Another Fine Day out at the Seaside

Southend United (1) 1 Leyton Orient (1) 2

Nelson; Purches (Capt), Mkandawire, Saah, Palmer; JJ Melligan (sub Demetriou 75), Chambers, Thornton, Corden (sub Daniels 66); Gray (sub Echanomi 83), Boyd.

Cliches abound. Feet on the Ground. Early season form doesn’t count for much (Remember the three straight wins and top of the table by end-August?). Always do well at Rots Hall (so…..?). Always tougher on a relegated side. Shrimpers played 40 minutes with only ten men. The Cobra’s guarded pre-season optimism had been laced with a large slug of hope, that most over-looked of all the three great virtues, but ninety minutes of the real thing suggests that it may have been rather more firmly founded as all and more of those early impressions were confirmed: a top-class replacement for Garner in goal --- two or three moments of defensive uncertainty aside; a major acquisition in Mkandawire, quietly competent and quietly confident and rarely, if ever, outwitted. Mellligan’s best performance by far to date; a moment of brilliance from Adam Boyd to seal the win. But over and above all these good things towered Sean Thornton. An immense presence, he seemed to be always and everywhere. Strong, and with great anticipation, he scored the goal that turned the game and left an indelible mark on the day’s proceedings and, let us hope, the rest of the season. It speaks volumes for his performance that he made the effervescent Chambers seem almost anonymous!

The bare facts are few and simple. After an even first quarter, Shrimpers took the lead mid-first-half following a rare lapse of concentration in the visitors’ defence. United then looked to be getting the upper hand but Thornton equalised with a stunning (and curling) free-kick from distance which found the top right-hand corner and ricocheted in off the inside of the post. Already a marked man, in every sense of the word, Sean was floored a minute later by one of the Shrimpers’ three ex-O’s, Alan McCormack, who earned a yellow card for his pains. The interval score (1-1) was a fair reflection. Ten minutes into the second half, Sean Thornton was yet again poleaxed by McCormack who was promptly awarded a second yellow card and dismissed the park. Unusually, Orient made good use of the extra man and slowly gained the upper hand, though never quite fully so. It was hugely to Thornton’s credit that he never rose to the bait and, while giving as good as he got, did not come remotely near winning a caution at any stage. Martin Ling made a number of well-judged and timely substitutions, one of which, Efe Echanomi, eventually provided the telling cross which Adam Boyd appeared from nowhere to convert. Five minutes left (plus five minutes added time!). Perfect timing. Perfect start to the season!

And the detail? Team not quite as expected. Thelwell’s injury gave Saah and Tam Makka the start at centre-back. Aidan Palmer got the nod over new -- and largely untested -- Charlie Daniels and played the game of his life to validate his selection. Slightly surprised to see two wide men starting away from home, to the exclusion of Paul Terry who remained on the bench throughout.

Shrimpers kicked off, Stuart Nelson defending the goal in front of the massed ranks of ever-canting Fantasticos. Early nervousness sees Tam Makka slip up and captain Purches concedes a corner from which Orient take a goal-kick. To the other end, a big cross and Boyd is up for it but the ball is cleared and United come again. Offside is flagged and Nelson takes the free-kick. Boyd and Thornton go up together. Tam is fouled and Wayne Corden makes to take the free-kick on the left, only to leave for Sean Thornton who aims, with some accuracy, for the far post where JJ Melligan gets in a low drive which is deflected for a corner. Thornton takes. Flavahan rises to hold and clear. Hooper, the self-same nippy Hooper, breaks free. Thornton tackles and Purches clears for a throw to Orient on the right. Purches takes. Wins another throw, now on the halfway line. O’s progress and a third throw-in, now just four yards adrift of the corner flag. Purches to Thornton and JJ but Shrimpers clear for another throw. United break and Tam boots the ball out of the ground. Purches wins the ball from the throw, on to Melligan and back to Nelson who clears. Southend re-charge. Purches and Thornton clear. Shrimpers again. Peter Clarke, tall and aggressive, clips Sean Thornton on the way through, the first of many attempts to unsettle this clearly reputational player. Five minutes in.

Throw to O’s on the halfway line. To Thornton and on to Gray but cleared. Purches plays back to Nelson who hoofs clear. Thornton gathers and finds Tam; back to Sean and out to Purches who gives long. Melligan is floored and the ball cleared. Purches gives long again. Now Boyd is brought down and O’s win a throw four yards from the corner-flag. Purches throws long, bringing Justin Miller to mind. Gilbert breaks and feeds Jamal Campbell-Ryce whose dangerous cross is headed clear. An infringement wins Orient a free-kick. Boyd short to Thornton, to Saah, to Thornton again and Chambers who gives the ball away. Corden and Thornton intervene and Southend win a throw. Now a corner on the left but Nelson holds the cross well. He finds Boyd in the clear who feeds Thornton and he wide to Melligan. A cross to the far post but Flavahan holds. United on the break. Melligan intercepts. Ten minutes gone.

