millwallrules

keep it up mate,you having mixed results at the moment but hope you can keep em going

Dire Wrangle

November 2, 2004

Southend United vs. Swindon Town
LDV Vans Trophy, Second Round – Roots Hall, Southend-on-Sea

November began with the LDV Trophy, against a Swindon side challenging in the top half of the division above. The difference in class was apparent from the off and Swindon were unlucky to have to wait before they took the lead.

They did so after half an hour when Sam Parkin put them in front with a superb strike, and edged further in front when the ex-Chelsea man scored again just before the break. By now we were losing all hope in this match, and Parkin killed us off midway through the second half when he wrapped up his hat-trick.

Ten minutes from time Matthew Wicks gave a penalty for a push on the hat-trick hero, and the resulting reactions from Prior and Gower saw us down to nine men. Christian Roberts scored the following penalty to finish off a sorry performance from my lads. Still, we earned £4,000 out of it.

Southend United 0 Swindon Town 4 (Parkin 30, 45, 64, Roberts pen 81)
Attendance: 2,241
Man of the Match: Sam Parkin (Swindon)


November 6, 2004

Yeovil Town vs. Southend United
League Two, Match 14 – Huish Park, Yeovil

Following the horrible defeat in midweek we badly needed a good result here to restore the confidence through the squad. Early in the match that looked rather unlikely with Yeovil created chance after chance and Flahavan somehow keeping them at bay.

Fortunately we soon came alive and by half time we were ahead thanks to a Petrescu effort shortly before half time. That joy wouldn’t last long though as Kevin Gall pulled the hosts level a short while into the second half. Barely creating any chances, we were lucky to survive the second half, but a point is a point.

Yeovil Town 1 (Gall 55) Southend United 1 (Petrescu 39)
Attendance: 4,668
Man of the Match: Ryan Ashington (Southend)


November 10, 2004

Southend United vs. Chester City
League Two, Match 15 – Roots Hall, Southend-on-Sea

A very poor and very dull match, settled by two of few chances. Nothing to see here.

Southend United 0 Chester City 2 (Stallard 7, 79)
Attendance: 3,116
Man of the Match: Sean Hessey (Chester)


November 13, 2004

Oxford United vs. Southend United
FA Cup, First Round – The Kassam Stadium, Oxford

The League Two favourites tore us apart somewhat a couple of months back in the league, completely out-performing my bunch in every area of the pitch. Given the performances in the first half, it was very unbelievable that we weren’t a similar distance behind our opponents and heading out of the FA Cup before we’d started our campaign.

By half time Oxford had troubled our defence and had some form of effort on goal on ten occasions – we’d troubled them once. Darryl between our sticks was by far the best player on the pitch in keeping the score 0-0 after 45 minutes.

They eventually took a deserved lead when David Woozley headed in a Hutchison corner, and doubled it soon after when Paul Wanless struck from the edge of the area. Freddy Eastwood pulled one back late on but it would be too little and too late, and bang went the Cup dream. Still, 30-odd games left to take something from our league season.

Oxford United 2 (Woozley 59, Wanless 64) Southend United 1 (Eastwood 90)
Attendance: 11,400
Man of the Match: Andy Hessenthaler (Oxford)

Dire Wrangle

November 2004

November continued with the visit of Bristol Rovers. A dull match saw little happen up front as the battling defenders won the day. A 0-0 draw followed.

Fellow strugglers Cambridge followed, and saw Freddy Eastwood put us in front after just 43 seconds of play. The run of play in the first half made this scoreline look unlikely to be added to by either team, but Guttridge managed to find an equaliser near to half time. Michael Jeffrey notched up his first goal in a Southend shirt towards the end to secure a pleasing three points.

The month finished at Gay Meadow, home of 3rd placed Shrewsbury. Having gone ahead inside a minute a few days ago we were treated to similar embarrassment here as Ryan Lowe put the hosts ahead before I’d settled in my dugout seat. Fortunately by half time we’d surged into an impressive lead over the promotion-chasers, thanks to Mark Gower and Freddy Eastwood. Eastwood added another towards the end to – so I though – put this one to bed, but two late efforts secured an unlikely point for the home side. Losing Stevie Searle to a red card a few seconds short of the final whistle rubbed salt into the wound.


