Swindon Town 0 Southend 1 

Town slump again as poor run continues

 

Coca-Cola League One

 

RESULT: Swindon Town 0 Southend 1

 

Southend scorer: Francis 18

 

Swindon's Jekyll and Hyde performances continued with a woeful display against promotion chasing Southend.

With last week's impressive home game against Carlisle still fresh in the memories, Town fans were no doubt hoping for more of the same, and banish the memory of Saturday's disappointing loss at Brighton.

 

Frustrating return: Barry Corr, who returned to the starting line-up  - only to go off injured in the first-half calyx mutimedia

Barry Corr was the only change to the starting line-up. The big Irishman coming in for the unfortunate Blair Sturrock who has to settle for a place on the bench.

But right from the first whistle Swindon failed to set the tone as a number of sloppy passes and poor touches were all to evident.

In undoubtedly difficult conditions it was Southend who coped the better and we're gifted the lead on 19 minutes.

 

Simon Francis was allowed to cut in from the right flank and his miss-hit left foot shot looped over the helpless Peter Brezovan.

 

Substitutions

 

Just before the half-time whistle there was another injury set-back for Corr, as he once again looked to have aggravated his troublesome shoulder injury and was replaced by Billy Paynter.

Maurice Malpas made another substitution at the interval as the returning Lee Peacock came on to replace Michael Timlin.

 

Rare flurry: Lee Peacock challenges the Southend goalkeeper calyx mutimedia

However, his introduction failed to have any impact on a team that looked way short of the desire, passion and determination that is demanded by the loyal but expectant Swindon fans.

All to often the ball was given away cheaply and the visitors were consistently first to any loose balls.

The only bright spark was the trickery and pace of Anthony McNamee, the nimble footed winger produced another classy display and showed that he is capable of producing on a regular basis.

With 20 minutes left Malpas made his last throw of the dice as he brought on fiery Frenchman Sofi Zaaboub to replace Jon-Paul McGovern on the right wing.

Unfortunately, he was also unable to carve out an real clear cut chances that could have handed Swindon a lifeline.

Maurice Malpas will no doubt have heard the chorus of booos that met the final whistle and will be left wondering what he has to do to get his team playing better football on a more consistent basis.

Up next for Town is a trip to Merseyside to face another team battling for a play-off place in the shape of Tranmere Rovers on Friday night.

The League One Table

 

1 Swansea 38 35 78
2 Carlisle 38 24 74
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3 Doncaster 39 21 69
4 Nottm Forest 38 24 63
5 Southend 39 10 62
6 Brighton 39 8 59
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7 Tranmere 40 8 59
8 Leeds 38 27 57
9 Walsall 39 10 57
10 Leyton Orient 40 -8 56
11 Oldham 40 8 55
12 Northampton 40 1 54
13 Hartlepool 40 2 52
14 Huddersfield 39 -14 52
15 Swindon 39 -1 48
16 Yeovil 40 -16 48
17 Cheltenham 40 -17 47
18 Bristol Rovers 36 -3 45
19 Millwall 40 -14 45
20 Crewe 40 -16 44
--------------------------
21 Gillingham 39 -28 39
22 Bournemouth 40 -17 32
23 Luton 39 -14 30
24 Port Vale 40 -30 29

NEXT GAME:

 

Tranmere Rovers (a)

Friday 28 March, 7.45pm

Coca-Cola League One