Southend again. Tam is up and away with the ball. Thornton to Chambers who is upended. Matt Harrold is shown a yellow card. Purches’ free-kick to the far post is headed clear and O’s win a throw. Purches to Corden to Melligan and Purches again. To Tam but lost and Southend break fast, winning a corner on the right, the first of several from Maher which would attract verbal abuse from the massed ranks of Fantasticos. Goal-kick Orient. Southend return and Tam clears to Purches who gives long. Thornton tries to find Chambers but Southend intercept and attack again with a dangerous shot from the edge of the box which is deflected for a corner, again taken by Maher on the right. Tam gets up with his head and Thornton clears to Melligan who punts long. Southend return long and Saah heads off for a throw which Tam clears for another throw. A shot which Saah clears only for Southend to come again on the right. The ball is delivered crossfield and another shot from the left forces Nelson to palm round the post for a corner on the right. Maher again. Tam up again. Corner, now on the left. Again the ubiquitous Maher. The corner is re-taken (ball not in the “D”) and a weak shot is fashioned from close range which passes for a goal-kick. Gray gathers and finds Thornton who is fouled. Free-kick O’s which Thornton takes and finds Corden. Gray goes up for his cross and Melligan gets in a shot which is cleared, Shrimpers breaking speedily down the right. Gower and Campbell-Ryce are alternating on the wings, sometimes both together and, from the Cobra’s lair, it is not always easy to discern which of the two is on the ball. The cross, from McCormack, as it transpires, is met by Gower low down at the far post and, while Nelson gets a hand to the angled shot, he seems only to help the ball into the net. 0 – 1. Worst fears. Mountain to climb. 24 minutes gone.

From the re-start, Thornton is floored again. Free-kick Orient in mid-half. Thornton takes and aims for the far post. Half-cleared. Cries for handball ring round the ground. Referee Knight, once of the Premier League until injury laid him low, ignores the pleas. With over an hour left, he won’t be giving any penalties, especially against the home side, just yet. Southend come away and, yet again, that crossfield ball, real class when given accurately (as we saw from Tottenham just ten days hence). Purches saves the day and concedes a corner which Maher again takes. The tall Barrett outjumps Tam Makk but the ball goes off for a goal-kick. Another infringement, yet another free-kick to the O’s which Sean Thornton takes on the left. It is cleared and Purches lobs back but Flavahan holds. Now with Melligan on the right. A cross-cum-shot is put out for a corner which JJ takes with Thornton in attendance. The ball is laid off to Purches whose looping cross is headed off the line and cleared! Melligan again, but now on the left. To Thornton and O’s win a free-kick for yet another foul, now on Saah. The kick is cleared and Shrimpers break clear. A long cross from the right passes harmlessly for a goal-kick. Half an hour gone.

Another free-kick for Orient, now in the centre-circle. Purches takes. Gray goes up, Melligan crosses. Goal-kick Southend. Shrimpers attack. Palmer clears well and Gray goes down, apparently floored. Free-kick Southend!! Chagrin! Consternation! The kick is passed back to Flavahan who gives long and Purches returns long. Chambers is brought down and Orient regain advantage. Melligan crosses and Gray’s header is saved on the line. Now Shrimpers break fast but a goal-kick soon ensues. Shrimpers regain and Saah is penalised. A dangerous free-kick passes wide of the left-hand

post (to Nelson’s right).The home side are really in the ascendant now. They recover the goal-kick and mount another attack, a threatening cross from the right being negated only by the raising of an offside flag. The free-kick finds Thornton on the edge of the box. He is brought down and O’s have a free-kick, central and twenty to twenty-five yards out. Thornton takes, without much fuss, and, perfectly sited behind Nelson’s goal, we see the aerodynamics for ourselves as the curling ball finds the top right-hand corner of the goal, ricocheting back into the roof of the net from off the inside of the right-hand goalpost. One-all and half-time tea will be taken with all to play for. But there is drama yet.

