Soccer: Comeback spares Blues' blushes

Trailing by three goals at half-time the Seasiders mounted a brave great escape act, which appeased the interval boos and jeers of the Seasiders' supporters, as winger Scott Houghton, striker Martin Carruthers and an own-goal earned Southend an unlikely share of the spoils.

Southend have now failed to register any sort of success on their own patch for more than two months - a paltry run which has returned a pathetic two draws and five defeats.

However, the bigger picture makes even worse reading - Blues have collected just seven league points from the last 30 on offer, which has seen them slide to 16th place in the table and ever nearer a repeat of last season's relegation scrap.

It's easy to blame this sort of woeful run on bad luck, missed chances, goalkeeping blunders and injuries, but the harsh truth is that Southend currently aren't good enough to make an impression on what is a mediocre division.

The glimpses of quality Blues showed at the start of this campaign when they flirted with the top spots has long gone, with too many players falling well short of their early season form and lacking the bottle needed to graft a push back up the league standings.

Rochdale capitalised on a passionless opening 45 minutes from the Seasiders as visiting striker Graham Lancashire, twice, and midfielder Gary Jones beat reinstated Southend keeper Mel Capleton three times inside seven minutes.

Underfire Southend boss Alan Little, who was barracked by a section of the Roots Hall crowd, responded by throwing on a trio of substitutes before the restart - defender Leo Roget, midfielder Kevin Maher and forward Trevor Fitzpatrick.

And the three additions' enthusiasm provided the catalyst for an amazing turn around of events, spurred on by the busy Houghton, who was another to endure a forgettable first period.

Southend have been guilty of some pretty woeful home performances this season, but their first-half display against Rochdale topped the lot.

The Seasiders had no shape, with players again employed out of position, found it frustratingly hard to pass a ball to another blue shirt and blatantly lacked any form of communication, crashing into each other likes bumper cars at times.

More worrying however, was the lack of fire in the bellies of Southend's players, bar one or two exceptions, which gave Rochdale, a team who have been stuck in the basement league for 26-years, the upper hand.

Promotion-chasing Rochdale travelled to Roots Hall with the best away record in the division, having claimed seven wins and two draws from 13 matches, prior to this game.

In all honesty though, the Lancashire outfit, like most of Southend's visitors this season, were very average, but held the key to grinding out results in this league - commitment to their club's cause.

Time and time again, the northerners won 50-50 balls by throwing themselves into challenges with conviction and a hunger for the task at hand.

And although Blues got it right in the second-half, Little knows he needs to rectify his side's lack of appetite fast if he hopes to stop the Roots Hall rot and save his own skin.

After four games in the wilderness, fans' favourite Capleton was reinstalled in goal at Mark Prudhoe's expense, but defensive skipper Simon Coleman missed his second match in succession with a leg injury, allowing old warhorse Rob Newman to deputise as skipper.

Dave Morley played alongside Newman in a back-four with Nathan Jones and Martyn Booty selected at full-back. Tinkler was surprisingly paired in the centre of midfielder with wideman Gordon Connelly, with Houghton and Mark Beard taking the flanks.

Neil Tolson's groin injury handed Neville Roach a rare chance to shine in attack next to Carruthers, making what could be the hitman's last appearance for three-games if he loses his video appeal for a sending-off at Barnet.

Both sides made a lacklustre start to the game, but Rochdale gradually stepped up a gear, with impressive left-winger Chris Bettney running across the face of the Southend box and firing just over on 11 minutes.

Carruthers smashed a cross from Houghton off target and Dale front-runner Tony Ellis did the same at the other end, before the Lancastrians got itright on 32 minutes, sparking a goal spree for the visitors.

Lancashire's deflected drive nearly wrong-footed Capleton, but the Southend keeper recovered to palm the ball away, only for Blues' ball-watching rearguard to allow Gary Jones to scamper through and tuck home the rebound.

Five minutes later, Morley's suicidal lapse in concentration allowed Lancashire to add a second for the visitors as he ran onto the stopper's careless back-pass and prodded the ball past Capleton.

Then to make matters worse, Rochdale grabbed a third inside another 120 seconds as Lancashire doubled his tally, getting in-between Newman and Morley to convert Ellis' right-wing cross with a well executed diving header.

Little had seen enough! and changed his personnel, with Jones, Roach and Tinkler the casualties of the Southend chief's half-time purge, and tactics, switching to a 4-3-3 formation for the second period.

