Southend United will not be counting chickens or even shrimps. They entered 2016 seventh in League One but fizzled to 14th in May. A Boxing Day win and Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic, both at home, ensured sixth place this time and it would have been fifth but for an 89th-minute equaliser. Phil Brown, their manager, called it “a great advert for League One football and for the club”.
Ten seasons ago they had a one-off campaign in the Championship while Charlton were in the Premier League. Brown, now in his fourth full season, got them out of League Two at the second attempt. If his success in leading Hull City into the top tier for the first time in 2008 may have gone to his head, Roots Hall has grounded him. Black overcoat, open-neck white shirt and hair amok define a man seemingly comfortable and popular in more modest surroundings.
Their best crowd, 10,329, beat the 8,493 for Wimbledon on Boxing Day and Brown was “delighted we performed”. Anton Ferdinand, who joined from Reading in August and led the side, said “part of the reason for a very good game and some fantastic football was because it was packed to the rafters”. He had not seen that before. “Our disappointment at dropping two points means we’re going in the right direction,” he added. A 12-match unbeaten run has taken them up the table. Before it they were 22nd.
In truth the very good game burst from a cagey first half, more depressing than pressing, as Southend in particular, in face of Charlton’s careful 4-1-4-1, were often careless in the comfort of easy possession. They did score their goal, though, as Simon Cox, half the front pair in a 4-4-2 with Marc-Antoine Fortuné, spun in a packed penalty area to surprise Dillon Phillips in goal. It bore the stamp of a man who bagged two of the three on Boxing Day. And before the interval Anthony Wordsworth, on the break, gave Phillips the chance to show his agility.
It was a foretaste of a second half that was as end-to-end as the first had been middle-to-middling. By the 70th minute Ted Smith, with tip-over and parry, had denied Fredrik Ulvestad and Jorge Teixeira and, sensationally, Morgan Fox before Joe Aribo hit the bar to match the post struck by Stephen McLaughlin for Southend. Adam Thompson stood firm beside Ferdinand in weathering the storm and Michael Timlin’s elegance at left-back repeatedly caught the eye.
From his free-kick to the sparkling substitute Jermaine McGlashan, Southend all but closed out the match, Phillips tipping Will Atkinson’s shot for a corner, from which Fortuné headed badly wide. In an instant Aribo was crossing at the other end and Andrew Crofts, captain and Welsh international, rammed in his first ever goal for Charlton in his 30th game.
If this was galling for Southend, Brown did not argue with Smith’s naming as man of the match and, up to a point, Charlton’s deserving of something. He is a trainee, aged 20, standing or flying in for the injured Mark Oxley, and had been sick for several days. “He shouldn’t have played in truth but he stood up to it and grew as a man,” said Brown, who has selected a product of the club’s academy in each of his 195 games in charge.
The result was also a blessing in the interests of managerial relationships. On 22 October Southend won 3-0 at MK Dons, ending Karl Robinson’s six-year epic there. This was his eighth match at Charlton, of which one has been won and three lost. Another defeat might have been too much for the owner. Roland Duchâtelet is on his eighth manager in three years and fourth of 2016. They barely have time to find the changing room, let alone lose it.
Famous Belgians used to be the subject of a joke. Infamous ones are no laughing matter. In Belgium Duchâtelet founded the Vivant political party. His involvement at Charlton might fairly be called Mourant and its continuation proclaims more money than sensitivity. At least on New Year’s Eve this foul acquaintance could be forgot briefly by the 1,847 faithful who travelled here.
As for Southend, beyond Swindon on Monday they may be filled to the rafters again for Sheffield United on Saturday.
Talking points
• Russell Slade was one of Charlton’s five managers in 2016. His 21 games, the most of anyone, produced five wins, only six defeats but 10 draws. Coventry City have snapped him up as their third manager of the season, following Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus. On Saturday, following an opening defeat, he was denied victory at high-flying Peterborough by an injury-time equaliser for 1-1. His record at Leyton Orient and, to a lesser extent Cardiff City, goes before him in credit. He is expected to sign Nathan Clarke, his centre-back captain at Orient, but not in time for Bolton’s visit on Monday. Coventry, 23rd in League One but not out of touch, have not been in the fourth tier since 1959.
• Port Vale, under Bruno Ribeiro, made their best home start ever with six successive wins. On Boxing Day, after three defeats running and two points out of a possible 18, he resigned with Vale in 17th place in League One and no further home wins. Michael Brown, already assistant manager, stepped up as caretaker and gave them their seventh against Chesterfield. At 39 he is a Valiant indeed, still registered as a player, with three matches this season and only one yellow card. As his striker Tom Pope said, he will get Vale battling again.
• What to do when a proven goalscorer becomes a serial fluffer? Norwich City’s Cameron Jerome averages roughly a goal every four games in over 450 appearances.On Saturday at Brentford he could have had four in one but missed the lot. Alex Neil, his manager, said: “I thought Cameron put in a good performance but just that final little bit when he needs to hit the target and score the goal was crucial for us. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to do that but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.” Nor was it for lack of chances. Norwich are surely better than eight defeats and two draws in their last 12 matches. Rotherham and Wolves come next. Neil deserves them but had better win.
• Exeter City continue to show there is something to be said for sticking rather than twisting. They are the latest side to squeeze through the mid-table scrum in League Two with four wins and two draws in their last six games lifting them from bottom to 11th, five points off the play-offs. Their record remains extraordinary, with an eighth away win on Saturday, 4-1 at Newport County, and only one at home, in their last match at St James Park against Mansfield. On Monday they host Leyton Orient, where they won to start their unbeaten run. Orient have a new manager since then, Andy Edwards, their fourth in a year. Exeter have Paul Tisdale – in his 11th season.
• Mansfield Town are not League Two’s lowest scorers. They lead Accrington’s 21 by one. But they were glad to end a drought on Saturday. It had lasted five hours 43 minutes, ending when Matt Green scored in the 59th minute against Doncaster Rovers, who needed a late penalty for a draw.
