THERE was no easing back into things at Roots Hall on Saturday as a chaotic opening day clash ended with Southend United suffering a 3-2 defeat against Doncaster Rovers.

In a crazy encounter of varying twists and turns Blues paid the price for failing to make the most of a sustained period of pressure and also conceding three soft goals during 19 minutes of madness in the second half.

Such was the Shrimpers’ dominance in the first 45 minutes it was hard not to feel slightly despondent at the final whistle.

But, once wounds have been licked, it should be remembered that very little should be read into the first game of the season.

After all, just 12 months ago, Blues produced a dominant display to see off a strong Blackburn Rovers side 2-1 at Roots Hall.

The pleasing performance showed plenty of promise and seemed to suggest a strong promotion push for Phil Brown’s side.

However, just seven days later, Southend were thrashed 5-0 at Rotherham United and went nine games without recording another win before enduring a sub-standard campaign which eventually resulted in Brown being dismissed.

Similarly, in both 2004 and 2005, Blues were beaten in disappointing fashion on the opening day but ultimately went on to win promotion.

As such, Saturday’s frustration should not signal any kind of panic with regards to what may be in store and what additional signings might be needed.

But the setback does maybe underline just how tough League One will be again this season.

Following Chris Powell’s appointment back in January, the Shrimpers surged up the table and had the fourth best record in the division during his 18 games in charge.

Subsequently, hopes are high of Southend securing success this time around and the pre-season talk focused very much on achieving promotion and a return to the Championship.

Of course, Blues do have the potential and the players to be pushing for a top six finish.

But nothing will come easily and, on first glance, at least 12 other teams at this level will be sharing similar aspirations at this stage.

Also, in many ways, defeat against Doncaster should not really have come as a surprise given the Shrimpers’ wretched recent record against the Yorkshire outfit.

After Saturday’s setback, Blues have now failed to beat Doncaster in the last eight attempts and have emerged victorious against them just once since 1989.

However, Rovers’ latest success was largely secured by an unbelievable goalkeeping performance from Marko Marosi.

The Slovakian shot-stopper pulled off a succession of stunning saves to frustrate the Shrimpers, especially during a fine first half display from the hosts.

Southend will not need telling failing to score during that prolonged period of pressure proved costly but perhaps even more alarming was Blues’ showing at the other end of the field.

Michael Turner made an uncharacteristic error for Doncaster’s first goal while, alongside him, Harry Lennon looked far less assured than during pre-season.

But one goal quickly led to three for the visitors during an alarming period of play which seemed to hint at a soft under-belly for the Shrimpers.

However, what followed was among the day’s biggest positives as Blues bagged two quickfire goals to set up an exciting, frantic finale in what was their highest scoring opening day encounter since 1995.

Tom Hopper bagged the first of those goals and his display on debut was also another pleasing aspect.

The striker – who signed in the summer after being released by Scunthorpe United – won a surprising number of headers and certainly put himself about during an encouraging first start.

Theo Robinson was also on target after entering the action from the substitutes bench and the statistics certainly showed the Shrimpers were a little unlucky to lose.

A repeat of that first half showing during the months ahead will often bring far greater reward and is likely to see Blues battling it out towards the top.

But lessons do need to be learnt from the weekend.

And Southend will certainly need to be far more ruthless at both ends if Saturday’s opener is to be seen as only a slight hiccup rather than the sign of things to come this season.