5:01pm Saturday 20th March 2010
By Chris Phillips
PROBLEMS may be continuing to mount for Southend United but the players showed there was nothing wrong with their fighting spirit against Carlisle United this afternoon.
The struggling Shrimpers came back from being 2-0 down to secure a share of the spoils and also played the last 23 minutes with 10 men after skipper Adam Barrett was sent off after being shown a second yellow card.
Steve Tilson's side have now gone 12 games without a win and remain four points from safety inside the relagtion zone.
But the situation was looking even more serious early on against the Cumbrians at the weekend as the visitors took just six minutes to open the scoring when Evan Horwood's left wing cross was glanced into the bottom right hand corner of the net by the head of Scott Dobie.
The shocked Shrimpers hit back with Anthony Grant tamely heading at Carlisle keeper Adam Collin and, in the 10th minute, a low left footed drive from Damian Scannell was pushed around the right post by the custodian.
Matt Paterson then headed a curling cross from Simon Francis wide of the opposite upright.
But the Cumbrians doubled their lead in the 13th minute when a routine ball in to the box by Horwood was missed by a static Southend defence, allowing Ben Marshall to head home into the left hand side of the goal from close range.
Moments later, Horwood fired a scorching 30 yard shot inches over the South Stand net.
And, in the 23rd minute, it was almost 3-0 but Marshall's low drive was smartly blocked by Blues' goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall who recovered well to also collect Jason Price's follow up header.
The double save increased in significance in the 25th minute as the home side got back in to the game with a well worked goal.
Scannell linked well with Francis down the right hand side before carrying the ball infield and picking out Franck Moussa who composed himself before drilling a low, left footed shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
The effort sparked Southend back in to life and they almost equalised shortly after when Moussa struck the outside of the left post from 12 yards.
The Shrimpers remained on top though and were not to be denied a leveller.
Subsequently, with 28 minutes on the clock, a left wing corner from Francis was headed home at the back post by Barrett.
Southend continued to push forward and came close to going ahead at the start of the second half when Alan McCormack teed up Paterson who fired over from 12 yards.
Carlisle then almost also regained the lead when a Matt Robson's corner was not dealt with by Blues' defence and centre-back Peter Murphy unleashed a well struck close range shot which was brilliantly pushed to safety by Mildenhall.
In reply, Scott Vernon fired over from another lengthy Johnny Herd throw but the Shrimpers suffered a huge blow in the 67th minute when Barrett was shown a second yellow card.
The defender, who was booked in the first half for a foul on Horwood, was ordered off by referee Andy Woolmer after he made contact with Murphy after the centre-back had cleared the ball from inside his own penalty area.
Despite the numerical disadvantage Blues almost went ahead when a curling 25 yard shot from Scannell was palmed away by Collin.
Southend immediately reshuffled defensively with Osei Sankofa entering the action in place of Paterson to line up alongside Pat Baldwin at the heart of the defence.
They stood firm for the remainder of the match and the Shrimpers came closest late on with a free-kick from Francis.
But that whistled wide of the right post and Blues remain in deep danger towards the foot of the table.
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