Eastleigh 1-1 Southend United: Dyer changed the balance, but not the ending

For 65 minutes, Kieron Dyer’s changed Southend side had the lead his response to Barrow demanded. Then Josh Lundstram’s cross from the left found Temi Eweka at the back post for an 89th-minute equaliser. The 1-1 draw leaves a sharper question than whether Southend improved: why did the improvement still leave them one delivery from dropping two points?

Tuesday’s podcast asked how Dyer could make Southend harder to play against. My Eastleigh preview asked what he would change.

The change was on the team sheet

Harry Taylor, Anthony Hartigan, Sahid Kamara and Ryan Colclough started in place of Rayan Oyebade, Oli Coker, Zavier Massiah-Edwards and Sam Austin. Taylor for Oyebade and Hartigan for Coker were the clearest changes to the side’s balance. Starting Colclough also showed that Dyer had not simply abandoned attacking quality to gain structure. Kamara, whose absence from the Gateshead squad had gone unexplained before he returned from the bench against Barrow, was back in the XI.

Jack Sims kept the goalkeeper’s shirt, with Finley Woodham again among the unused substitutes. Harry Cardwell was available from the bench after the calf problem that kept him out against Barrow.

Eastleigh were not a soft test just because they had lost 4-1 at Harrogate on Saturday. They had won three and drawn two of their first five league games at the Silverlake, including a win over Carlisle and a draw with Boreham Wood. They had also beaten Southend 2-1 here last September, before losing 4-1 at Roots Hall in January. Matt Gray brought Jake Caprice and former Wales international Jonny Williams in for home debuts.

Eastleigh started quickly. Lundstram shot over and Sims saved from Hady Ghandour. Southend absorbed that spell and made their better period count. Colclough won the ball on the left, drove forward and crossed for Promise Omochere to head in from close range after 24 minutes. The goal came on Omochere’s second Southend start, following the miss that had marked his first against Barrow.

Southend nearly doubled the lead before half-time. Nick Townsend missed Hartigan’s corner, leaving Ben Goodliffe with a header he could not direct on target. Eastleigh survived the scramble. The changed side had done enough to get ahead but not enough to put the match beyond a home team with a record of finding its way back.

Four chances to end the argument

Dyer told Chris Phillips of the Echo that four or five Southend players felt unwell at half-time. He said Colclough came off in the 53rd minute because he felt he might be sick on the pitch. Watching live, I could see Southend’s energy fall away as the second half went on and the rain grew heavier.

Massiah-Edwards replaced Colclough against a club where he had spent a short loan spell last season. Another connection: Ben Goodliffe was playing against a side coached by his father, Jason, Eastleigh’s assistant manager.

Eastleigh took more of the ball and Sims tipped over Ghandour’s cross-shot. Yet Southend had opportunities to settle the result even as the game became a slow, wet watch. Cardwell, on for Omochere, had one shot blocked and another saved by Townsend after Leon Chambers-Parillon’s run. Lewys Twamley fired over. Austin then shot straight at Townsend after Massiah-Edwards carried Southend forward.

For me, the illness explains some of the drop in energy without excusing four chances going untaken or the failure to deal with Eweka at the back post. Against Barrow, a missed chance on Omochere’s first start preceded defensive damage. Here Omochere scored, but Southend still left the match close enough for one late cross to undo their work.

Lundstram supplied it again

The preview named Lundstram for his delivery in Eastleigh’s winner against Carlisle and their equaliser at Harrogate. It warned Southend to defend the ball into the area and the next contact. At the Silverlake, Lundstram crossed in open play and Eweka won that contact at the back post. The phase was different; the supplier and the danger were not.

That is the uncomfortable answer to the preview’s question. Taylor and Hartigan helped Southend through Eastleigh’s early pressure, and a lead lasting until the 89th minute is evidence that the changes achieved something. But the back-post defence still failed when Lundstram found Eweka.

The cost at the top

This makes one clean sheet in eleven league matches. It also adds a second late equaliser to the other side of Southend’s familiar comeback story. At Carlisle, Kyle McAdam put them ahead in added time before Georgie Kelly levelled at 90+6. I called that a point stolen because Southend had been second best for much of the match. Eastleigh is different: Omochere’s lead stood for 65 minutes, with chances to extend it. These are two points Southend had a real opportunity to keep.

Harrogate’s 1-0 win at Hartlepool and Altrincham’s 1-0 win at Gateshead on Tuesday had pushed Southend down to fourth. Wednesday’s point restored third place on goal difference, with 21 points from eleven matches, one behind Harrogate.

Boreham Wood beat Kidderminster 3-1 on Tuesday and lead on 29 points, eight clear of Southend. AFC Fylde, Saturday’s visitors to Roots Hall, are fifth on 20.

The TSP predictions

Southend’s score is listed first in every prediction.

Contributor	Prediction
Sensei Phil	2-2
Charlie	1-1
Chris B	2-1
Katie	2-0

Charlie called the exact score. Phil saw the draw coming but expected more goals. Katie backed a 2-0 win, which needed the second goal and clean sheet Southend failed to deliver. My 2-1 allowed for another Southend concession, which was the concern, while still backing them to finish the job. They had chances to do that and did not take them.

I wanted to see the lessons from Barrow in the football, not hear them repeated afterwards. For a half, I could. The task against Fylde is to make that answer last.

Match details

Eastleigh 1-1 Southend United (half-time 0-1). Enterprise National League, Silverlake Stadium, Wednesday 30 September 2026.

Goals: Eastleigh: Eweka 89. Southend: Omochere 24.

Southend: Sims; Daley-Campbell, McAdam, Hartigan, Goodliffe, Kamara (Twamley 62), Oldaker, Omochere (Cardwell 62), Taylor, Chambers-Parillon (Austin 72), Colclough (Massiah-Edwards 53). Unused substitutes: Woodham, Backwell, Keogh.

Eastleigh: Townsend; Caprice (Rankine 62), Eweka, Lundstram, Randall (Dickov 74), Blair, Dobson-Ventura, Ghandour, Cousins (Stone 78), Johnson, Williams (Sidwell 62).

Attendance: 2,199, including 616 Southend supporters. Referee: James Durkin.