Match Summary:
Southend United (0) 1 Sturrock 90+5
Stockport County (0) 1 Donnelly 83
Venue: Roots Hall, Southend
Attendance: 5,589 (away fans = 372)
Stockport County: fon Williams, Lynch, Swailes (c), Assoumani, Williams (Vincent 81), Poole, Turnbull, Tansey, Conlon (Rowe 81), Donnelly, Griffin
Subs (unused): Partridge, Pilkington, Halls, Fisher, Ormison
Booked: Swailes, Williams, Conlon, Donnelly
Today's match can be summarised as thus: 75 minutes of turgid, early season stuff, followed by 15 minutes of absolute mayhem. The bulk of the first half and second half were pretty uneventful, Southend looked neat, tidy and nippy, but lacked a bit of bite up front (unsurprising given 9 of the starting 11 were debutant's). Stockport on the other hand, looked solid, but just seemed to be lacking that little bit of composure to use what possession they had well (a non-existent midfield didn't really help matters). Stockport gave debuts to new signings Lynch, Assoumani, Williams and Conlon and appeared in their "new 3rd kit" of all white (why?)
Both sides had a few half chances, but a lack of quality meant no-one really had a great opportunity to open the scoring. In fact, the highlight of the first half was an appearance from Southend's rather large physio - and the resultant reception by both sets of fans. Otherwise, it was fairly forgettable stuff in the Essex sunshine.
The second half wasn't really much better - Southend continued to pass quickly but without real precision, while Stockport huffed and puffed but again, a midfield quartet of Tansey, Turnbull, Poole and Griffin really didn't have the strength or the skill to retain, use or regain possession. Stockport thought they scored when George Donnelly tried a long range lob that the Southend keeper did just about enough to keep out (even if he did end up tangled in the goal net), but other than a series of wasted free kicks and corners (for both teams) the match seemed to be drifting towards an early season bore draw.
Then it all went "a bit mental".
Stockport won a throw deep in the Southend half, and as substitute Danny Rowe ran to collect the ball for the throw (I think), the linesman (on the far side to the throw) raised his flag for offside (he thinks). The referee ignored his assistant, who then put the flag down. By this time, Southend's defence had switched off, allowing George Donnelly to fire a shot into the top corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead. Cue pandemonium amongst the away supporters (hey, Stockport had scored and taken the lead in a game for the first time in a very long time), and on the pitch as Southend's players cried foul. After 5 minutes of heated debate (including an alleged spitting incident and resulting 19 man brawl), the referee decided enough was enough and sent Paul Sturrock (Southend manager) to the stands. By this point, Southend were feeling exceptionally hard done by (rightly so if it was a mistake by the linesman) and went all out for an equaliser. The 6 minutes of injury time wasn't really a surprise given what had happened, but was still met with incredulity by everyone. Both sides huffed and puffed, and as the clock approached 96 minutes the inevitable happened. A tired clearance by Mark Lynch went out for a corner; as this was fired in, fon Williams made a move to collect it. Only he didn't - by missing it completely and ending up on the far side of his 6 yard box, Blair Sturrock had the simplest of changes to put away a ultimately deserved equaliser for Southend. This was a real shame for Williams, given his generally good performance and the fact he hadn't missed a cross all day - except when it mattered.
In the end, 1-1 was a fair result. Neither side really deserved or did enough to win, and on this performance neither will be troubling the top of the table. Southend - for all their nifty footwork and fast running, showed that when it didn't go their way they got a bit stroppy; but to their credit, did respond positively to conceding rather than caving in. Stockport - well, the defence was sound (for once) and Conlon and Donnelly were a handful up front. but the midfield was so woefully lacking it was untrue. In fact, Danny Rowe did more in 5 minutes than both Poole and Griffin combined, and the Tansey/Turnbull combo in the middle was painfully short on strength and vision. Nonetheless, this is a game Stockport would have lost last year (actually they did) so to get a point was a good result and a solid foundation to build the season on.
BBC Match report
SCFC Official match report
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