November 2004 Results

Southend United 0 Bristol Rovers 0
Southend United 2 (Eastwood 1, Jeffrey 75) Cambridge United 1 (Guttridge 38)
Shrewsbury Town 3 (Lowe 1, 90, Grant 87) Southend United 3 (Gower 15, Eastwood 36, 77)

With 18 matches of 46 now played, we lie in 17th place with 19 points so far. Doesn’t sound too good but it’s only 9 points from the top seven. Mind you, it’s also 9 from the Conference trapdoor…

Dire Wrangle

December 2004

December began on a good note with the return of Dean Stevens from his lengthy injury absence. He made his return in coming off the bench during the goalless draw with Rochdale.

The next two matches were both against fellow mid-table opponents, firstly another 0-0 draw against Mansfield, but a superb victory followed with the visit of Northampton. The visitors took the lead early through Scott McGleish, but we soon equalised in bizarre fashion when Lee Harper fumbled Gower’s corner into his own net. Eastwood then scored 3 in the second half to secure the win, and Stevens added another late on before Eastwood managed yet another moments from time.

Boxing Day saw a visit to struggling Scunthorpe, lying just a place above the drop zone. Their 4-2-4 formation allowed them to have most of the attack early on, but soon our midfield dominated the opponents by outnumbering, and it was no shock when Jeffrey put us ahead close to half time. The match continued to be closely fought, but a second from Jeffrey wrapped up the match with about 15 minutes to spare.

2004 finished two days later, with the visit of promotion-contenders Boston United to Roots Hall. We were looking for a third win on the bounce, and to extend the unbeaten run to eight games. Boston played best through the first half, troubling Flahavan on several occasions. Their failure to take the chances cost them dearly, though, and a quickfire brace from Eastwood looked to have killed off their hopes here. Boston responded well though and scored two quick goals late on to draw level and take a point from what looked like defeat.

December 2004 Results

Southend United 0 Rochdale 0
Mansfield Town 0 Southend United 0
Southend United 6 (Harper og 27, Eastwood 48, 66, 78, 90, Stevens 85) Northampton Town (McGleish 15)
Scunthorpe United 0 Southend United 2 (Jeffrey 42, 77)
Southend United 2 (Eastwood 54, 56) Boston United 2 (Kirk 78, Beevers 79)

Nine points from the possible fifteen saw December become a good month, and with 8 games unbeaten behind us the New Year looked like holding some exciting prospects. At the half way point of the season we sat in 16th place, and on current form looking like generating a possible challenge on the playoffs before too long.

Dire Wrangle

January 2005

2005 began as well as 2004 left us, with a New Years Day victory over Lincoln at Roots Hall. The visitors had begun in better fashion creating most of the early chances but we soon found a good rhythm and fully deserved the 2-0 win brought by second half goals from Paul McGregor and Mark Bentley. The good form continued to take the unbeaten run into double figures, with Darlington comprehensively beaten for the second time this season. Jay Smith scored early in a rare appearance, and goals from Bentley and Eastwood wrapped up a superb win to lift us to 12th in the League.

Ten was enough, though, when second placed Cheltenham came to visit. The scoreline flattered the visitors somewhat, but we simply weren’t good enough to improve it at all. Despite the 2-0 loss thanks to Damian Spencer and Steve Guinan, we remained healthily positioned in the league with still 60 points up for grabs – any run similar to the one just ended would surely send us flying towards that top seven.

Unfortunately some such run wasn’t about to begin at Gigg Lane against struggling Bury. While we were moving upwards until last weekend, they were being dragged into a dogfight near the bottom. They revived their hopes somewhat though with first half strikes from David Flitcroft & Paul Kitson. Dean Stevens scored midway through the second for us but we couldn’t find the equaliser as we rained chances down on Marriott’s goal late on.

Oxford were next in line, and having lost rather painfully to them this season – twice – I was rather worried. Nevertheless there was room to experiment as 18-year-old Michael Kightly, who’s been in superb recent form at reserve level, was handed his first appearance of the season. Oxford were the better side anyway, and it was no real shock when they took a first half lead after Barry Quinn’s excellent effort. Seeing as though we began the second half as the better team, it was a bit more of a shock to see Tommy Mooney double the advantage after an hour. We pulled one back soon after with a penalty from Phil Babb, which also saw David Woozley jumping in the showers half hour before his team mates, but blew the golden chance to earn a point when Babb fired a second spot-kick straight into the grateful arms of Steve Simonsen a minute from time. The slight stumble after the 2 months of good form was now worryingly developing into a full on collapse.

