Another hard-to-swallow dose of kamikaze defending condemned Southend United to a fourth straight defeat at local rivals Leyton Orient last night.
For the second game in succession Blues gave themselves a mountain to climb by conceding a goal inside the first minute of the match, headed by home defender Ezomo Iriekpen.
And the Shrimpers capped a shambolic first-half display by gifting the east Londoners a calamitous second, nodded into his own net by blundering centre-half Phil Whelan.
Working hard - Jay Smith battled well for the Blues Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL
Substitute Barrington Belgrave's goal breathed life into Blues' hopes of a revival following a marked improvement after the break, before the front-runner got himself stupidly red-carded for swearing at the referee in injury time.
Blues couldn't have got off to a worse start last night as they were caught napping after just 51 seconds.
The Seasiders failed to deal with a left-wing corner from O's midfielder Ciaran Toner, which was only half-cleared to loan West Ham defender Iriekpen, who sent a stooping header into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
The Shrimpers tried to hit straight back and midfielder Jay Smith glanced Mark Beard's right-flank centre wide at the far post on three minutes.
Recalled Blues striker Mark Rawle then stabbed a 12-yard effort at O's goalkeeper Glenn Morris after latching on to Leon Cort's header.
And with 12 minutes gone, Southend defender Cort arrowed a Kevin Maher flag-kick into Morris' gloves.
Orient soon seized control again with dangerman Jamal Campbell-Ryce taking advantage of a tackle-shy rearguard to fire an 18-yard drive at Southend custodian Flahavan.
Blues pressed the self-destruct button during first-half injury-time, doubling Orient's advantage with a comical own goal courtesy of a basic communication breakdown.
Whelan failed to cut out O's defender Donny Barnard's long ball and, under no pressure, headed over Flahavan from the edge of the box as he rushed off his goal-line.
Newman reacted instantly, hauling off both Whelan and midfielder Ian Selley and throwing left-back Damon Searle and right-winger Steven Clark into a re-jigged 4-4-2 formation.
Southend pulled back a goal on 73 minutes to give themselves hope.
The industrious Jay Smith flicked on Maher's pass, allowing Belgrave to burst past flat-footed O's defender Dean Smith and place a low eight-yard shot under Morris' body.
However, Blues' night of misery was compounded even further five minutes into injury time when referee Lee Cable sent off Belgrave after the striker swore at the Woking official, following an incident with Iriekpen, who was booked.
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Published Wednesday October 30, 2002
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