Page 17 - All at Sea Fanzine Issue 68

February 2018
17
RIGHT now I am sitting in a beach shack in Goa with my daughter dozing beside me, avoiding the
midday sun. Like every Southend fan I am absolutely buzzing after yesterday’s last minute winner against Scunny under the return of Sir Chrissy Powell. I have taken the liberty or writing match reports for four matches in recent weeks, one of which was postponed, and one of which I wasn’t even at. Please indulge me. Scunny (A) – This was my rst match of the season and one of three I planned to go to during our break from India. Many people questioned my sanity in going – we have never won at Glanford Park.
The main reason was because an old school mate Rich based in Northampton could give me a lift door to door from Leamington, my base in the UK. So no travel expenses. I only paid the exorbitant 26 quid to get in a couple of quid for a cuppa.
As for the match, well of course we lost. Scunthorpe looked hungrier , sharper and faster than us, although we did take the lead against the run of play when Jason Demetriou’s long shot took a big de ection and wrongfooted their keeper.
The lead lasted barely ve minutes as Mark Oxley, who had already made several ne saves and picked up an injury, could not keep out Kevin van Veen’s header. Ox was replaced in the second half by Nathan Bishop who made his debut.
In the second half we actually looked quite good in parts and were taking the game to Scunthorpe, but too often got caught on the break. Their second goal game from a quickly taken corner when everyone turned o , and Michael Turner then shanked in to his own net to seal the Iron’s win.
Functional stadium (does the job and not sure why they need to move), soulless out of town retail park location, Southend lose as per usual. Brown blaming everyone but himself. Same old same old.
Fleetwood (H) – This was my son’s rst game and I really wanted it to be a good one. Sadly for him Phil Brown was still in charge so the prospect was unlikely, but the one positive is that this game was the one that broke the camel’s back and led to Phil’s demise.
I was so proud of Charlie (almost four- years-old) as we entered the club shop, he saw everyone in their clobber and insisted on stripping down to his SUFC t-shirt so he too could be wearing the badge with pride. My suggestion he might be a bit cold on this freezing cold January day when we went to the ground fell on deaf ears, so I bought him an SUFC coat which he eagerly put on. Then a quick chat to Jai selling the zines and onto the ground.
I’d promised Charlie chips but we hadn’t had time to get to the Fish House, but extraordinarily the club does not sell them. I bought a cardboard burger instead and after the rst bite remembered why I hadn’t bought food in the ground in around 20 years.
Then we met up with AAS contributor James Welham, his wife Jen and his kids John and Beth, and we were all set up in the South Upper for a riproaring game. Or not. It was kid-a-quid which is normally a pre-requisite for a terrible display to put o a whole new generation of fans. And of course it was under Phil B who seemed to have run out of ideas.
What followed was 80 minutes of dross before a nal ten minutes of urgency when we nally started trying, after going two down. At this point I started reading him some stories as the atmosphere in the ground was funereal. It was an appalling performance, although the AAS boys told me it wasn’t the worst they’d seen this season. Anton Ferdinand gifted Fleetwood the rst with a terrible cross eld pass and looked a broken man when he was substituted. Charlie however was enjoying it and started quite a few chants, particularly after Michael Kightly got a de ected consolation – “Sea, Sea, Seasiders” and “Oh Nigel Mustapha” (legendary loanee from WImborne Town in the early 1990s) were two of his favourites.
unhappy homecoming