I was hopeful of improvement against Kidderminster, who lie seven points adrift of safety and have been rooted to the bottom of League Two for a month or so now. Simon Parke made a rare start in place of the tired Freddy Eastwood, but otherwise the first team was unchanged. Blair Sturrock fired the bottom club ahead early on, and it looked like the 10-game unbeaten run was a fading memory now. Fortunately Gower equalised before too long as we finally began turning possession into chances, but we couldn’t find a further way past the impressive Rob Poulter in the hosts’ goal. With half an hour left Petrescu and Eastwood came off the bench and caused plenty of problems in and around the Kidderminster area, and Freddy did well for the winner towards the end.

A busy January held one more match yet, with the visit to Roots Hall of promotion-chasing Swansea, currently sitting pretty in 3rd place. We started well, almost taking a speedy lead when Dudfield hit the bar after just 46 seconds, and keeper Lee Jones was in sensational form to stop us going ahead during the first half. Almost inevitably we had to concede a silly goal and go behind against the run of play. Garry Monk gladly obliged and scored said silly goal. It proved enough to secure all the points for the visitors.

January 2005 Results

Southend United 2 (McGregor 74, Bentley 90) Lincoln City 0
Darlington 0 Southend United 3 (Smith 2, Eastwood 34, Bentley 57)
Southend United 0 Cheltenham Town 2 (Spencer 22, Guinan 47)
Bury 2 (Flitcroft 33, Kitson 39) Southend United 1 (Stevens 67)
Southend United 1 (Babb pen 63) Oxford United 2 (Quinn 23, Mooney 59)
Kidderminster Harriers 1 (Sturrock 5) Southend United 2 (Gower 18, Eastwood 77)
Southend United 0 Swansea City 1 (Monk 68)

Not a great month, with three wins and four losses offering up inconsistency by the bucketful there. We slipped to 15th but on the good side the top seven remained only eight points away from us – just showing how much difference those few losses made. Automatic promotion was now a bit of a distant dream, with the top four all level on 57 points, 20 ahead of us.

Dire Wrangle

February 2005

February began on a good note with Mark Bentley becoming the first Shrimper recognised in the monthly awards. The midfielder picked up League Two Player of the Month for January after some excellent performances of late.

Five games in 22 days were ahead in another busy month as the season heads towards the business end, beginning with a visit to Brisbane Road to take on Leyton Orient. Orient had plenty to play for, hanging just outside the playoffs in 9th place. On the other hand, we were just seven points behind them – and needed to move quickly if we were going to flirt with the top seven come May. Orient played with more purpose during the opening 45 minutes, and deserved the 1-0 lead they held at the break. In the second half they scored within moments of the kick off, and it looked like game over here. It wasn’t quite, as a brilliant effort from Jeffrey brought us back into the match. We were unlucky not to draw level through two good attempts by Eastwood, and paid full price when an own goal wrapped it up for the home side.

Back at Roots Hall a week later, Notts County were the next visitors. Bobby Gould’s side were in 20th place going into the match, although just four points behind us. They took an early lead from the penalty spot courtesy of David Pipe. Flahavan had fouled Glynn Hurst to concede said spot kick. A better performance than the visitors warranted at least a point, eventually rescued near the end by Jeffrey – or so I thought. His close range effort was ruled offside. So was another from Simon Parke in the third minute of added time. A 2-1 win became a 0-1 loss thanks to a flag-happy linesman, and it was becoming hard to see where the points that might create a playoff challenge would come from.

A few days on it was the long trip north to struggling Macclesfield, and they showed us who the strugglers were by going ahead inside 10 minutes courtesy of Matt Tipton. Bradley Orr doubled the lead shortly after and this was quickly becoming an embarrassment of a match. Some life was restored quickly enough though when an inch perfect cross from Gower found the head of Eastwood. Freddy proceded to find the back of the net. By half time it was a sorry sight again though as Mike Sheron put the home side two goals ahead once more. Little action in the second half saw the scoreline remain exactly that at the final whistle.

