Southend United 1-0 York City Review!

February 2, 2015 by Alec Hitchman

Southend United 1-0 York City - Attack of The Shaq
Late Coulthirst Penalty Wins It For Blues

Southend United made it three wins in a row with a hard fought victory against struggling York City at Roots Hall on Saturday. Blues boss Phil Brown stuck with the same side that beat Portsmouth on 24thJanuary.

First Half:

Blues could have been 1-0 up after just five minutes, but on loan Charlton striker Joe Pigott was unable to divert the ball goalwards after Will Atkinson’s clever run down the wing.

The visitors also started with a spring in their step and did their best to try to beat Dan Bentley in the Southend goal. Luke Summerfield’s shot from the edge of the box forced Bentley into an easy save. The Blues ‘keeper was called into action not long after, saving a shot from Emile Sinclair from just outside the box.

All the attacks seemed to come from York, who weren’t giving Blues much time on the ball anywhere on the pitch. They (York), soon managed to force three successive corners, from one of which Russell Penn somehow managed to steer his header wide of the goal from six yards out.

It was all York towards the end of the first half, with Brad Halliday the next player to try his luck, but he could only drag his shot wide of the target.

A rare first half chance for Blues fell to Pigott, who’s shot from 25 yards out was saved by Bobby Olejnik in the York goal. Blues only had Dan Bentley to thank for keeping the scores level at half time. He was once again called into action, to tip Jake Hyde’s low shot round the post.

From the corner York won from Bentley’s save, they managed to force another shot on target, but fortunately, Keith Lowe saw his header cleared off the line by one of Blues’ longest serving players, Michael Timlin.

Second Half:

In the second half, whatever Phil Brown said to his players at half time appeared to work. Blues had two shots on target within the first five minutes of the half. First, Joe Pigott saw his shot blocked by a York defender, before Michael Timlin’s 25-yarder was saved by Olejnik.

Blues were caught out cold at the back from the corner they won from Olejnik’s sav. York easily cleared their lines and the ball found it’s way to Jake Hyde, who found himself one-on-one with Bentley, only to be denied by a last ditch tackle from Adam Thompson.

Soon after, Phil Brown made his first substitution, replacing Will Atkinson with Myles Weston. Chances were few and far between in the next ten minutes, which was taken up by a midfield battle rather than the end-to-end football we (the fans) saw in the first half.

Blues then made their second change of the game, with Kevan Hurst replacing the excellent David Worrall, who had run his socks off all game.

Soon after, Jake Cassidy thought he had scored his first Southend goal, when he tapped in from close range, but one look to his left told him everything he needed to know. He was offside, so the score remained level.

The late Blues pressure appeared to be making York panic, and their hurried clearances from a few Blues attacks showed that perfectly. Kevan Hurst’s cross found the chest of Myles Weston, who cut inside and his low shot was saved by Olejnik.

Phil Brown soon made his final change of the game, bringing Shaquile Coulthirst on in place of Jake Cassidy.

Coulthirst was involved straight away, his first touch was a header he couldn’t do much with, which ended up in the stands after Myles Weston had crossed for him. The on loan Tottenham striker kept troubling York and was in the thick of it again soon after, but his toe poke towards goal ended up going wide of the target.

Not long after, more late drama. Joe Pigott had got past Brad Halliday, albeit from a lucky deflection, and was closing in on goal. Halliday ended up dragging Pigott down to the floor and the referee awarded Blues a penalty.

Coulhirst cooly stepped up and send Olejnik the wrong way to win the game for Blues in the 89th minute.

Four minutes were added on at the end, but most of that was spent in York’s half of the pitch, as Blues comfortably saw the game out.
That’s now three wins in a row for Blues, who stay 5th, but are only 4 points off the top of the league.

Next up for Blues: Shrewsbury Town (A) – 07/02/2015

Blues’ next game is against the team at the top, Shrewsbury Town. A win would see Blues cut the gap between them and Shrewsbury to one point.

The league leaders have not lost a league game at home this season. These things have to come to an end at some point!

Check back on Friday afternoon for a preview of the match.