Gillingham 3, Southend United 0 (From Echo)

Gillingham 3, Southend United 0

5:10pm Saturday 7th November 2009

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SOUTHEND United may have paid off their outstanding debt to the tax man but plenty of other problems still remain.

And this afternoon's 3-0 defeat at Gillingham in the first round of the FA Cup showed just that.

The Shrimpers were only able to select a squad of 14 players and ended the game with both Anthony Grant and Jean-Francois Christophe out of position in defence.

Eighteen-year-old Stuart O'Keefe was required to start in midfield while youth team scholars Kyle Asante and Julian Okai were also called into action towards the end of a disappointing afternoon for the Seasiders.

Things had looked brighter for Blues at the start of the game though, with Jean-Francois Christophe shooting over from 25 yards and Simon Francis curling a free-kick from a similar distance straight at former Southend goalkeeper Simon Royce.

The Shrimpers remained on top and, with 14 minutes on the clock, they again came close to opening the scoring when an attempted clearance from Gills left-back Chris Palmer was blocked by Francis Laurent.

He immediately teed up James Walker whose deflected left foot shot was impressively palmed out by a back-pedalling Royce before a stretching Dougie Freedman headed over the resulting rebound.

The relieved Gills soon hit back and, with 16 minutes on the clock, they wasted an even clearer chance to break the deadlock when referee Rob Shoebridge pointed to the spot after Francis had brought down Febian Brandy inside the area.

But, having conceded 15 successive penalties, Blues goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall guessed correctly and superbly pushed Simeon Jackson's effort around the right post.

Basildon born Andy Barcham then fired another great chance over the crossbar from 10 yards but Gills finally went ahead in the 25th minute when Curtis Weston raced into the box and, after exchanging passes with Jackson, cooly slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Three minutes later, Gillingham doubled their advantage when Jackson's left wing cross was converted by Brandy at the near post.

Blues suffered a further blow in the 31st minute when Johnny Herd limped off with a hamstring problem.

He was replaced by Damian Scannell in a major reshuffle which saw Grant move to left back and Christophe centre-back.

Brandy, who was making his Gills debut in attack after signing on loan from Manchester United, continued to cause problems though and he was twice denied by Mildenhall just before the break.

Laurent fired over for the Shrimpers too and Southend looked stronger at the start of the second half but struggled to turn their possession into chances.

Christophe did have a header from Francis' right wing free-kick saved by Royce but he was soon involved at the other end of the field as he appeared to bring down Jackson for what seemed to be a penalty but referee Shoesmith this time opted to wave play on.

Former Blues captain Kevin Maher was then introduced by the hosts on the hour mark and, within two minutes of his arrival, another ex Southend midfielder worked his way onto the score-sheet as Mark Bentley rose high at the back post to head home a left wing cross from Barcham via the inside of the left post.

Southend hit back and, in the 75th minute, they should have netted a late consolation when Scannell's right wing cross was pushed out by Royce into the path of Walker.

His mis-hit shot was directed towards Freedman but, with the goal gaping, the Scotsman somehow fired wide of the left post.

And that summed up a frustrating and instantly forgettable afternoon for the Shrimpers – at least on the pitch anyway.