Soccer: Shrimpers' shaky defence costly again

This was a Third Division clash which heralded Shrimpers boss Alan Little's First return to his former stomping ground since the Minstermen gave him his P45 last March.

And Little, who had three ex-York players - winger Gordon Connelly, plus strikers Martin Carruthers and Neil Tolson - in his starting line-up for this fixture, must have been desperate to show his old paymasters they had made a mistake dispensing with his services.

York lost their Second Division status at the end of last season under the guidance of Little's replacement, Neil Thompson, and Little must have been the happiest man in the whole of north Yorkshire when Connelly fired Blues into a half-time lead.

But more sloppy defending from the Seasiders' shoddy back-line allowed York to comeback after the interval to get a draw which flattered them enormously.

Marc Williams took advantage of Southend's slackness to smash home an equaliser, before his team-mate Scott Jordan gave York the lead as he punished a costly piece of poor positioning by Blues keeper Mel Capleton from a free-kick.

However, with the clock ticking down and Southend's 150 travelling fans thinking here we go again, Carruthers, spared his defensive counterparts' blushes with a deserved leveller in the last ten minutes.

Little, who spent 11-years at Bootham Crescent as both coach and manager, was forced to shuffle the pack for this emotional reunion with the Minstermen.

Flu virus victims, defender Leo Roget and another ex-York man, midfielder Mark Tinkler, cried off before kick-off, which saw Little make a number of changes to his team.

The most notable being the inclusion of transfer-listed midfielder Kevin Maher, who was rewarded for his hard-work and endeavour in Southend's reserve-team, with a starring role in the centre of the park.

And how Maher made the most of his rare chance to shine, this being his first start in more than four months for the senior side, as he put on an inspirational display which orchestrated Southend's best offensive performance for weeks.

The former Tottenham player has taken the brunt of terrace abuse during the past couple of seasons, but proved against York what a class act he can be, as he tackled hard, passed intelligently and showed a tremendous capacity to motor around the pitch for 90 minutes.

Everything that was positive about Southend's play at Bootham Crescent centred around Maher - who, although out of contract at the end of this campaign - may be able to save Little, currently hunting for a new midfield man, a few bob or two.

Mark Beard, who missed Southend's previous two outings with a flu bug, returned to a five-man defence at right wing-back, with Nathan Jones occupying the opposite flank, while Martyn Booty, skipper Simon Coleman and David Morley held the centre of the pack.

Maher was joined in midfield by Connelly and Scott Houghton, who tucked in either side of him, and Tolson and Carruthers took their customary places in the forward-slots.

As Little took his place in the away dug-out for the first time as a visiting manager at Bootham Crescent he was given a warm welcome by the home crowd and not the aggressive grilling pre-match hype had predicted he was in for.

York's supporters, following their club's current plight near the bottom of the league table, vented all their anger against Thompson and his chairman Douglas Craig - probably regretting their voices had pushed Little out of the exit door nine months ago.

Blues, obviously pumped up for this game as they attempted to keep their gaffer's pride intact, began cautiously, but put themselves under early pressure as Morley clumsily fouled Jordan inside the right channel.

Jordan picked himself up and floated a free-kick to the far-post, which an unmarked Peter Fox blasted wide of the left-post from 12 yards and into the posse of Southend supporters standing behind the goal.

Southend heeded the warning and slowly began to take the upper hand. On 16 minutes they should have taken the lead as York's right-back Matt Hocking left Jones sprawling on the deck.

Houghton delivered the free-kick from the left, which found Morley in acres of space at the back-post, but the big defender somehow dragged his shot wide of the left-upright from ten yards.

The Seasiders continued to push forward, playing their way neatly past their mediocre hosts, who had no answer to Southend's lightning-quick counter-attacking forays.

However, one of York's rare trips to the edge of the Southend box nearly led to an opening goal, as Jones hacked a header from lanky targetman Colin Alcide away from Blues' goal-line.

Undeterred, Southend upped the tempo with Jones sprinting onto a flicked header from Carruthers down the left-wing on 38 minutes.

Jones rolled the ball into Connelly's path just outside York's penalty area, but the his low drive was pushed around the right-post by veteran custodian Bobby Mimms.

However, Mimms was just getting warmed up and he excelled again seconds later as Houghton's resulting flag-kick found Tolson at the far-post, but the home keeper somehow turned away the Southend hitman's fiercely-struck, close-range effort.

