problem at the end of November.
Blues boss Paul Sturrock told www.southendunited.co.uk: "Mark is back in full training and will be involved tonight. He's hardly kicked a ball for us this season but hopefully this can be the end of his injury problems now."
The former Brentford skipper also picked up a hamstring injury at the start of the season and has played just three times for the first team this term, with the last of these the home defeat against Port Vale in late August.
Also in the starting line-up will be Peter Gilbert, some much needed game time for the left-back whose three-match ban against Stevenage came last November and not being served until January 3rd, the weather doing for any early come-back, allowing Johnny Herd to keep that position versus Cheltenham.
Other senior players to take the field will include goalkeeper Glenn Morris and new signing Miguel Comminges, both must be in with a good chance of starting against leaders Chesterfield at Roots Hall Saturday if they avoid injury, and the former forgotten striker Matt Paterson, Barry Corr's understudy nowadays.
Pennyfather: 'The match hasn't come at the best of times'
Meanwhile, former Blues midfielder Glenn Pennyfather, now in charge of the Clarets after making well over 200 appearances for Southend, will be hoping to continue his team's winning habit after back-to-back victories over Thurrock and Dartford.
However, midfielder Anthony Cook (knock) and striker Ricky Modeste (hamstring) will miss out.
Pennyfather told www.chelmsfordcityfootballclub.co.uk: "We'll be able to feature some of the First Team players coming back from injury or those who could use some match practice, while it's also an opportunity to try out some of the younger lads. The match hasn't come at the best of times but it'll be good to pit ourselves against full-time players and it will be a useful exercise for Southend as well."
Extra-time will take place if the scores are level after 90 minutes, and if that remains the situation, penalties will decide the tie, with a trip to Greys Athletic awaiting the winners.
Ticket Prices
£5 for adults and £3 for concessions, while under 16s can watch for free, with an additional cost of just £1 for a seat in the Main Stand.
How to get to the game
Train: Plenty of services changing at Shenfield: £11.80 day return from Southend, cheaper with travelcards.
Last services from Chelmsford: 22.09, back at 23.14, 22.40 - 23.48, (last service) 23.25 - 00.18.
Car: Fill in the details from your home postcode to Chelmsford City FC here for a full route plan www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp
There are a small number of Parking spaces on matchday located at the centre, and limited parking is available on street, so we would ask where possible for visiting fans to make use of their own coach services. If travelling independently we would ask you to consider the public transport options listed below. If you do have to drive to the venue, the club ask you to show consideration to our neighbours when parking around the stadium.
Melbourne Park is a no smoking stadium, however there is a designated smoking area on the hard-standing outside of the main clubhouse.
The clubhouse is open before, during and after the game for refreshments and also features several screens showing Sky Sports
There is a Taxi Rank at the rear of the station and the applicable Bus Route runs from the other side of the road, under the viaduct at the front of the station while the Bus Station is being rebuilt.
The number 54 and 56 buses run a regular service every fifteen minutes, departing initially from outside the site of the old Bus Station opposite the train station in Duke Street. Your journey should take around fifteen minutes from this point.
Map
www.myfootygrounds.co.uk/StadiumDetails.asp?team=Chelmsford%20City&StadiumId=126
Top Eight in the Conference South1 Braintree Town 18 7 0 2 20 8 5 3 1 15 6 12 3 3 35 14 39 +21 2 Welling United 19 7 1 1 21 8 5 2 3 19 16 12 3 4 40 24 39 +16 3 Bromley 20 4 5 1 14 12 6 2 2 17 18 10 7 3 31 30 37 +1 4 Farnborough FC 20 4 4 2 15 11 6 1 3 20 12 10 5 5 35 23 35 +12 5 Dover Athletic 18 3 4 3 19 15 7 0 1 24 9 10 4 4 43 24 34 +19 6 Chelmsford City 16 6 1 0 19 2 4 2 3 16 18 10 3 3 35 20 33 +15 7 Ebbsfleet United 17 4 2 2 12 7 5 3 1 15 10 9 5 3 27 17 32 +10 8 Eastleigh 18 5 1 3 18 11 4 3 2 14 10 9 4 5 32 21 31 +11
The Pennyfather Files
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Glenn Julian Pennyfather | |
| Date of birth | February 11, 1963 (1963-02-11) | |
| Place of birth | Billericay, England | |
| Playing position | Defender/Midfielder | |
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1981-1987 1987-1989 1989-1993 1993 | Southend United Crystal Palace Ipswich Town Bristol City Canvey Island | 238 (36) 34 (1) 15 (1) 26 (1) |
| ||
(Player info supplied by Wikipedia, for full info go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Pennyfather)
The Clarets beat Witham Town in the last round 2-1 and reached one more FA Cup round than the Blues, losing away to Wycombe Wanderers in the second stage 3-1 in a tightly fought tie.
Report here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/9206856.stm
Essex Senior Cup Uodate
The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county.
Round One (by 11th September 2010)
1 - Halstead Town 1-2 Hullbridge Sports (Report)
Round Two (by 9th October 2010)
2 - Stansted 3-1 Stanway Rovers
3 - London APSA 3-3 Basildon United (aet, 3-1 pens) (Report)
4 - Hullbridge Sports 4-3 FC Clacton (aet)
5 - Barking 4-0 Takeley (Report)
6 - Southend Manor 2-2 Eton Manor (aet, 3-4 pens)
7 - Burnham Ramblers 2-3 Witham Town (Report)
8 - Wivenhoe Town 3-1 Saffron Walden Town (aet)
9 - Bowers & Pitsea 2-0 Barkingside
Round Three (by 6th November 2010)
10 - Romford 2-4 Stansted
11 - Heybridge Swifts 3-1 Maldon & Tiptree (aet) (Report)
12 - Wivenhoe Town 0-2 Grays Athletic
13 - Chelmsford City 2-1 Witham Town (Report)
14 - Canvey Island 4-1 Harlow Town (Report)
15 - Southend United 4-1 Barking (Report)
16 - Bowers & Pitsea 0-2 Brentwood Town
17 - Tilbury 2-5 Aveley
18 - Hullbridge Sports 2-1 Redbridge (Report)
19 - London APSA 0-1 Billericay Town (Report)
20 - Eton Manor 1-6 AFC Hornchurch (Report)
21 - East Thurrock United 3-2 Waltham Abbey
22 - Great Wakering Rovers 3-1 Waltham Forest (aet)
23 - Concord Rangers 3-1 Thurrock
24 - Dagenham & Redbridge 3-2 Colchester United (aet)
25 - Braintree Town 2-0 Ilford
Round Four (by 4th December 2010)
26 - Brentwood Town 0-2 Great Wakering Rovers
27 - Chelmsford City vs Southend United
(Wednesday 5th January, 7:30pm)
28 - Aveley 2-0 Braintree Town
29 - Billericay Town vs East Thurrock United
(Tuesday 11th January, 7:45pm)
30 - Concord Rangers vs AFC Hornchurch
(Tuesday 11th January, 7:45pm)
31 - Stansted 1-2 Grays Athletic (Report)
32 - Hullbridge Sports 0-2 Heybridge Swifts (Report)
33 - Dagenham & Redbridge 2-3 Canvey Island
Quarter-Finals (by 29th January 2011)
34 - Heybridge Swifts vs Winners of Match 30
35 - Winners of Match 29 vs Great Wakering Rovers
36 - Canvey Island vs Aveley
(Tuesday 25th January, 7:45pm)
37 - Grays Athletic vs Winners of Match 27
Semi-Finals (by 5th February 2011)
Final (Details To Be Confirmed)
(Thanks to www.essexfa.com for all the results and reports)