Clash of the titans was a great advertisement

The 1-1 draw between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on Monday night was the perfect advertisement for the Premiership, which I firmly believe is the best league in the world.

This fixture was a clash of the titans between English football's big two and, following all the pre-match hype, neither side disappointed as they gave full entertainment value.

More than 58,000 fans, the record for a Premiership crowd, attended the game, which was played in a fully committed manner by the endless list of great soccer names on both sides.

Arsenal should be commended on the way they took the match to United, playing them off the park for long spells, before finally crumbling under the intense pressure of the hosts' late rally to concede an equaliser.

This was a good result, though, because it keeps the most open Premiership championship race for years alive - with United, Arsenal and Leeds looking favourites for the crown.

If United had beaten Arsenal, I think it would have practically given the Old Trafford giants one arm around the Premier League trophy, because Alex Ferguson's men have games in hand.

They have a back-log of matches, following their recent trip to Brazil, with delayed fixtures against Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday looking like three-point bankers, although their trip to Leeds won't be so easy.

I think the title race will go to the wire this year and it's hard to predict where the Premiership championship will end up. But whoever wins English soccer's holy grail, we should all be in for an exciting climax to the season.

Second team show mettle

The boss, Alan Little, got the whole squad to report for Tuesday night's second-string match against Wycombe Wanderers at Roots Hall.

Every player had to be at the ground by 5.45pm, not just the reserves, but all the senior men as well, as the gaffer attempts to get back to basics following a run of poor results which includes last Saturday's 3-1 disaster at Mansfield Town.

The fringe players - which included a few first-teamers - picked up a spirited 4-3 win over Wycombe in the Avon Insurance Combination League, which everyone had to watch.

The manager's aim was to show the more senior players at Roots Hall the passion and desire pumping through the reserve side, which is needed in the first-team for us to turn around our slide down the Third Division table.

I've been involved with our second team this season and the lads playing reserve football are desperate to make the jump into the senior set-up and perform in the league, which was there for everyone to see against Wycombe.

The first-teamers watching their colleagues will have realised from this display that they can't take their places for granted as there is a lot of competition at this club. And with the big squad at the manager's disposal, a few of them could be under pressure.

However, on a positive note, it must have been a morale boost for the youngsters and fringe players in the reserves to have the majority of the senior side watching them from the stands, giving them encouragement and cheering them on to victory.

All these aspects help to build team spirit and help forge a bond between Blues' playing staff at all levels, which is vital because we are all in this together and need to be closely knit like a family to succeed.

Garry Cross - played with his heart on his sleeve against Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night

Farewell Adam

Adam Morrish left Roots Hall this week after having his contract cancelled by mutual consent and we'd all like to wish him the best for the future.

He's a young lad, who has the adaptability to play at the back or in attack, but his Southend career has been blighted by injuries, which earned him the nickname "sicknote".

However, Adam is still only 19 and has bags of time on his side, which can hopefully help him make it back into league football after getting his fitness on track again.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.