Before our next match a small handful of summer signings under the Bosman Ruling were signed and sealed. Mario, 24, a left-sided midfielder from Girona was first to confirm his move to Roots Hall, followed by 33-year-old defensive midfielder Marco Haber, capped twice by Germany, from Anorthosi, and Slovenian veteran Mladen Rudonja from the same club. El Salvador striker Elias Vladimir Montes, 31, awaits a work permit decision after accepting a deal.

The next match up was a journey to Rushden, and with any small hopes of making the play-offs just about dead, we were playing only for the few points we needed to mathematically confirm we’ll stay in League Two for next season. A bad start allowed the hosts to go in front, but Mark Gower scored a well deserved goal after being a gem in the rough of this team recently. Just before half time Lee Worgan brought down Eastwood, and Jupp confidently netted the penalty that followed to put us ahead for what felt like the first time ever. The all round performance of the eleven men on the field certainly deserved to see us with three points in the bag, and we saw out a few late scares to grab them.

One more game awaited us in February, but more new faces were to sign on the dotted line before then. 24 year old Dani Rodrigues, struggling to break through at Bournemouth, is to join in July, and Georgia legend Giorgi Kinkladze, 32 in June, will also come in – again from Anorthosi – as long as he gets a work permit.

That last match of the month saw us host Grimsby, who similarly to us lie just a bad run of form away from being sucked towards the Conference. Michael Kightly almost had a dream first goal for the club when he rattled the bar from 30-odd yards early on, but it would be Michael Reddy who shoved us closer towards the battle below, putting the visitors ahead after 32 minutes. Reddy added a second to cap off a poor performance and a dull match that failed to produce many chances at either end. Grimsby, though, had the ability to hit a cow’s backside with a banjo, and took full advantage of two of their handful of attempts on Flahavan’s goal.


February 2005 Results

Leyton Orient 3 (Hammond 23, Youngs 46, Flahavan og 89) Southend United 1 (Jeffrey 57)
Southend United 0 Notts County 1 (Pipe 6)
Macclesfield Town 3 (Tipton 10, Orr 18, Sheron 43) Southend United 1 (Eastwood 26)
Rushden and Diamonds 1 (Dove 19) Southend United 2 (Gower 27, Jupp pen 45)
Southend United 0 Grimsby Town 2 (Reddy 32, 73)

With eleven to play, we were pretty much resigned to lower-table anonymity come the end of the season. In 18th, we sat 10 points above the drop zone, and now a rather difficult to catch 16 points shy of the top seven.

Dire Wrangle

March 2005

The rot had to stop quickly if we were to secure our place in this division for a further year – preferably with a little time to spare to save any need for final day heroics. First up in March was Wycombe coming to Roots Hall, where a superb strike from Eastwood gave us the lead midway through the first half. That lead was taken away just before the break though, many thanks to Ansah Owusu who scored from close range for John Gorman’s side. All the points were stolen late on though, and for once by us thanks to a stunning strike from young Kightly.

Tes Bramble left the club shortly after that match, joining York in a £4,000 move. With his contract about three months short of expiring, I suppose £4,000 was better than the free transfer that would’ve come by the end of June.

The trip to Chester was the hopeful location for an early birthday present, 3 days ahead of my 31st. Freddy Eastwood fired home a nice gift early on, and Dean Stevens looked like he had it wrapped up by doubling the advantage ten minutes later. Having hugely dominated in the first half, this one surely wasn’t going to slip from our grasp – especially when Philip Dixon was sent off to reduce the home side to ten just before the break. A superb 35-yard free kick from Ashley Sestanovich put Chester back into contention five minutes from time, but there was only ever one winner here.

Yeovil were the next visitors, and they sat in a similar situation to us. Mid-table looked likely barring a long run of wins or a complete disaster. Once again we were by a long way the better side going forward, and took an overdue lead halfway through the first half by Jeffrey’s long-range strike. By half time it was 2-0 with Eastwood netting for the third match in a row, and getting his 17th in the league this season – more than a third of our total League Two tally. With 19 attempts to their 6, 2-0 flattered Yeovil somewhat but it was another win, and slowly but surely we were sneaking back in the right direction.

