Southend – it’s in the South: but is it The End?
The summarisers on EFL on Quest have a free hit tonight. The Shrimpers play the Shrimps – but which one is which? They clearly don’t know and never have but they at least get the chance later on to have a 50/50 chance of getting it right for a change.
But who would be a Shrimper at the moment? On top of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis of funding facing lower league football in general because of lack of crowds, Southend United really are in the proverbial brown stuff. Off the field, the only way they can avoid a winding-up order – deferred for another month by HMRC this very week – of almost half a million quid is to sell Roots Hall to property developers. Good luck to them with that – if they fail, this could actually be the end of the road for the club. On the soon-to-be-built-on field, things look just as bad. Sol Campbell was unable to perform his Macclesfield Miracle of two years ago and – despite his best efforts – only Bolton Wanderers cushioned United from the bottom of League One when Coronavirus put an end to last season’s efforts. Sol has gone and since then, the Shrimpers’ form in all competitions has been absolutely dire. They fell at the first hurdle in the League Cup to the only goal at Gillingham and then lost at home 1-3 to West Ham Academy in the EFL Trophy. In League Two, they were hammered at home 0-4 by newcomers Harrogate Town in their first game and lost the second two-nil at Carlisle last Saturday. In total, they have scored just one goal in all their matches so far and found themselves bottom of the entire EFL with no points and no goals on the board when Morecambe arrived from Lancashire for today’s contest.
Southend Chairman Ron Martin made this statement to supporters earlier this week about his commitment to new Manager Mark Molesley:
“Culturally, Mark and his team are absolutely making a difference. The camp is in excellent spirits because we can all see what is on the horizon. In a text exchange with (injured player Jason Demetriou) yesterday he was really positive about the work everyone is putting in and there is a good feel around the place. I know this is not reflected in the press this week but of course you have to bear in mind it is their job to sell newspapers!”
Despite this outward show of confidence, Mr Martin must know that if we add the history of previous meetings between his club and Morecambe, the omens looked even more ominous for the beleaguered Shrimpers. Quite simply, United are the one club that the Shrimps would like to play every week: in ten previous League meetings, Southend have accrued just a single point, having lost every single one of the other nine games. Some of these defeats have been particularly damaging: in their last meeting in Lancashire five years ago, they lost 3-1 despite Manager of the time Medallion Man Phil Brown (whose surname refers to his spray tan apparently) smugly predicting that they would win easily before the game. With defeat, they also lost their chance of being in the Play-Offs because this was the final game of the season. The only time ‘Sarfend’ have ever actually beaten Morecambe was in the FA Cup a whole seven years ago.
Having said all that, Derek Adams’ team arrived in Essex today under a dark cloud themselves, having been hammered at home 0-5 a week ago by Cambridge in League Two and then faced annihilation in the League Cup at the same venue last Wednesday, when Newcastle United won even more easily by seven goals to nil . Before these disasters, their form until seven days ago had been quite promising; particularly their deserved 1-2 win at highly-fancied Cheltenham two weeks ago.
So which Morecambe would turn-up today? The one that played intelligently and creatively at Whaddon Road? – or the Rabbits in Headlights who were flattened by the Toon Juggernaut just a few short days ago?
Shrimpers’ Manager Molesley acknowledged this before the game with these words about the visitors:
“They had a good win on the opening day of the season but obviously lost the last couple. Sometimes a wounded animal is a dangerous animal so we will give them the respect they deserve.”
Opposite Number Adams was able to add new signings to today’s line-up in the hope of steadying the ship in the shapes of Liam Gibson – who went straight into the first team – and Yann Songo’o, who was named as one of the substitutes. The only thing that surprised this correspondent at least was that John O’Sullivan – who was totally ineffectual against Newcastle – was given another chance right from the start. Better news was that the seemingly perennially-injured A-jay Leitch-Smith – an undoubted match-winner on his day – was also named as a substitute for the first time this season. Alex Kenyon also started and this was the former Lancaster City player’s two hundred and fiftieth game for the club.
For the hosts, Kyle Turner – signed on loan from Bournemouth this week – went straight into the starting eleven and the previously injured Jason Demetriou returned to lead the team as Captain.
It was grey and very windy by the Thames Estuary as the match started. The players collectively Took The Knee and Morecambe kicked-off. In just the fourth minute, the bottom of the table team were on the attack. Brandon Goodship took a shot; the ball took the merest of deflections off Sam Lavelle, causing Jake Turner to only be able to push it against the underside of the bar. As Shrimps’ players failed to deal with the rebound, Emile Acquah was finally able to head the ball home (although it was adjudged as an own goal by debutant Liam Gibson later on).
Oh no. Not again. Southend’s first goal of the season; potentially Unlucky Thirteenth in three games for Morecambe. Minds inevitably went back to Scunthorpe last season where Jim Bentley’s men were marmalised by a team which had not scored previously and then went on to seriously struggle. Surely it wasn’t happening again under different management?
