| So what can you say about this game? Well for the first half hour, Dale were more than a match for the home side, and had the opportunities to take an early lead. Southend scored with what was their first real shot on target, and then had their lead increased at the worst possible time when they were awarded a penalty. They increased their lead in a poor second half, when the Dale defence had pushed up too far.
And that's about it really! We were no way three goals worse than the scoreline suggests and the build up to the game wasn't helped by the players spending several hours on the motorway after the coach taking them to Essex broke down, but although it was certainly an improved performance, we were still a long way short of our best.
You can point the finger at the referee Paul Alcock with some justification, as he had a nightmare match, and you left the ground full of sympathy for Paulo Di Canio. You can point the finger at a pitch more akin to having naked girls wrestling in it. You can point the finger at going into the match missing four of our best players this season. You can point the finger at the fact that we lost both McAuley and Lancashire to injury during the game. And you can point the finger at certain players within the side who yet again failed to perform.
There were doubts over whether the game was on, after a heavy snowfall in the Southend area overnight. Fortunately (?), we had to thank volunteers from the Southend area for turning up early to clear up the pitch. After it was cleared, they found a muddy pitch, with plenty of sand patches. It was certainly playable, and we have seen much worse pitches than this one this season.
After the fun and games of the journey down, Dale manager Steve Parkin reverted to the 4-4-2 formation which had been successful for Dale this season. Simon Coleman was seen as the scapegoat for the previous week's home thrashing by Shrewsbury and had to make do with just a spot on the bench. There were recalls for both Phil Hadland, Michael Oliver, Sean McAuley and Keith Hill as Parkin shuffled his pack as a result of vital injuries to his already diminished squad.
And in the opening few minutes, it seemed great. The memory of last week's hammering seemed a long way away, and Dale were well on top for the first half hour. We didn't have many clear cut chances, but we had enough to worry the home side.
Phil Hadland was back on his unnatural left hand side, but was causing all sorts of problems for the Southend defence. It wasn't just his pace this time, he put over some great balls into the box, but there was never anyone there to take advantage of them, with the ball going straight through the six yard box on more than one occasion.
Things weren't helped after just about 10 minutes of the game, when returning left back Sean McAuley had to go off injured prompting another reshuffle. Lee Todd returned to his natural left back position, with Paul Ware coming on as right back. However, we seemed to cope fairly well with this set back, and we continued to dominate.
However, as the first half went on, the home side came more into it, and there were a couple of worrying signs that things could take a turn for the worse. Carruthers had a header which hit the top of the crossbar, and Edwards had a simple save to make from ex Arsenal and Tranmere player Michael Black.
However the breakthrough for the Shrimpers came on the half hour mark. A corner came over and was headed home by Southend's Phil Whelan, despite Lee Todd trying to acrobatically clear the ball off the line. This goal was rough justice as Dale had more than matched the home side up until now.
Dale almost equalised not long after when Graham Lancashire produced a superb scissor kick but his impressive effort was met by an equally impressive save by Southend keeper Flahavan.
With it looking set to go into the break at 1-0 down, referee Paul Alcock fancied some attention and made sure that he got it. Paul Ware and Southend's Bramble were tussling over the ball within the penalty area. I suppose when you do this inside the box, you always run the risk of the opponent throwing himself to the floor to win a penalty, which is exactly what happened. David Lee (not the bald stumpy ex bury, Bolton and Wigan one) had no problems converting the spot kick to double his team's advantage.
And in true Alcock style, at the half time whistle, he waited till all the rest of the players had left the field so he could grab all the attention. I'm surprised he didn't ask the players to make a congratulatory tunnel for him to walk off through.
And this goal effectively killed off any hopes of a Dale comeback. The second half saw Dale offer very little in terms of chances, with most of the play taking place in the middle of the field.
If it wasn't already all over, it was in the sixtieth minute when penalty taker David Lee was put clean through on the Southend left, and he finished past Edwards without any trouble.
New signing Howells was brought on in place of Hadland, and he looked to have one or two talents, but seemed to find himself in more trouble rather than less as he tried to weave his way through. It wasn't the most ideal time to make your debut at three nil, so judgement will be reserved for the time being.
After that it was damage limitation time, with worries of another big scoreline obviously in the players minds as heads were visibly dropping on the pitch. However, there was plenty more damage to come in terms of the players. Graham Lancashire limped off the field and was replaced by Kevin Townson who came on for his Dale debut. Lancashire went off after picking up a slight knock, which will keen him out till.......your guess is as good as mine.
Young Townson did alright at times. He struggled to make an immediate impact, but he did work out when chance for himself, bu he saw his shot saved by the Southend keeper which was one of our few chances of the second half..
If losing three nil, and losing two players to injury wasn't bad enough, then matters got much worse. Neil Edwards raced out of his goal to stop a long ball which had been put through. Taff did his very best not to handle it outside the box, by letting go as passed the whitewash. The linesman immediately flagged and Alcock grabbed a few more headlines by producing the red card to send Edwards off. With three subs already used, Dave Flitcroft went in goals, and played more as a keeper cum sweeper (admittedly quite effectively as well). He didn't have any saves to make but he was often off his line playing as an extra defender.
The final whistle saw a lot of sad looks on the faces of the 200 strong Dale support who had been on top form throughout the game constantly getting behind the team as requested by the manager two days previously, and just as sad faces from the players as they slowly trooped off the pitch.
Consolations? Well Carruthers was garbage, and if that is how he is performing week in, week out, then we had a very lucky escape there. His heart does not appear to be in his game at the moment, and the wages that he has demanded are scandalous if this is as good as he can do.
There will be questions raised yet again after a fourth successive defeat. The squad appears to be deflated at the moment, and team spirit is low. With injuries now leaving just fifteen fully fit players in the entire squad for Tuesday night's trip to Hartlepool, it's very difficult to see at the moment, how things are going to improve in the short term.
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