Ben Abbey kick-started Southend United's festive celebrations early as he continued his amazing scoring streak at a bitterly cold Shrewsbury Town on Friday night.

The Shrimpers striker headed home the decisive goal 13 minutes from the end of this Third Division clash at Gay Meadow - which was the seventh time in just nine starts he had found the net for the Seasiders.

But Abbey's late contribution was just about the only memorable feature of this pre-Christmas match, which was the struggling Shrews' first home fixture for nearly two months.

Firemen had pumped 500,000 gallons of water off the Gay Meadow pitch to make this game possible, following horrendous flooding from the nearby River Severn.

However, unless you were one of the 250 Southend fans who had travelled to a wintry Shropshire, you'd probably have wished they had stuck to extinguishing flames instead!

Defences came out on top of this meeting as both sides failed miserably to muster much excitement on a pitch which held up suprisingly well, despite its recent spell underwater.

Shrewsbury midfielder Jamie Tolley saw his 25-yard free-kick deflected wide of Southend's right-post after just four minutes. And ten minutes later, former Sunderland winger Sam Aiston fired a long range drive at Blues goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan.

And the Shrews continued to enjoy the greater share of the possession with frontman Chris Freestone stealing the ball away from dozing Seasiders defender Leo Roget, which gave Tolley another opportunity to drive wide.

Southend's only shot of an instantly forgettable opening period came from Abbey, who blazed woefully over from the edge of the box after 34 minutes.

And as half-time approached, Flahavan did well to claim the ball at Aiston's feet, before fellow Shrewsbury midfielder Karl Murray missed the target after connecting with team mate Michael Brown's left-wing cross.

Nine minutes into the second-half, a sliding Freestone beat Roget again, this time to a right-wing centre from right-back Ross Davidson, but his effort ballooned over the Southend bar.

And a couple of minutes later, a grounded Flahavan did well to push the ball away from Shrewsbury midfielder Dean Peer as Blues fullback Martyn Booty made a complete hash of clearing another Davidson cross.

Abbey sent a 20-yard drive wide of the right-post on the hour mark and Shrewsbury substitute Steve Jagielka went close with a shot on the turn.

However, Blues broke away to register their only effort on target after 77 minutes and score a surprise winner. Winger David Lee, who suffered another indifferent 90 minutes, whipped over an inch perfect cross from the right flank, which Abbey steered into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from eight yards, past Shrews keeper Paul Edwards' despairing drive.

By Bernie Friend

Reporter's e-mail: bernie.friend@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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