It was a journey to the west next as we travelled to 4th placed Bristol Rovers, who were looking for wins to get them into the top 3. They weren’t going to get them here though with us producing probably the best performance of the season. Every single player of the twelve used played superbly – four of them named in the League Two Team of the Week - and it was a performance that really deserved promotion. First half strikes from Stevens and Kightly ended a spell of good attacking football by putting us comfortably ahead at the break, and the second half saw Eastwood take his goal tally up to 20 for the season with a stunning brace and the promotion chasing Rovers were well and truly beaten. The win took us into the top half, but with us 10 points off the top seven with just 21 more points to be taken, it looks like this sudden run of wins has come just slightly too late. At least we’re just a couple of points short of confirming mathematical safety.

With internationals the following week, that was March over with in superb fashion.

March 2005 Results

Southend United 2 (Eastwood 18, Kightly 90) Wycombe Wanderers 1 (Owusu 42)
Chester City 1 (Sestanovich 85) Southend United 2 (Eastwood 13, Stevens 23)
Southend United 2 (Jeffrey 24, Eastwood 45) Yeovil Town 0
Bristol Rovers 0 Southend United 4 (Stevens 27, Kightly 36, Eastwood 76, 90)

Dire Wrangle

April & May 2005

At the tail end of March Phil Babb rejected several moves to sign up for another year at Roots Hall. Lewis Hunt was on his way though, in a deadline day move to Billericay for £7,000. During March, Kinkladze and Montes both received their work permits and will join in the coming months.

After taking maximum points with some style last month, I was proud to accept the award as Manager of the Month for March. Freddy Eastwood, who scored in all four of those wins, was third in the Player of the Month award, and second placed Young Player of the Month.

April began on the pitch at Cambridge, who sat a place and a point above us going into the clash. We were, however, the bookies’ favourite and based on recent form even I could expect a win here. We went behind though, when Flahavan fumbled Guttridge’s shot into his own net, and disappeared out of our good form through further goals from Lockett and Lynch. ‘Disaster’ is just about the best word to describe that.

Southend v Shrewsbury. Waste of time. A man sent off each. Nothing else happened.

Hopefully waking up after the last match, we visited Rochdale. It looked more exciting with Eastwood and Jeffrey both coming close for us, and Paul Tait forcing a couple of good saves out of Flahavan. We were actually the better team in the second half, but this was less than visible in the scoreline. This match also ended our tiny remaining hope of making the top seven. Next year, then.

More disappointment followed against Mansfield, where we again put in a good performance and deserved some points, but finished losers once more, thanks to a late Craig Larkin strike.

The manager of the month curse certainly is getting some belief in Essex at the moment, and the short trip to Northampton did little to improve the freefall, that if it wasn’t for the 100% record through March would have us in serious danger by now. In fairness, the hosts were much the better side and to lose any points would have been a poor showing on their part, but the manner of their win still saw my team slightly humiliated. On-loan West Ham midfielder Gavin Williams scored twice, sandwiching another from Scott Cross, and sailing away went another three points. Williams had more to celebrate, as West Ham – who he made a handful of appearances for before his loan move – moved to within a win of returning to the top flight.

Roots Hall hosted its last match of the season in front of a fairly small crowd of little over 3,000, but those who came to this rather meaningless match were finally treated to a decent performance. A strong start gave us the first half edge here and we took control with a brace from Eastwood. Scunthorpe pulled one back just after the break to claw back into the game, and almost equalised on a couple of occasions. Eastwood finished off the visitors to cap off his excellent first season at Roots Hall with a superb hat-trick.

The curtain came down on our reasonable season at York Street against Boston, who made a bad start in seeing Dean West red-carded to cut them down to ten. Nathan Abbey was having to perform superbly in goal to keep us at bay. Michael Kightly scored shortly before half time to give us the deserved lead, and Eastwood added a second shortly after half time. We lost Jeffrey to a red card, but Kightly was comfortable enough covering the centre of midfield alone, and scored his second of the match towards the end. A superb win finished the season with something of a flourish and also denied poor Boston the title, finishing 2nd to Swansea. Although to put our poor run of form into perspective, Cambridge – who beat us at the start of April while a single point ahead – continued in decent form to finish safely in 7th place. Now that’s a pain in the arse.