Seven minutes left and Thornton is brought down yet again, this time by McCormack who is shown the yellow card. Shrimpers attack again. Thornton gives away a throw-in. Palmer clears. Shrimps again. Palmer again, now off for a throw, five yards from our corner-flag. A cross, which Saah manages to clear, though only just. Chambers, Melligan, Boyd, Purches, a Chambers cross and a Boyd header. Goal-kick Southend. Thornton now penalised and United have a free-kick on the halfway line. A cross ensues which Thornton clears. They come again but Chambers contrives a goal-kick. Shrimpers again. Palmer clears to Boyd but Southend recover and pass back to Flavahan who kicks long. Orient are caught out. Hooper breaks fast down the middle. Nelson comes out to the edge of the box, perfect in both timing and judgement, buying just enough time for Tam to recover and assist with a magnificent interception and clearance as the danger is snuffed out. But the Shrimpers return, now down the left and a cross to the far post is held by Nelson. Two minutes “injury” time are added and the half ends with another shot from the home side sailing way over the bar.

Orient kick-off the second half and both ‘keepers are soon in action. Melligan wins a throw down the right. Purches takes. Throw Southend. Saah clears. Mounting pressure from Orient. Shrimpers clear, cross to the far post and win a corner which is partially cleared. A shot is returned and Nelson goes down to save, giving long. JJ gathers and puts in a low drive which Flavahan saves. Orient again. Corden to Gray. A cross and Flavahan saves again. From the clearance Tam is penalised and Southend have a free-kick. It is wasted and O’s have a throw. Purches takes and the clearance finds Boyd who is offside. Free-kick United. Tam and Thornton clear long. Boyd does well to hold but is dispossessed and the ball passes back to Flavahan who gives long. Free-kick Orient for handball which Purches takes long. Flavahan rises to fist the ball away and Chambers’ return ball is blocked. Five minutes in.

Now Gray nods on to Boyd, to Melligan and Thornton who is dispossessed. A long ball is returned long by Nelson. He finds Gray who moves on to Boyd and again to Thornton. A rasping shot from thirty yards flies narrowly over the crossbar. Another free-kick for an elbow on Thornton and O’s break down the right. Melligan, Gray, Thornton who is again floored by…. wait…. yes, McCormack. Referee Barry Knight takes a while, perhaps to assess the situation and re-inforce his own confidence, but a yellow card is shown, swiftly followed by the inevitable red. Ever more predictable, football’s magic is frequently preserved by the unpredictable and nowhere more so than with the Orient. How many times have seemingly endless goal droughts been suddenly brought to an end by Matt Lockwood’s left foot. Or a seemingly hopeless lost cause rescued by a totally unexpected penalty award. And so at Roots Hall where an apparently mammoth task to defend a draw against relegated “giants” is suddenly transformed by the totally unexpected “gift” of an “extra” man. Very few Orient teams have ever known how to handle this situation and, if today they played a good deal more intelligently than hitherto, then perhaps some of that was due to Southend’s own loss of self-belief. For, to be sure, they were pitting every sinew to try to stay on top of this game which they had been expected to win easily and, in a trice, a key player was taken from them. Not that they gave up. Far from it. But it was as if the Cincinatti Kid had called for a new deck. The rules had changed. The fickle finger of fate had perceptibly tilted the balance.

Thornton takes the free-kick, twenty-five yards out and central. It curls and hits the left-hand stanchion just in front of the gasping F.O’s. From the goal-kick, Orient return via Palmer and Boyd, Saah and Tam and Chambers who gives long. Throw-in Southend, ten yards from the corner-flag. In a strategic re-shuffle, Hooper is taken off and Nicky Bailey brought on. End-to-end play ensues, long clearances prevailing. Wayne Corden is penalised for an “innocent” foul and receives a yellow card, a ploy perhaps to redress the balance in the eyes of the homesters, though you’d have to lay good money on Wayne, of all people, not getting to five cards this year. Fifteen minutes gone.