Anyway, the team in the red strip played a bit better once they had gone behind. Almost immediately, Carlos Mendes-Gomes was on the end of a pin-point cross in the penalty area but his effort – as he was clearly being put-off by a much bigger defender – went wide of the target. After eight minutes, a free-kick had Southend scrambling all over the place in their own penalty area which finally resulted in a half-chance for Cole Stockton. Shortly afterwards, the big centre-forward was fouled and when Adam Phillips’ resulting free-kick hit the Shrimpers’ wall, Ryan Cooney blasted the rebound hopelessly wide. Referee Charles Breakspear – who had a poor game throughout – gave Morecambe a free-kick when they had a potentially killer advantage after about twenty minutes. From it, Aaron Wildig drew a superb save from home custodian Mark Oxley. The goalkeeper also did well to leave his goal-line smartly to stop Cole getting to a flick by Carlos after twenty minutes. Morecambe’s number 11 then headed way over the opposition bar with half an hour played. The Referee was instrumental in another poor decision after 35 minutes. Stockton was fouled by the always aggressive Demetriou, who showed his displeasure at the decision by clearly attempting to strike the visiting player as he tried to get back to his feet. A general bit of argy-bargy then ensued at the end of which the man in the blue shirt booked Alex Kenyon of all people but only showed a yellow card to Southend’s Cypriot Skipper. He should have been sent off – yet the man in the middle did nothing when Demetriou then hacked-down Carlos just before the break: I’ve seen people sent off for less than this on its own in the past. The half ended with John O’Sullivan’s instant shot from the Morecambe right only just missing Oxley’s right-hand post but the hosts went back into the Dressing Rooms with a barely deserved lead.
It was a different story in the second half. Right from the off, the visitors went onto the front foot. Excellent approach work involving Carlos, the always-impressive Wildig and Sully led to a fierce shot by Phillips which only just missed the target in the very first minute. Five minutes later, Oxley was lucky to get away with a weak punch from a hopeful lob into the Southend penalty area by Skipper Sam Lavelle. A minute later, Richard Taylor did really well to block a cross from Mendes-Gomes with a tremendous sliding tackle at the expense of a corner. In fact, it took United until the fifty-fourth minute to actually put any sort of pressure on their visitors. But even then, the end product was missing and Southend were clearly playing for time even at this stage of the contest. After fifty-seven minutes, Morecambe absorbed another attempt at a United forward move and hit their hosts on the counter-attack again. Phillips charged down the Shrimps’ right flank, looked up and played an excellent ball into the penalty area for Wildig to steer it home for a well-deserved equaliser. After this, there was only one team which was going to win. Southend enjoyed occasional bouts of possession at times but the fact of the matter is that they did not force Jake Turner in the away goal into any meaningful action at any time during the second period. They also looked vulnerable every time Morecambe counter-attacked. Carlos led the way when he made a well-judged interception after 57 minutes and charged down his left flank to find O’Sullivan on the right. John struck an instant shot on target and was denied only by a fine stop by the home goalkeeper. Sixty-seven minutes were on the clock when a free-kick by Phillips on the Morecambe right following another foul on Stockton only just cleared an onrushing Harry Davis’ head, clearly helped by a crafty push from a Shrimpers’ defender which the Referee once again obviously did not see. The visitors carved-out a couple more half-chances before the critical point of the match arrived after seventy-one minutes. Morecambe again broke-up Southend’s play and broke quickly down their right in the shape of O’Sullivan. He found Phillips in the box with a perfect pass and the Burnley loanee placed the ball past Oxley to hit the inside of the post and bounce over the line for what proved to be the winning goal. Southend attempted to rally after falling behind but a combination of stout defending by the visitors and poor application by themselves ensured they never really looked like getting anything back out of the game.
So Morecambe’s extraordinary record against the Shrimpers continues. Derek Adams will be pleased by the way his team kept calm and played their way back into the game after conceding a poor goal. He will also be pleased with the display of his new boys as well as the form of most of his old ones. To be fair to him, John O’Sullivan, for example, had the best game I have ever personally seen him play for the Shrimps today. So all in all, this was an excellent win – and even the sun came out at times to join in the celebrations. The win pushed Morecambe into fifth position in League Two. The sorry Shrimpers, meanwhile, find themselves still pointless after three games right at the bottom of the EFL.
Southend United: 1 Mark Oxley; 2 Elvis Bwomono; 5 Shaun Hobson; 22 Richard Taylor (Y); 3 Nathan Ralph; 11 Terrell Egbri (21 Matt Rush 81’); 10 Brandon Goodship; 28 Kyle Turner; 24 Jason Demetriou (C)(Y); 7 Jordan Green (23 Charlie Kelman 51’); 18 Emile Acquah (12 Tom Clifford 54’).
Subs not used: 13 Harry Seaden; 15 Lewis Gard; 26 Harry Lennon.
Morecambe: 1 Jake Turner; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 6 Harry Davis; 9 Cole Stockton; 10 Aaron Wildig; 11 Carlos Mendes- Gomes; 14 Alex Kenyon (Y) (24 Yann Songo’o 72’); 16 John O’Sullivan; 20 Adam Phillips (Y); 21 Ryan Cooney; 22 Liam Gibson (2 Kelvin Mellor 66’).
Subs not used: 12 Mark Halstead; 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith; 19 Liam McAlinden; 23 Freddie Price.
Ref: Charles Breakspear.
