Southend United 0, Rotherham United 2 (From Echo)

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Southend United 0, Rotherham United 2

9:52pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Sport By Chris Phillips

Elliot Benyon battles for the ball

SOUTHEND United's ground staff and supporters worked tirelessly to make sure Blues' clash with Rotherham United went ahead at a freezing Roots Hall tonight.

But, after Paul Sturrock's side produced another sub-standard showing in suffering a 2-0 defeat against the Millers, they are probably now wishing they had not bothered.

Southend were again below par, particularly in the second half, as they sunk to a third defeat in four games.

And their push for automatic promotion is now seriously in doubt.

Shaun Harrad put the visitors ahead on his debut after signing on loan from Bury and former Blues striker Alex Revell then sealed Rotherham's victory late on.

Revell also fired out an early warning when he shot straight at Southend goalkeeper Glenn Morris from 18 yards after just two minutes but Blues were immediately back on top.

As a result, Liam Dickinson fired a snap shot wide of the left post from 16 yards before Ryan Hall’s fifth minute header from Michael Timlin’s left wing cross was impressively tipped over the crossbar by Rotherham goalkeeper Rhys Taylor.

The save soon increased in significance too as the Millers opened the scoring just four minutes later with Harrad on target.

The striker charged down an attempted clearance from Chris Barker before guiding the ball in to the left hand side of the goal from the edge of the penalty area with the outside of his right foot.

Blues thought they had grabbed an immediate equaliser when Elliot Benyon poked the ball home from close range following a half cleared right wing corner from Hall.

But the effort was ruled out for offside, much to the annoyance of the striker who claimed the ball had been knocked back in to his path by a Rotherham player.

Southend again came close to drawing level in the 26th minute when a deflected shot from Timlin rolled in to the path of Hall at the back post.

However, after the winger had cut back inside on to his left foot, his low shot was diverted wide of the right post by Taylor’s legs.

Rotherham replied with Harrad heading straight at Morris from six yards before Blues were denied an equaliser in the 32nd minute when Millers winger Sam Wood cleared the ball off the goal-line while under pressure from Benyon following another right wing corner from Hall.

Southend went close again at the start of the second half with Bilel Mohsni heading Hall’s deep free-kick straight at Taylor before Anthony Grant fired over from 12 yards after the ball deflected in to his path.

Grant then fired straight at Taylor from long range and, in the 64th minute, Mohsni headed a left wing corner from Hall against the outside of the right post.

Blues boss Paul Sturrock tried to get his side going by making a double substitution which saw both Jack Sampson and Neil Harris enter the action.

But they were unable to get Southend back in to the game and the Millers sealed their victory in the 83rd minute with Revell on target.

The striker won the ball off Barker before drilling home a low shot from 20 yards via the inside of the left post.

He then immediately charged towards the directors box to celebrate in front of Blues' ex chief executive Geoffrey King who publicly criticised Revell when he departed Roots Hall to join Swindon Town on loan in September 2009.

The effort also killed off any hopes of Southend comeback and ensured Rotherham ended a run of five successive defeats against Blues.

Comments(20)

gary 51 says...
10:20pm Fri 10 Feb 12

Two issues tonight,who in Southend United was hell bent in getting this game on, and secondly once again Sturrock gets his team selection wrong.
As I have said previously kiss any promotion good bye this season, the players are just not good enough.