More long end-to-end stuff and a Southend shot from the edge of the box which Nelson goes down to save. He gives long to Wayne Gray on the left. Into the middle and onto Adam Boyd, central, who produces an exquisite flick, straight, almost, from the book of King Kenny, to put Gray through. If Boyd had done nothing else that day, it would have been worth the entrance fee, simply to have seen that flick. Gray is dispossessed and a corner gained. The cross finds Gray but his weak shot is harmless. Southend clear and Tam passes back to Nelson. Saah to Palmer. Melligan, Purches, Boyd, Melligan -- flowing, possession football, just what is needed, and O’s have a throw, ten yards from the corner-flag. Twenty minutes gone and Daniels replaces Corden. Purches throws to Thornton who returns. Purches crosses and the homesters clear for a corner by Thornton which is partially cleared only for Chambers to return an on-target shot which is sadly deflected by Boyd for a goal-kick. Orient come again and Chambers feeds Gray who finds Boyd, his shot now blocked by Flavahan. Now Gray to Boyd to Daniels to Thornton but cleared and Southend counter-attack. A cross from the dangerous right again but Nelson holds. Now Melligan to Boyd, Thornton, Palmer, Thornton again and on to Melligan who lets go a thunderous shot from all of twenty-five yards which is deflected for a corner. A serious injury ensues (?Maher) and the game is held up for a couple of minutes. Thornton eventually takes the corner but Southend win a goal-kick. Daniels recovers, to Palmer and Thornton, back to Purches, Melligan, Thornton, Chambers, Gray and back to Chambers. A cross which Flavahan clears. Another cross from Purches which Gray heads on. Boyd is offside and Shrimpers have a free-kick. It is long and Nelson clears long. Boyd is up for it and finds Melligan. Back to Saah on to Palmer and long towards Thornton. The defence hoof the ball onto the roof of the stand and O’s have a throw, fifteen yards in from the flag. Palmer and Daniels get in a muddle and a goal-kick ensues, whereupon Martin Ling brings Jason Demetriou on for Melligan who leaves to rapturous applause. Demetriou will play his usual accomplished and mature game but one which is now becoming tinged with a little carelessness, especially in distribution. But it will not cost us today. Half an hour gone and Flavahan with the goal-kick.

Now Boyd is fouled and Saah has the free-kick on the halfway line. A cross which Flavahan clears. Thornton and Nelson get in a muddle and a chance shot wins a corner. Nelson fists clear and Southend have a throw which is intercepted. Ball back to Nelson who gives long. It is returned and now Palmer clears long. Flavahan, under pressure, welts the ball into the stand. Purches throws to Saah. Return ball and on to Chambers and Boyd who is fouled but without recompense and the ball is cleared. Thornton concedes a free-kick on the halfway line. Palmer intercepts and finds Daniels but Shrimpers come again. Orient clear and set up another fine move. Purches to Tam to Saah to Palmer. On to Chambers and he to Gray. Back to Purches and out to Demetriou who crosses for Flavahan to hold. Southend attack down the right and Palmer clears well under pressure finding Daniels who moves on to Boyd, to Chambers and Purches. They inter-pass again and give wide to Demetriou. He finds Thornton who loses the ball. Ten minutes left and a draw looking ever-more likely. Shrimpers again and a shot which Demetriou saves with a last-ditch clearance. Daniels crosses and Boyd is taken down in the box but without response from referee Knight. Now Gray attacks down the right and crosses. The ball is cleared, returned and Thornton wins a corner which he himself takes. Shrimpers clear and Saah is penalised. Martin Ling brings Efe Echanomi on for Wayne Gray. Tilson takes Gower off and replaces him with Tommy Black. Five minutes left and Saah recovers the ball, finds Demetriou who feeds Efe down the right flank. He holds, takes on his man and crosses. Shrimpers seem to have the ball covered at the far post but, in a trice, Adam Boyd appears, as from nowhere, to slot the ball home for a rapturous winner. The coiled spring, awaiting his moment for 85 minutes, Boyd brought back memories of Super Carl with this opportunistic effort. 2 – 1 and feeling justly rewarded!!

The game resumes. Nelson clears long and Southend clear for a throw in mid-half which Palmer takes and gives to Boyd who gives the ball away. Southend long and Nelson clears. United again. A cross which Palmer heads clear. Matt Harrold is taken off and replaced by Charlie MacDonald. Southend win a free-kick, twenty yards out and in line with Nelson’s left-hand post. Tam heads clear. Shrimpers return. Tam heads away again for a throw which Palmer clears for Efe who breaks away and crosses but only for a goal-kick. 90 minutes. Five more are added, probably rightly so.

Thornton to Demetriou who gives long to Boyd. Southend clear and break down the right. Looks offside. No flag raised. Ball crossed. Nelson holds and kicks long, Barrett heading off for an Orient throw. Purches to Boyd and another throw. We win a corner but a goal-kick is awarded! Thornton gathers and passes back to Nelson who kicks long for Efe. Daniels, Chambers, Efe again. Blocked. Thornton recovers. To Purches and Demetriou who is hacked down. Free-kick Orient. Nothing comes of it and those last two minutes seem an eternity. But the whistle goes. Joy unconfined and Thornton is hailed by the exuberant fans, milking the applause to the ire of Shrimper players and fans alike.

So, a great and unexpected triumph. Feet on the ground to be sure. But the players are talking keenly of the next 45 games and we can but hope that they will remain up for it. Certainly the buzz seemed to be there, that indefinable spirit which we last saw in May of 2006. An amusing distraction at Super Hoops follows and then we must see if the formula can be repeated in front of the home crowd. A good note on which to finish. The away support was simply amazing and players have already commented on this. It is vital that it is repeated at Brisbane Road.

COBRA