North v South builds United

This week I'd like to use my column to underline the commitment of all the players to the cause in hand at Southend United.

All of the lads are desperate to bring success to Roots Hall, despite the opinions of some people, and are working very hard to try and turn round the poor results we've had of late.

Last week an unhappy Blues fan rang Echosport to complain about the players taking part in golf and snooker tournaments as part of our north versus south challenge.

The supporter then went on to say we should be concentrating more of our efforts into playing football than other games.

But I would like to remind this gentleman that these competitions between the players are a healthy exercise of team-relationship building and have even become part of our training routine.

At the end of our slog on the practice pitch we sometimes have north v south matches between the players, which, believe me, are of the highest competitive nature.

This leads to us having a happy ship at Roots Hall, which is very important, as it means all the boys are mates and will fight to the death for each other on matchdays.

There are no cliques between the players at Southend, no back-stabbers and other little breakaway groups, all the boys get on, which is in stark contrast to last season when we had a divided camp at times.

All the players are pulling together to achieve success on the field for Southend and none of us ever take to the pitch with anything but a 100 per cent desire to win.

It's just like any other industry, a lot of workers get together to socialise after hours, be it going bowling or having a night out, but we're certainly not jollying it up all the time.

I can understand our fans growing frustrated by the results we've had recently though, but I'm sure we're not that far away from getting our season back on track.

l I'D like to take this opportunity to wish all of our supporters a Merry Christmas on behalf of all the players.

I expect you'll get all the presents you've asked for and I hope we can give you an even better gift by giving you something to cheer about over the next few games.

Wins are essential over Christmas

I don't want to start sounding like a broken record, but we've got three very big matches over the Christmas period, which can get us back in the promotion hunt.

We've got to play three games in nine days, Northampton and Rotherham at Roots Hall and Torquay away, teams all at the top-of-the-table, who we must beat.

So far this season we've struggled against our main promotion contenders, but if we have a successful festive period we can push ourselves back up the league.

What we need to do is win both of our home games and aim for at least seven points from the nine available over Christmas.

We're only just reaching the half-way stage of the season and there's a long way to go - so don't count us out just yet!

I'm amazed by Irons' error

I can't believe West Ham have made the schoolboy mistake which has forced them to replay their Worthington Cup quarter-final with Aston Villa.

The Hammers won the first game on penalties, but have to play the match again after fielding an ineligible player, late substitute Manny Omoyimni.

He's been getting a lot of stick about the incident, but it's really the club's fault as it's their responsibility to know he had played in an earlier round while on-loan at Gillingham.

West Ham should be thankful that they are still in the competition as they have breached the rules and should have been kicked out.

But I bet Villa won't be too disappointed as they'll be grateful for a second bite of the cherry and another chance to reach Wembley stadium.

As for West Ham, losing the re-match could be a potential nightmare with millions of pounds and a place in Europe at stake.

The Eastenders will be desperate to make sure they win the game again, but it could all end in tears.

Although, you must feel sorry for Omoyimni, he had played in what was the biggest game of his life, but now it's all gone pear-shaped and he's been shipped off to Scunthorpe United on-loan.

I'm sure on this occasion he would rather have been sent to Coventry - City that is!

Cup of woe? - Manny Omoyimni (right) celebrates with his Hammers team-mates after the Irons won their penalty shoot-out against Aston Villa at Upton Park eight days ago

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