We got the new season off to a flyer win a 2-1 Essex derby win at ten-man Southend United. Sean Thornton and Adam Boyd were on target for the east Londoners after Mark Gower had put the Shrimpers ahead, but the game turned on Alan McCormack’s second-half sending-off. Orient, however, should have taken a third-minute lead, but Daryl Flahavan pulled off an unbelievable point blank save to deny John Melligan after the Shrimpers had failed to clear Thornton’s free-kick.
Southend then took charge and former Orient man Jamal Campbell-Ryce fed McCormack, who then crossed for Gower to hit a smart finish past Stuart Nelson. Campbell-Ryce was unlucky not increase United’s lead, only for Nelson to palm away a long-range curling effort, but Orient soon levelled when Flahavan could only help Thornton’s powerful inswinging free-kick home via the woodwork.
The second-half was a scrappy affair, but the game turned on 65 minutes when McCormack saw red after a poor challenge on the influential Thornton. The O’s – with only one defeat in their previous nine visits to Roots Hall – went ahead when substitute Efe Echanomi’s mishit shot fell kindly for the prolific Boyd to ram home with four minutes left. Southend rarely threatened, but Campbell-Ryce should have done better with a late close-range effort.
