Page 35 - All at Sea Fanzine Issue 68

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but they won’t su er the near bankrupting collapse in league position that Coventry City, Portsmouth and Blackpool have fallen foul of recent seasons, if as expected they re-enter the Conference at the end of the season. They won promotion, to the Football League, at the third time of trying in the play-o s. Sound familiar? Furthermore, the misfortunes of Leyton Orient and Dagenham & Redbridge may amuse a Blues fan, but we could seriously be looking at, perhaps, a decade until we play them again in a league game. If Colchester United follow a similar path, it would be a great injustice that Gillingham away might become one of the most anticipated games of the season.
The route to success is never signposted and void of pitfalls. Teams that don’t break the mould and ride the short-term success, like Peterborough and Scunthorpe, get put back in their place as soon as they’ve leapt o it. “We need a bigger and modern ground.”
Dean Court, home of AFC Bournemouth, is arbitrarily smaller and older than Roots Hall. “We don’t have a good enough regular support.” Southend has a bigger arbitrary population than Reading, Preston, Burnley and Burton. “We lose too many fans to west ham.” Proximity to London hasn’t stopped Watford, Southampton or Portsmouth from gaining top ight status in recent years.
We’re now on our fourth permanent manager of the past 14 years, with Phil Brown just falling short his fth anniversary at Roots Hall. A new manager, a new stadium, or even the sudden demise of the abominable Spurs shop in the High Street won’t be a panacea to mediocrity. Wistfully looking back and looking to the future with hope, the bird in the hand that is stodgy League One stability is more worthwhile than the unmapped path of two in the bush.
Jordi Fens
tAop guns are toppled
FTER a late win over Scunthorpe and scraping past Peterborough thanks to an early penalty and
some dogged defending, I have to admit I thought Wigan would prove too stern a test for Chris Powell’s rejuvenated side.
The Latics came into this game having won ten of their 13 away games, having scored more and conceded less than anyone else in the division, and without a defeat in three months. It was going to take something special to rock their boat.
Discussion pre-match was the importance of not letting the visitors settle into a rhythm. In Nick Powell they had a player who attracted bids of £12million on transfer deadline day. Nathan Byrne had torn us apart in the return xture in October, while Will Grigg, well, he’s on re. But football is a chaotic game and with an early goal, who knows?
Well we had one, within three minutes, and it typi ed Southend’s approach for the rest of the match. Dru Yearwood, under
pressure in mid eld, played a clever pass down the line which turned a Latics centre back towards his own goal where he was pressured into conceding a throw. The throw brought a foul right next to the corner ag as Southend showed tenacity in possession.
February 2018