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| Southend United 2 v 0 Swansea City |
RICHIE Appleby was sent off as Swansea suffered another setback today, beaten by goals from Neville Roach and Barry Conlon.
Swansea, with three wins and a draw in six games, were dealt a late blow when big striker Julian Alsop pulled out with a thigh injury sustained in the 3-2 midweek defeat at Ninian Park.
Jason Smith returned from suspension as one of two changes from the side that baffled out a goal-less draw at home to Torquay last week. The only other change saw Damian Lacey replace hamstring victim Jason Price.
Southend were without suspended striker Campbell while young front runner Trevor Fitzpatrick was on Irish under-18 duty. Neville Roach, 20, made his home debut following a £30,000 move from Reading. There was no place for former Welsh under-21 keeper Martin Margetson, dropped for Melvin Capleton.
Southend, sitting just off the pace in 18th place, still have not given up on their play-off ambitious.
“I want the players to look forward to making a late push,” said manager Alvin Manager.
“But to do that we need to string five quick wins together — starting with Swansea.”
Southend were keen to heed his advice and applied all the early pressure. One early break saw Roach go down in the penalty box with the referee waving away the penalty appeals. The ball broke to the edge of the area only for Kevin Maher to shoot well over. The first shot on target came in the ninth minute as Roach fired a harmless effort straight at Matt Gregg.
Swansea were finding it so hard to gain and maintain possession that they had to wait until the 13th minute to offer their first threat, from Richie Appleby. His cross-field run eventually found Steve Watkin, but the striker’s shot was blocked on the edge of the area.
The home side were soon back on the offensive as two shots from Rob Newman were blocked by Nick Cusack and then Kristian O’Leary.
The breakthrough eventually came on 16 minutes when a Scott Houghton cross found Barry Conlon at the back post. His downward header fell perfectly for ROACH and he showed good composure to fire past Gregg from 10 yards.
Swansea started their comeback immediately and created their best chance on 22 minutes when Cusack picked out the overlapping Lacey in space and his shot from just inside the area was superbly saved by Capleton at the expense of a corner. Swansea slowly began to win their fair share of possession — their new 3-4-3 formation taking time to settle with Watkin, Appleby and Ryan Casey leading the attack.
But it was Southend who were still the dominant force as Houghton turned Jason Smith on the edge of the area only for his shot to be well held by Gregg. Southend had a second penalty shout turned down on 35 minutes as Houghton crashed to the floor under a challenge from Lacey who reacted angrily to the midfielder’s appeal. Houghton was in the thick of the action again seven minutes later as Matthew Bound had to react quickly to clear his cross, Kevin Maher moving in for the finish.
Southend should have been two up shortly before the interval when Mark Beard crossed for Lars Unger to help the ball on for Conlon only for the striker to head a glorious chance wide from six yards.
On the stroke of half-time O’Leary found Casey wide on the left and the winger won a corner off Barry Hunter who limped to the tunnel injured. Swansea just had time to take the corner only for Appleby to fire a poor effort well wide.
Half-time: Southend United 1, Swansea City 0
Swansea made a substitution at the start of the second half, Tony Bird replacing Casey. It was Southend who were quickest on the attack, however, winning two corners before a ball over the top saw Gregg race out of his goal to head into the path of Maher whose 25 yard lob fell wide.
The game’s first booking came in the 52nd minute as Coleman found himself in the referee’s notebook for a foul on Appleby. Appleby’s free-kick caused problems in the Southend defence and then an Unger mistake let Watkin go free inside the area. The striker turned well only to see his shot tipped over superbly by Capleton.
Hunter became the second Southend player booked for a foul on Bird as Swansea looked to be getting on top for the first time, Smith just failing to finish a Bird flick at the back post.
Swansea were dealt a blow on the hour, however, as they were reduced to 10 men when Appleby was shown a red card for an over-the-top tackle on Martyn Booty.
Southend stepped up the pace again as Conlon found Booty in space five minutes later, but his shot was easily saved by Gregg. Houghton was the next to try his luck from long range, but again Gregg was well positioned.
Swansea had a rare chance to grab an equaliser in the 72nd minute, Cusack’s through-ball finding Bird. The substitute tried to lob Capleton as he raced out of his goal, but - the Southend keeper managed to get a touch through his shot to edge the ball wide.
Southend increased the pressure in the final quarter as Conlon forced another save from Gregg, before Roach picked out Houghton with a perfect cross which the wide man directed just wide. Smith did well to block a goal-bound effort from Conlon before Roach also went close with Swansea forced to defend in numbers.
Swansea made a second substitution as Gareth Phillips replaced Lacey. But it was all in vain as Swansea were killed off three minutes from time. As the visitors pushed for a late equaliser, a long Southend clearance left Bound on his own marking Conlon and Roach. The defender failed to make clear and CONLON was left with the simple task of side footing the ball home.