Blues attracted their third biggest Roots Hall crowd of the season against Northampton on Boxing Day.

But they unhappily failed to send the majority of the 5,449 supporters home happy following the disappointing 2-2 draw.

Four home defeats on the trot saw fans arrive more in hope than expectation and yet once again this was a match in which Southend should have reaped a far greater reward.

Despite the midfield never exerting much authority, Blues still had more than enough chances to have won with ease before the predictable defensive frailties reared their ugly head yet again.

Alan Little is convinced the soccer Gods are currently coming down hard on his men and it's true they are not getting many breaks.

What looked to be two strong penalty claims against the Cobblers were turned down and to add insult to injury the referee, who had a poor game, booked the two Blues men for supposedly diving.

But at the end of the day Southend won't turn the corner until those leaks at the back are plugged.

Keeping a blank goals against must be Little's top priority if he is yet to turn the side into the play-off challengers they are certainly more than capable of being.

Criticise team not individuals

It always amazes me now many manager's get drawn into criticising individual players after matches.

Blues boss Alan Little fell into the trap and stirred up a real hornets' nest after blaming goalkeeper Mel Capleton for the Seasiders only getting a 2-2 draw at York recently.

Fans flooded Echosport's Talkback line with calls defending Capleton against what many saw as a below-the-belt attack.

There's no doubt the young goalie is a popular figure with supporters after making some spectacular saves, but in defence of Little it must be said Capleton has also been responsible for some glaring errors.

But for me no manager should pick out individuals for criticism because it not only undermines their confidence but makes it difficult to build them up again if you need to put them back into the side.

I can remember former boss Dave Smith going on the Roots Hall public address system once to attack two of his defenders after a heavy away defeat.

Smith, never one for pulling his punches at times, made the comment that neither of the two guilty men would play for him again.

I felt then that it was a crazy statement to make and so it proved as he was forced to eat humble pie a few days later when injuries forced him to pick the far from happy duo.

And not only has Little put himself into a difficult position surrounding Capleton but he has also made life even tougher for his replacement Mark Prudhoe.

Veteran Prudhoe got less than a warm reception from fans when brought into the side for the Boxing Day clash and it will take him a long while to win people over.

And so hopefully Little will have learned a lesson from this unfortunate episode and confine any criticism to a general nature - blaming defenders, midfield men or strikers for any failings.

After all soccer is a team game and Blues should win as a team and lose as a team with any individual blasts kept to the privacy of the dressing room.

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