April & May 2005 Results
Cambridge United 3 (Flahavan og 22, Lockett 33, Lynch 42) Southend United 0
Southend United 0 Shrewsbury Town 0
Rochdale 2 (Lambert 66, Townson 72) Southend United 0
Southend United 0 Mansfield Town 1 (Larkin 90)
Northampton Town 3 (Williams 48, 90, Cross 80) Southend United 0
Southend United 3 (Eastwood 30, 43, 83) Scunthorpe United 1 (Keogh 49)
Boston United 0 Southend United 3 (Kightly 37, 81, Eastwood 48)

And the final League Two Table:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Swansea | | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 84 | 53 | +31 | 85 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Boston Utd | | 46 | 23 | 15 | 8 | 87 | 44 | +43 | 84 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Oxford | | 46 | 24 | 10 | 12 | 92 | 61 | +31 | 82 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Pl | Cheltenham | | 46 | 21 | 13 | 12 | 72 | 53 | +19 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Pl | Bristol Rovers | | 46 | 22 | 10 | 14 | 66 | 48 | +18 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Pl | Darlington | | 46 | 22 | 9 | 15 | 68 | 54 | +14 | 75 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Pl | Cambridge | | 46 | 17 | 18 | 11 | 66 | 50 | +16 | 69 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Leyton Orient | | 46 | 20 | 6 | 20 | 72 | 78 | -6 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Rushden | | 46 | 15 | 19 | 12 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Northampton | | 46 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 67 | 66 | +1 | 64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Notts Co | | 46 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 62 | 61 | +1 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Chester | | 46 | 18 | 8 | 20 | 61 | 63 | -2 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Mansfield | | 46 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 50 | 52 | -2 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Shrewsbury | | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 56 | 63 | -7 | 60 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Grimsby | | 46 | 17 | 9 | 20 | 60 | 76 | -16 | 60 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Wycombe | | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 66 | 70 | -4 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Southend | | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 53 | 57 | -4 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Yeovil | | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 70 | 81 | -11 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Bury | | 46 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 54 | 65 | -11 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Rochdale | | 46 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 44 | 53 | -9 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Macclesfield | | 46 | 13 | 11 | 22 | 54 | 83 | -29 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Lincoln | | 46 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 48 | 58 | -10 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Scunthorpe | | 46 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 50 | 77 | -27 | 43 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Kidderminster | | 46 | 9 | 11 | 26 | 46 | 86 | -40 | 38 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Dire Wrangle

2004-2005 Winners and Losers

Premier Division
Champions: Chelsea
Runners-up: Arsenal
Relegated: Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers

Championship
Champions: West Ham United
Runners-up: Derby County
Promoted via Playoffs: Wigan Athletic
Relegated: Watford, Millwall and Rotherham United

League One
Champions: Colchester United
Runners-up: Sheffield Wednesday
Promoted via Playoffs: Bradford City
Relegated: Blackpool, Barnsley, Stockport County and Torquay United

League Two
Champions: Swansea City
Runners-up: Boston United
Automatic Promotion: Oxford United
Promoted via Playoffs: Cheltenham Town
Relegated: Scunthorpe United and Kidderminster Harriers

Promoted to League Two from the non-league world for next season will be Carlisle United and Northwich Victoria, and in other news Freddy Eastwood was named in the League Two Select, and also was second highest scorer in the division with his 23 League Two goals. Unsurprisingly, he was also the fans’ player of the season.

FA Cup
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2

League Cup
Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 1

Community Shield
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2

LDV Vans Trophy
Bradford City 2 Swindon Town 1

Champions League
Arsenal 3 Real Madrid 0

UEFA Cup
Middlesbrough 1 Werder Bremen 0

European Super Cup
Porto 0 Valencia 0 (2-3 on pens)

Inter-Continental Cup
Porto 2 Once Caldas 0

Dire Wrangle

Southend United F.C. Squad – 2005-2006

Goalkeepers

Darren BEHCET, 18 – English
Last season: 25 Apps, 19 Conceded, Ave Rat. 7.16 (Loan spells at Boston & Gravesend)
Darren joins after being released by Championship champions West Ham, replacing Shaun Allaway who was released this summer. Darren looks a good all round player and will start the season on the subs bench.