Morley was pushed upfront alongside Carruthers and Fitzpatrick, with the gutsy Maher employed in central midfield, flanked by Connelly and Houghton.

Booty switched to left-back and Beard took the other full-back spot, while Newman and Roget held the centre of defence.

However, nobody could have forecast the change in fortunes which Little's last desperate throw of the dice would conjure up.

Straight away Blues played with renewed energy and two minutes into the restart Houghton's 20-yard half-volley from Fitzpatrick's flick was well saved by Rochdale custodian Neil Edwards.

However, with 55 minutes gone, Southend's breathtaking revival was underway as Maher and Beard combined to put Houghton away down the right-channel.

And the little wideman didn't disappoint, cutting inside to smash a low drive from the edge of the box across the face of goal and inside Edwards' right-hand post for his third strike of the season.

Seven minutes later, Blues reduced the deficit even further as a visibly wobbling Rochdale defence succumbed to a hopeful Southend punt forward into their penalty area, which full-back Dean Stokes handled.

Referee Barry Knight awarded a penalty without hesitation, which Carruthers struck into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, making him Southend's top-scorer with ten goals.

Rochdale midfielder Dave Flitcroft replied by sending a 25-yard drive past Capleton's left-hand post on 67 minutes, but it was pretty much one-way traffic now as the Seasiders continued to flood forward.

Newman mis-kicked from six-yards with the goal at his mercy, following a Houghton free-kick, and Connelly hit the cross-bar with an audacious long-range shot off the outside of his boot.

With 16 minutes remaining, Carruthers found Edwards' midriff with a low header as he connected with Beard's cross and Southend dangerman Houghton hit a stinging 30-yard piledriver past the left-post as Blues continued their relentless bombardment.

With five minutes left on the clock, Southend's onslaught finally paid off as Houghton twisted and turned past Graeme Atkinson and Wayne Evans on the right-flank, before sending over a vicious cross, which Mark Monington nudged past his own keeper under pressure from Roget.

And with two minutes remaining, Roget nearly sealed all three points for Blues, amazingly, but his downward header from Houghton's corner bounced inches over the bar to safety.

Human shield - Blues striker Neville Roach keeps his opposite number at bay

(Left) Ground battle - goal hero Scott Houghton slides in for a tackle as Martin Carruthers (left) looks on

(Below right) Evasive manoeuvres - hitman Martin Carruthers sidesteps a Rochdale tackle during their six-goal thriller at Roots Hall

(Below left) Keeping watch - Goalkeeper Mark Prudhoe and manager Alan Little observe from the dugout

Pictures: LUAN MARSHALL

Match facts

Shots/headers on target: Southend 6, Rochdale 7.

Corners: Southend 4, Rochdale 4.

Southend - Roget (76mins - foul), Beard (86mins - foul), Maher (90mins - foul). Rochdale: None.

Rochdale

Edwards 6, Evans 5, Stokes 6, Hill 6, Monington 6, Peake 5 (Atkinson 6), Jones 6, Flitcroft 7, BETTNEY 8, Ellis 6, Lancashire 7 (Platt 5). Subs not used: Bayliss, Peyton and Priestly.

Southend Utd

(In 4-4-2 formation with ratings out of 10):

Capleton 6 - couldn't be blamed for any of the goals.

Beard 6 - in and out.

Morley 6 - had a nightmare in defence, but was effective in attack.

Booty 6 - needs to put in some passing practice, but couldn't be knocked for effort.

Newman 7 - pick of the back-four.

Jones 6 - another who tries hard.

Connelly 5 - ran around a lot without doing much.

Tinkler 5 - more at sea than Southend pier.

HOUGHTON 8 - awful first-half, but was the architect of Blues' comeback.

Carruthers 6 - always gives 100 per cent.

Roach 5 - failed to make the most of a rare first-team opportunity.

Subs:

Maher 7 - solid and gutsy half-time replacement for Tinkler.

Roget 7 - came on for Jones at half-time and was up for the fight and battled hard.

Fitzpatrick 5 - plenty of running, but failed to make much impression after a half-time switch for Roach.

Subs not used: Hails and Prudhoe.

Southend United (0) 3 (Houghton 55, Carruthers 62 pen, Monington 85 og)

Rochdale (3) 3 (Jones 32, Lancashire 37, 39)

Attendance: 3,213

Referee B Knight (Orpington) 7 out of 10.

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