Mimms was left with egg on his face within three minutes, though, as his hesitancy led to Connelly finally breaking the deadlock in Southend's favour.

Former Leeds United defender Chris Fairclough attempted to shield a through-ball from Maher back to his keeper on 41 minutes, but as both players froze, Carruthers stole in and nicked the ball to tee up Connelly for a curling shot inside the right-post.

After the break Southend went straight for the jugular in the hunt for a second killer goal, with Tolson running onto Maher's pass, cutting inside Hocking, and forcing Mimms into a one-handed save nine minutes into the restart.

Five minutes later Capleton received his first real taste of the action as he saved a downward header from York's substitute front-runner John Williams and Alcide's 20-yarder, sandwiched either side of a blatant handball from home defender Mark Sertori, which should have led to a Southend penalty.

However, Capleton's saves failed to inspire and Blues' rearguard began to have that familiar wobbly look about them which has seen the Shrimpers concede a mammoth 32 league goals so far this term, keeping just three clean-sheets along the way.

York cashed in on their visitors' new-found shakiness, turning the game upside down, as they suddenly found themselves in front with two quickfire goals in six minutes.

First, Marc Williams, who had Coleman and Jones either side of him, was allowed to turn ten yards out and hit a left-wing centre from Jordan past Capleton on 70 minutes, before a howler from the unpredictable Southend custodian handed York the lead.

Morley fouled Hocking on the edge of Blues' penalty area and as Jordan lined-up the kick, Capleton clung to his left-post, despite frenzied shouts from Little to move into the centre of his goal, allowing the York man to steer his shot into a virtually open net six minutes later.

With an undeserved defeat seeming certain, Southend showed great character to bounce back and claim a point which moved them up to 13th place in the league standings, although without a victory from their last seven outings.

Nine minutes from time, Maher hit a tremendous swirling cross to the far-post which Tolson headed goalward powerfully, only for Mimms to push the ball onto the underside of the bar, before Carruthers bundled the ball over the line at the second attempt, his first league strike for six games.

(Right) Close shave - Nathan Jones clears Colin Alcide's goalward header off the Southend line

Down and out - Gordon Connelly (left) and Mark Beard race past a grounded Marc Williams

(Right) Closing in - Martyn Booty (right) tracks Marc Williams during Friday night's clash at Bootham Crescent

Match facts

Shots/headers on target: York 4, Southend 7.

Corners: York 7, Southend 7.

Bookings: Southend - none, York - Fox (33 mins, time-wasting), Fairclough (34 mins, foul), Agnew (44 mins, foul).

Mimms 7, Hocking 5, Sertori 5, Keegan 6, Fairclough 6, Fox 6, JORDAN 8, Alcide 5, Agnew 6, M Williams 7, Dawson 5 (M Williams 6). Subs not used: Howarth, Bull-ock, Jones and Turley.

Southend

(In 5-3-2 formation with ratings out of 10):

Capleton 5 - cost Blues dear with another big blunder.

Beard 6 - solid and worked his socks off.

Coleman 7 - usual consistent display, but at fault for the first York goal.

Morley 6 - rarely troubled, but dives in at times.

Jones 7 - excelled when attacking and defending.

Connelly 7 - kept the York boo-boys quiet.

Booty 7 - yet another good game.

MAHER 8 - inspirational engine room of South-end's performance.

Houghton 6 - competent display and willing attacker.

Carruthers 7 - made one goal and scored another.

Tolson 7 - fired up and led the line superbly.

Subs not used: Clarke, Campbell, Cross, Newman and Prudhoe .

York City (0) 2 (M Williams 70, Jordan 76)

Southend United (1) 2 (Connelly 41, Carruthers 81)

Attendance: 2,333.

Referee M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City) 5 out of 10.

Next game:

Southend United v Northampton Town

(December 26, 3pm)

Division Three results

Barnet 0 Mansfield 0

Chester 2 Halifax 1

Exeter 1 Hartlepool 2

Hull City 2 Carlisle 1

Lincoln 1 Shrewsbury 2

Macclesfield 1 L Orient 0

Northampton 1 Plymouth 1

Rotherham 2 Darlington 1

Swansea 2 Brighton 0

Torquay P Cheltenham P

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