Darryl FLAHAVAN, 27 – English
Last season: 50 Apps, 67 Conceded, Ave Rat. 6.62
A solid if unspectacular season from Darryl last year, and he remains first choice going into 2005-6. He conceded a few but showed his ability in keeping 15 clean sheets. I’m hopeful of improvement with a stronger defence in front of him this term.

Bart GRIEMINK, 33 – Dutch
Last season: 0 Apps
Second choice last term but never required due to Darryl normally being among the best players on the pitch. Slips to third this season with Behcet’s arrival and will be on his way when his contract expires next summer.


Defenders

Phil BABB, 34 – Irish
Last season: 46 Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 7.33
Good season in the centre of defence from the veteran. Age obviously isn’t on his side but if he keeps his fitness up he may just have another year or so in him.

Adam BARRETT, 25 – English
Last season: 0 (1) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.00
Didn’t get much chance to play last year, and this season is unlikely to be much different. Transfer listed.

Lee BRISCOE, 29 – English
Last season: 41 Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.17
Solid enough season, and should hold down his position in the coming one. Roughly at peak age so hopefully a stronger year as we push to go up.

Matt CARBON, 30 – English
Last season: 4 (5) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 5.89
Former West Brom and Derby man is no godsend, but will at least be a decent enough backup to the starting line-up.

Michael CLEGG, 28 – English
Last season: 15 (1) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 6.00
The former Man Utd defender joins after being let go by Oldham. Should be a decent first choice at right back.

Simon DOWNER, 23 – English
Last season: 13 Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 6.92
Didn’t set the world on fire last year but showed some good enough form. Looks good enough in training and with him being 11 years younger than last years’ central defence pairing he should see some more action this year.

Ezomo IRIEKPEN, 23 – English
Last season: 17 (1) Apps, 3 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.33 (At Swansea and on loan at Gravesend)
Years ago he was billed as the next big thing off the West Ham academy production line. Things haven’t quite gone that way but he’s a good defender who gets in with the occasional goal, and he’ll replace either Babb or Prior this season.

Duncan JUPP, 30 – Scottish
Last season: 29 Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 7.21
Played in most of our games last year with reasonable success. He’ll face a tougher task to hold a first team place with the signing of Clegg and the good progress of young Sims.

Nicki NICOLAU, 21 - English
Last season: 9 (1) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.10
Didn’t play much last season, but played reasonably and worked hard enough in training to convince me to extend his contract and give him the chance to continue his progress here.

Spencor PRIOR, 34 – English
Last season: 38 Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 7.16
Formed a good partnership at the back with Babb, but may well be relegated to the bench this season with the arrival of Iriekpen.

Lee SIMS, 20 – English
Last season: 20 Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.25
Consistently good performer on the right of defence when used last term, and will be pushing for a regular place again this season. Has been made available for loan to give him the matches he needs to improve if it’s the case that I can’t.


Midfielders

Ryan ASHINGTON, 22 – English
Last season: 8 (2) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.50
Played well enough and showed potential when used, and I’ll hope for good things ahead for this lad. Like Sims I’ll try to loan him out to guarantee he gets some experience under his belt.

Mark BENTLEY, 27 – English
Last season: 16 (6) Apps, 2 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.00
A good enough season last year. Plenty of competitors for places in midfield so he’ll need to do at least as well when used this season to make much impact in my selection decisions.

Mark GOWER, 26 – English
Last season: 42 Apps, 4 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.02
Excellent season last year and will be first choice out on the right wing again this time.

Marco HABER, 33 – German
Last season: 37 Apps, 2 Goals, Ave Rat. 6.62 (at Anorthesi)
Veteran defensive midfielder should be a useful signing. Likely to be rotated with Maher.

Stephen HUGHES, 28 – English
Last season: 25 (1) Apps, 6 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.35 (Loan spells at Bury and Macclesfield)
The ex Arsenal and Everton midfielder could well be a mighty useful signing. Excellent reliable midfielder a near certainty for the team sheet.

