Pre Season Friendly, Saturday 18th July
It was a four and a half mile round walk for me today as my latest pre season outing saw me up at Garon Park as two city rivals did battle on the 4G at the complex, Essex Olympian Premier Old Southendian hosting Thurlow Nunn South Southend Manor as both sides came into this one at different stages of the campaign ahead of the 2026/27 season.
Former Manor boss Wayne Seal was now in charge of the hosts after a few years out, and with Dave Tubbs still on the coaching staff, ex Manor, and also the likes of ex Manor players Rhys Fatt & Max Drury also turning out for the hosts in this one, it's fair to say they were well aware of their opponents today, albeit they were Manor club members some years ago now, and a lot has changed since then.
Seal is in the process of trying to build a new squad ahead of their season which begins in early August, Manor themselves are now in the capable hands of ex White Ensign management Aaron Bloxham, April Smith & Enrico, who did a great job at Ensign up until the end of last season, & also ex Basildon United joint boss James Pugsley, they have shaped what they hope will be a side to compete well in the league which starts in eleven days, so not long left to prepare for them now.
This would be a good test for both sides who as said are at different stages of their pre season build up, and with this being a city derby no doubt both sides wanted to get the upper hand on one another, especially OS who are a level below their opponents so a win against them today would certainly give them a big boost ahead of the new campaign.
Manor newest signing, Charlie Little, who I first saw play as a fifteen year old in Manor's U16 side some years ago now, announced his return to the club by giving them a 25th minute lead, getting in behind the hosts back line to slot beyond the keeper who although getting a hand to the effort could not prevent it finding the bottom corner, and handing Manor the advantage, an advantage that they held until the break.
Manor had further chances after the break to double their lead but it wasn't until the 65th minute before they managed to, getting in behind once again before a lovely finish into the bottom corner handed them some breathing space and you felt it was probably game over at that point, but that wasn't to be the case as OS then had their best spell of the game in the final part of it.
A lovely ball into the box from the left caused confusion between keeper and defender and saw the ball come off the keeper, onto the attacker who was attempting to get on the end of the ball, and come off him and trickle into the net, and with just under twenty minutes remaining it was very much game on again.
And had it not been for the visiting keeper, OS would have got something from the game, he made three very good stops to deny the hosts finding a leveller, Manor did have chances to seal it as down the other end as they countered on their opponents at times, it had certainly turned out to be a very watchable contest, with a very good competitive game between two honest and fair sides.
Manor though did manage to hold onto their lead and run out victors, their league campaign starts next Tuesday against Burnham Ramblers at Leslie Field, this was another good test ahead of that, as for OS, they could easily have got something out of this one but no doubt they would have learned a lot from this run out today.
Full time Old Southendian 1 Southend Manor 2
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