SOUTHEND & Benfleet were held 2-2 at Phoenix in their first match back after Christmas.

Southend had the upper hand early on and it was not long before Nicola Bryant smashed the ball to Sarah Conway who pinged it in past the Phoenix goalkeeper.

However, Phoenix turned the pressure back on to the Seasiders who were caught unawares on a Phoenix counter-attack which drew the teams level.

Despite some brilliant runs at the Phoenix defence by Ashlie Colman and Kirsty Edmunds, Southend were unable to pull ahead before Phoenix found the back of the goal again to lead 2-1.

After the break, Southend’s Hayley Middleton kept the Phoenix playmaker quiet and, without that key player, many of the home side’s attacks fell flat.

At the other end of the field, Southend were awarded plenty of short corners and, from one of those, Naomi Barker smashed the ball home with expert precision.

With the scores level, both sides pushed for a winner but Nicola Coleman and Adele Cole never let up or backed down as they fought off wave after wave of Phoenix attacks to win the ball.

They also pushed it through for Southend to have their runs at goal and, on the break, Caitlin Meredith had plenty of room on the right hand side.

She stormed through the Phoenix defence on more than one occasion but, even with some last minute pressure from Phoenix on the Southend goal, the score stayed at 2-2.

The draw enabled third placed Old Loughtonians to catch up and the two teams are now locked level in the table.

Southend’s captain Rachel Jeffrey was awarded player of the month.

l A hat-trick from Hannah Daish and goals from Anna Winfield, Jo Hall and player of the match Claire King gave Southend & Benfleet seconds a convincing 6-0 win again against Thurrock.

Daish got the goal fest started after being set up by captain Kerry Payton.

Daish doubled the lead with a textbook strike from a short corner before King got on the score-sheet and nearly broke the backboard with her powerful strike.

Winfeld made it 4-0 before half time with a classy shot before Hall put away a simple tap-in from the left post.

The second team host Redbridge & Ilford next weekend.

Southend’s third team, who did not have a game on Saturday, face Witham thirds next week who are just one point behind them in the table.