Michael JEFFREY, 33 – English
Last season: 28 (2) Apps, 5 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.23
Good last season but will find himself on the bench with age beginning to get the better of him. Will need to do well to earn an extension on his contract.

Michael KIGHTLY, 19 – English
Last season: 16 Apps, 4 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.31
Excellent last season after being lifted from the reserves. Is a good option to add an attacking element to the midfield alongside Hughes.

Giorgi KINKLADZE, 32 – Georgian
Last season: 33 Apps, 10 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.55 (at Anorthesi)
Legendary in his previous stints in England, he could be the star signing of the summer. Superb on the ball and as can be seen from his stats last season, he gets in the odd goals.

Kevin MAHER, 28 – Irish
Last season: 24 (1) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.16
A good season last year despite spending half of it out to a lengthy injury. Will begin the season rotating between him and Haber and continue to do so unless one of them spectacularly outperforms the other.

MARIO, 25 – Spanish
Last season: 17 Apps, 2 Goals, Ave Rat. 6.94 (at Girona)
Looks a good new face, if nothing superb. Won’t be first choice but certainly has age on his side to make an impression.

Paul McGREGOR, 30 – English
Last Season: 5 (10) Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 6.93
Won’t be troubling Gower for his starting place, but certainly provides adequate backup to him.

Mladen RUDONJA, 34 – Slovenian
Last season: 31 Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 6.71 (at Anorthesi)
Again decent enough, but likely to be a backup in what will probably be his single season stay here.

Stevie SEARLE, 28 – English
Last season: 21 (4) Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.16
Didn’t let us down when required last season, and will continue as a useful backup this season. Certainly in with a chance of regular football if he can prove himself.

Jay SMITH, 23 – English
Last season: 3 Apps, 1 Goal, Ave Rat. 7.33
Never given a chance last year. Looks good though and may be given a crack this season. Another who’s been loan-listed to give him matches if I can’t do so.

Dean STEVENS, 19 – English
Last season: 24 (1) Apps, 4 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.40
Played well on the left last year but facing more competition in the form of Kinkladze this term. At 19 he’s still learning and is also available to anyone who fancies him on a temporary basis.


Attackers

Ramon CALLISTE, 19 – Welsh
Last season: 0 Apps
Released by Man Utd, Roots Hall is a natural stop for any young potential star. Ramon should be handy this season and far beyond.

Freddy EASTWOOD, 21 – English
Last season: 35 (7) Apps, 24 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.40
Star of the season last time round, and will definitely be starting early in the season. With a £300,000 price tag on him, and refusal to extend his contract past his current deal expiring in 2 years, it may be considered he has to be sold on to someone who can afford his desired wage.

James FLOOD, 24 – English
Last season: 2 Apps, 0 Goals, Ave Rat. 7.00
Hardly played last year, unlikely to this year. Transfer listed.

David POOLE, 20 – English
Last season: 0 Apps
Another of Ramon’s Man Utd reserves buddies. He’s still at Old Trafford though and is here on a season-long loan. Looks good though and I wouldn’t half mind making it permanent if he converts his apparent abilty into performances on the pitch.

Dani RODRIGUES, 25 – Portuguese
Last season: 17 (16) Apps, 5 Goals, Ave Rat. 6.42 (At Bournemouth)
Failed to make it at Bournemouth so he came here. Looks reasonable enough and likely to be on the bench as backup.

James VAUGHAN, 17 – English
Last season: 0 Apps
The now-famous Vaughan was released by Everton, and picked up without cost a few weeks ago by myself. Looks another superb young striker to add to the pile.



Pre-Season Friendly Results
Southend United 1 (Eastwood 39) Leeds United Reserves 1 (Morris 66)
Southend United 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Southend United 2 (Iriekpen 31, Vaughan 84) Luton Town 1 (Showunmi 25)


An improved squad and a decent pre-season later, we were handed odds of 33-1 for promotion to League One, predicted to more likely end up in mid table. The expected frontrunners are:

6-4 – Bristol Rovers, Darlington
7-4 – Blackpool, Barnsley, Cambridge United
2-1 – Northampton Town

Like last year, I’ll stick a tenner on myself. This time, maybe I actually will prove the desk jockeys wrong, though. It all begins again against [b]Bury[/b} at the weekend...