Undone!

Southend beat a lacklustre Yeovil side at Huish Park this afternoon to consolidate their position at the top of league one, and condemn the Glovers to their second home defeat in a row, but more worryingly, looking ominously over their shoulder at the perilous relegation zone.

Yeovil, with Adam Lockwood back in the heart of defence started the brighter, and had their best opportunity of the game as early as the first minute. Matt Harrold showed some neat close control before releasing Kevin Amankwaah down the right, the full backs fine cross flashed right across the front of goal as Jevons dived at full stretch to try and connect but was inches away, sadly for Yeovil no one was coming in at the far post to have another go. Arron Davies, who had a lively opening then fed Chris Cohen, who whipped in another dangerous ball to the far post but again, no one got on the end.

On 10 minutes Phil Jevons, captain again, put Arron Davis through and his shot was blocked, Harrold followed up, his shot was blocked and rebounded kindly to Lockwood who should have at least found the target, but his header squirmed wide of Flahavan�s right hand upright. It was Jevons turn next to have a go, this time his header from Paul Terry�s cross went wide, and that from Yeovil�s point of view, was that! The first 15 minutes was almost all played in the Shrimpers half, but the tide then turned, and the pendulum firmly swung back to the champions elect as they began to take total control.

If all the Yeovil fans' wives and girlfriends were as quick and eager to get to the tackle as the Southend players were there would certainly be many smiling faces around the Town tomorrow, but as the half drew on, the look around the ground was more of concern and frustration than anything else. True, Southend were superior in all departments, true, we�ve lost Johnson and Way, but to see a Yeovil side, apart from Cohen, that was built by Johnson and Thompson one can hardly comprehend why they were so off the pace.

The Glovers, renowned for their slick, quick passing style, have never really liked it up �em, so to speak, and when Southend decided that the time was right to �stick it up �em�, albeit with a few close to the knuckle crunching tackles, which resulted in two yellow cards in as many minutes for Gower and Barrett, the game was effectively over. God, how Yeovil need that type of player right now, some one to take the game by the scruff of the neck, put their foot and the ball, and just lead! Cohen looks a fine prospect and is punching above his weight, but he�s a Lampard not a Makalele, Terry�s been a fringe player, and although he had a good first half, he�s not firing on all four at the moment, Anthony Barry, recently recruited from Accrington Stanley is apparently akin to Lee Johnson, and he was unused and on the bench, so we are, to say the least, a little thin on the ground in the engine room at present.

On 30 minutes Duncan Jupp was fortunate not to get anything worse than a yellow card for his reckless tackle on Poole which left the winger on the deck, but Yeovil failed to take advantage of the free kick deep in the Southend half. Cohen then was pulled up for a rather innocuous looking challenge in a similar position, but if you're going to punish a team for conceding a free kick, then Southend gave Yeovil a lesson in how to take advantage. Freddie Eastwood received the ball quickly and released Mark Bentley, the left back, with a defence splitting path and as he entered the penalty area he shot with power, precision and confidence, something we aren�t doing, and put his side one up to the delight of the travelling supporters. Gower then had a good opportunity to extend his side's lead but his early well struck shot was smothered by Collis at his near post just as the half time whistle was due to blow.

As the second half got underway, and with Yeovil attacking the Westland Terrace, you knew that an early goal would rejuvenate the home side and waken the unusually quiet, but cold Yeovil faithful. Unfortunately only one team came out of the blocks, and it wasn�t the green and white hoops of the Glovers. Southend attacked from the start, and Nathan Jones did well to clear off the line with a brave header early only to concede a corner. One thing noticeable about Southend was the way they varied their corners, short, long, bring the full back into play, but what struck you was their organisation, their cohesion, their awareness, their teamwork.

Yeovil�s best chances of the half came midway through the second half when first Jevons struck a ferocious free kick which went narrowly wide, and then Harrold hit a powerful shot but straight at the keeper who held on comfortably.

Back at the other end Jones found himself under pressure from the attacker, and as he regained his balance he appeared to clip the strikers heels, but fortunately, and to the abhorrence of the away support the ref gave a free kick, moments later another penalty appeal was turned down when the ball appeared to strike the hand of a Yeovil defender, once more the ref awarded nothing more than a corner kick. But from this the game was sealed, as the corner came over Spencer Prior's goalbound header was well saved by Collis, but Shaun Goater kept his eyes on the ball and fired home the rebound to seal the victory for the Essex boys.

Yeovil rang the changes, and Pablo Bastianini was introduced at the expense of Arron Davies, and Kevin Gall was brought on to liven things up. Gall certainly had an effect on the game, firstly he tussled with Yeovil old boy Efe Sodje, who had a fine game incidentally! Sodje appeared to damage his shoulder and was substituted, it was just a shame he never got a little more respect from the home crowd as he left the field. Gall then made a foray down the right, and Adam Barrett, booked previously, appeared to obstruct the quick winger with his foream, Gally, pole-axed fell to the floor and Barrett, like Sodje earlier walked, but this time under the orders of the ref.

Yeovil never had enough time to take advantage of the weakened Shrimpers, even with four minutes of injury time, but the game was lost well before that. For the first time in many a year, the vast majority of the 6289 fans willed the ref to blow his whistle, for the first time in many a year, the cold souls wanted to be put out of their misery� times, it seems, are a changin'!

MOTM Vote Result:

Overall match rating: 4.3 / 10
Performance: 3.8
Entertainment: 4.8

32 votes received.

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