Vanarama National League, Tuesday 12th March
I decided to get off the train at Prittlewell on the way home from the office in Billericay and pop to Roots Hall to see if Southend United could continue their unbeaten run in the division as they took on struggling Dorking Wanderers in another midweek match at the stadium.
Now when I lasted visited Roots Hall the Blues fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of play off chasing Gateshead, and at that point they were very close to falling into the bottom four, in fact after that game they lost 1-0 at home to struggling York City, and some Blues fans were fearing the worst at that point, well, since that defeat back on February 10th, they have been on a seven match unbeaten run which has eased those fears somewhat of dropping into the bottom four.
They began the evening in tenth spot, still only six points above the bottom four (it's very tight in the bottom half that's for sure) but they were also only ten points off the play offs too, so it was still possible with a late season run they could, just could, sneak into those top seven spots perhaps, although they firstly needed to make sure they stayed in the division and they were well on the way to doing that after this unbeaten run for sure.
There opponents on the evening, Dorking Wanderers, occupied the final spot in the bottom four going into this contest, only two points from safety, so a win could see them get themselves out of the relegation spots, and the hosts should have been weary of their visitors after Dorking smashed runaway leaders Chesterfield 4-1 at home recently in what was an extraordinary result, however form in their other games recently hasn't been so good, including a 4-2 reverse at Maidenhead United last time out.
So that Chesterfield result was certainly out of the blue, but they knew they had it in them that was for sure, so Southend had to be on their metal to make sure they could extend their good form lately, but it was the visitors who did begin the game on the front foot, although The Blues did see a couple of openings wasted inside the opening fifteen minutes.
Noor Husin found Harry Cardwell inside the opening fifteen seconds but the latter's shot went wide, and then Nathan Ralph tried to find Cardwell with a through ball but the ball went out for a goal kick, Wanderers did pose a threat as said, Pybus dragging a shot wide after winning the ball in the final third, a warning to the Blues who seemed to have had a habit of going 1-0 down in games lately too.
That wasn't to be the case this evening though, as after twenty six minutes Cardwell was fouled outside the box by Muitt, and up stepped Gus Scott-Morriss to bend a wonderful free kick into the top corner from twenty five yards out, it was an exquisite strike and it meant the Blues were again on their way to a positive results perhaps.
The majority of the 5,164 crowd inside Roots Hall certainly hoped so, although the small band of 75 fans from Dorking were hoping their side could find a leveller and maybe even more, and early in the second period they probably should have levelled when a cross was nodded wide by Prior, and The Blues knew they needed a second goal to make this more comfortable.
Ralph tried to do just that but saw an effort straight at keeper Male, and then Morton also did the same thing, before Cav then forced Male into a brilliant save from range, and then Crowther was also denied from close range by Male in a spell for the hosts where they really should have found a second goal to probably kill this contest.
Two more openings came and went and Dorking almost made the hosts pay when a brilliant ball into the box right across the six yard box was turned over at the back post, but, with five minutes of the ninety left The Blues finally made the game safe when Husin broke down the left and saw a shot saved but Cardwell was there to fire home the rebound and finally give his side some breathing space.
Dorking to their credit never gave up though, and they had two wonderful chances in stoppage time to pull one back, Collin making a decent stop three minutes into time added on before the visitors then somehow struck the inside of the post a minute later, but despite these hairy moments the hosts ran out 2-0 winners and extended that unbeaten run to eight now. Certainly a much happier camp this time around compared to last time I was there.
It means that Southend are nine points away from the drop zone now, and only eight points off the play offs, so they are actually closer to those top seven spots rather than the bottom four places, still in tenth, and looking a lot more comfortable in the division now, for Dorking well they actually drop a place to 22nd, still only two points from safety mind so still only a win from getting out of the relegation zone potentially, so no reason to panic despite tonight's defeat.
Full time Southend United 2 Dorking Wanderers 0
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