| Superb evening. Good to see it meant as much to the players as it did to us. Football wise the performance was OK - not much diff erent from Torquay Wrexham and Boston. But for once we got the breaks. Started off as tentative as we played against Carlisle. Southend were quite quick and I had the feeling we could get hammered if Sothend got an early goal. 1st half we attacked the goal at the far end. A couple of headers seemed to flash just wide for us but otherwise it was Southend in control. Cutler was very solid and their shooting was mainly off target but....was it only a matter of time?
After 25 minutes we seemed to get a bit of a grip. Maylett was a step up from Saturday as was Johnrose and for a while we dominated without looking dangerous. Thomas was wide left and Nugent was not able to hold onto the ball so we couldn't do much in the final third. And so the half petered out whilst I was queuing for a hotdog and all bets on 0-0.
The second half continued in the same fashion. We were digging in but not looking cultured. Some odd forays up the park spurred the noisy away support. And then (a miracle of miracles) we got a penalty awarded. Jenkins (?) steamed into the box (what the ff... was he doing there?) and was clattered. The Ref was only yards away and immediately signalled a pen - made a change from Saturday.
The tension was unbelievable as we all expected Thommo to slap it over the stand ( a few minutes earlier he'd fluffed a clear chance tamely at the Southend goalie}. No problem. Unstoppable into top left corner. Cue mayhem. A collision with the bloke next to me caused both of us to fall backward over the seats so there is now one very broken seat.
Immediate thoughts were that we'd instantly concede an equaliser (as usual). But within seconds - or so it seemed - Leon Britton (?) was scythed 10 yds outside the box. Free kick. Martinez feigned a left side hit but shot low right side. Their goalie could only parry it and it bobbled enticingly past the right of their goal. But.....hang on.... Nugent is first to break towards it.....and he's going to get there. A quick check with Ladbrokes gave 33 to 1 against him scoring from that oblique angle. No chance. And flying into the net went that ball. Cue Son of Mayhem with knobs on.
As far as we could make out there were still 30 mins to go. So could we hang on ??? We look fired up now. Nugent wins a header convincingly....and gets sent off. [At the end the players said that Searle was laughing when the red card popped up - if so, this should be reported and Searle handed the suspension]. The tension mounts. Martinez is hauling the players away from the 18 yd box - good for him - and by the close Southend are reduced to lumping in crosses from the half way line.
Great celebrations at the final whistle. Tate, Johnrose and Cutler (from 100 yds away) come and embrace the fans. Britton looks elated. And they all celebrate with us.
As I said in the intro - not a vintage performance but they all dug in. Having got the break (for a change) they made it count and fought hard and intelligently (in the main) to hold on to it. This side is quite capable of winning all of the eight remaining fixtures. But it is cup tie stuff and an incident or decision here or there can deliver the result either way. It's going to be a roller coaster right to the end. But if it goes on passion then, based on tonight, the fans and the players have nothing to worry about. (Now where did I put that valium) | 
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