An excellent performance at Roots Hall gave Harriers their first away win of the season, a
well-deserved 2-0 with first goals for the club from Sean Flynn and JJ Melligan.
Forced into another change in personnel after the withdrawal of Scott Stamps, Harriers recalled
Ian Foster and employed him in the right wing back position in a repeat of the formation that
worked well in the previous game at Scunthorpe on Saturday. The two teams were evenly
matched and for the early exchanges cancelled each other out. Mark Rawle was lively
in attack for The Shrimpers and went close for the home team but it was at the other end
that the deadlock came closest to being broken. Melligan picked the ball up in
midfield and was allowed to run at the heart of the Southend defence unchallenged before
unleashing a 25-yard shot which beat Darryl Flahaven in the home goal and skimmed the top
of the crossbar.
Drewe Broughton was next to try his luck, but Flahaven did well to turn his blistering
shot around the post. Melligan was very busy in the Harriers midfield and was involved
in the opening goal in first-half stoppage time. He battled well to win the ball on
the right and set up Foster who crossed to the far post where captain Sean Flynn rose to
head in from close range.
Rather than sitting back on their advantage Harriers vame out after the interval looking
to build upon it, and just four minutes later they had doubled the advantage. Flynn
split the defence wide open with a killer cross-field pass that set Melligan free on goal
and he made no mistake picking his spot and tucking his shot just inside the far post.
Southend boss Rob Newman respondede immediately by replacing Steven Clark with Barrington
Belgrave and switching to a 4-3-3 formation. This almost reaped a dividend straight
away, Rawle seeing his snap shot well saved by Stusrt Brock. On 67 minutes Harriers
nearly increased their lead further, a similar move that had led to the second goal saw
Flynn release Ian Foster on the right but he coulddirect his shot just wide of the far
post.
The home team did create a handful of opportunities, Brock also saved from Kevin Maher and
another from Rawle, but they never really threatened to get back into the game while
Harriers always looked capable of finding something extra if necessary and held on
for a welcome three points.
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