Solihull away: tickets, travel and why Southend must keep their edge

Six points from six makes Saturday’s trip to Solihull rather more inviting than it might have looked a fortnight ago, although the 12:30pm kick-off at Damson Park will demand an early alarm from every travelling Shrimper. Southend arrive after wins over Altrincham and Scunthorpe, while their hosts are still looking for a first point after conceding seven goals in two games.

That is plenty of reason to travel with confidence, just not enough to treat the result as a formality. Two August results can shape the mood around a fixture, but they cannot settle it before kick-off.

Away tickets and places on the Shrimpers Trust coach were still available online when we checked again at 10:17am UK time on Tuesday 18 August, though neither page shows how many are left. If you want the journey taken care of, the Trust coach is the most straightforward option. Drivers should plan for the Birmingham Airport Cargo Terminal NCP because Solihull’s Car Park B has sold out, while anyone using the train will need time for the final connection from Birmingham International on the X12.

Away tickets: prices and availability

Solihull’s online ticket page was still listing every away category as available when we carried out our publication recheck. The prices are:

• Adults: £22
• Ages 65 and over: £18
• Ages 16 to 24: £11
• Ages 12 to 15: £7.50
• Under-12s: £1

There is no confirmation that visiting supporters will be able to pay on the day, so we would book through Solihull’s official TicketCo page in advance. With kick-off at 12:30pm on Saturday 22 August, nobody needs the extra uncertainty of arriving at Damson Park without a ticket. Solihull list B92 9EJ as the postcode for satnav.

Shrimpers Trust coach

For many supporters, the Trust coach will be the easiest way of handling such an early away day. The Trust booking form was still taking Solihull reservations when we checked, although it does not show how many seats remain.

Travel costs £23 for Trust members, £28 for non-members and £10 for an under-18 travelling with an adult. The pick-up times are:

• Roots Hall: 7:00am
• The Elms: 7:10am
• Hadleigh Church: 7:15am
• Tarpots Corner: 7:25am
• The Watermill: 7:40am
• Fortune of War: 7:45am

Nobody will mistake those times for a leisurely Saturday morning, but the trade-off is a direct run without having to worry about parking or a missed rail connection.

Driving and parking at Damson Park

Car Park B for the Southend match is sold out, which makes the overflow plan important for anyone driving. Supporters who need accessible parking should email ticketing@solihullmoorsfc.co.uk before travelling; Solihull say the stadium has eight accessible spaces, so it is better to arrange one directly than arrive hoping a space is free.

The club’s recommended alternative is the NCP at Birmingham Airport Cargo Terminal, B26 3QT, around a 15 to 20-minute walk from the ground. Parking costs £6 for up to five hours when the code MOORS25 is entered at the payment machine.

Do not be tempted to save a few minutes by parking on Damson Parkway. Solihull class it as a red route and warn that cars left there are likely to receive a ticket, which would be a miserable way to finish the afternoon whatever happens on the pitch.

Train and local bus

Damson Park is not immediately outside a railway station. Solihull station is about two and a half miles from the ground, while Birmingham International is the nearer option at roughly one and a half miles away.

According to the club’s matchday guide, the X12 links Solihull town centre, the NCP and Birmingham International every 15 to 20 minutes on daytime matchdays. That makes the final leg workable, but an early kick-off leaves much less room to recover from a delayed train or a bus disappearing from the timetable.

Avanti has published a revised Saturday timetable for 22 August, but it would be daft for us to pretend that one fixed itinerary is guaranteed several days in advance. Check a live journey planner before leaving, give yourself a proper buffer and look again at the final bus connection. Engineering work and short-notice disruption have never cared what time the football starts.

Two starts moving in opposite directions

Southend could hardly have asked for a better opening fortnight. The 3-1 win at Altrincham showed the attacking threat in this rebuilt squad, then the 1-0 victory over Scunthorpe gave a packed Roots Hall a tighter and more demanding afternoon. Winning both told us a little more than either result would have done on its own: this side has already found two different routes to three points.

Four goals scored, one conceded and a first clean sheet of the campaign also leave Kieron Dyer with genuine choices rather than changes forced upon him. Ryan Colclough and Jack Twamley came up on the podcast as possible attacking options for Solihull, although none of us expects the manager to pull apart a team that has started with back-to-back wins.

Solihull reach Saturday from the other end of the early table. Chris Millington’s side followed a 5-2 defeat at Harrogate Town with a 2-0 home loss to Boston United, leaving them without a point and with seven goals already conceded. They have an obvious need to steady themselves at home, so Southend should expect a side trying to make the opening stages uncomfortable.

That contrast makes the Shrimpers reasonable favourites, but it also creates the first danger of the afternoon. If Southend begin with purpose, the doubts produced by those two Solihull defeats may come back quickly; if we allow the hosts to settle, the table will feel much less relevant than it did on the journey up.

What Southend should expect

The Scunthorpe win mattered because Southend worked their way through a physical, organised opponent without losing their heads. Solihull may ask a different question. A defence that has conceded seven in two league matches could decide to protect the middle, give away less space behind and challenge Southend to open up a more cautious shape.

If that is the plan, patience cannot mean passing slowly in front of them. Southend will need enough tempo to shift the block and bring their wide players into the game, while resisting the urge to force a final ball every time an attack reaches the edge of the area. The depth on Dyer’s bench should help as the match stretches, but it will only matter if the team keeps its shape and makes Solihull do the chasing.

That is why the first goal feels so important. A Southend opener would make it harder for Solihull to keep protecting the spaces they have already struggled to defend; a home goal would turn the afternoon into a test of whether the Shrimpers can chase without becoming frantic.

We picked out Joe Sbarra on the podcast as Solihull’s clearest individual creative threat. That is a supporter reading rather than any claim to know Millington’s plan, but it points to the discipline Southend will need when attacks break down. Confidence should not become a licence to leave too many blue shirts ahead of the ball.

Daniel Cox will know the surroundings better than most in the away dressing room, having spent the closing weeks of last season on loan at Solihull before signing for Southend in June. It is only a small subplot, though recent knowledge of the ground and some of the people on the other side is hardly a bad thing to take into an away fixture.

Last season’s meetings

Southend took four points from Solihull in 2025/26, winning 2-1 at Damson Park through two Andrew Dallas goals before the April return at Roots Hall ended 0-0.

Those meetings are a useful warning against reading too much into the present table. Southend won here last season, yet Solihull later showed they could frustrate the same opponent for 90 minutes. The squads have changed and a new campaign is under way, but Saturday will still require the control to go with all that early confidence.

The podcast verdict and our first watch-along

Phil has gone for a 3-0 Southend win and Charlie has stretched that to 4-0. I missed the latest podcast and never put a score on the record, so I am not going to invent one afterwards just to fill the space beside my name.

You can see why both have gone big after the way Southend have begun. The case for a Southend win rests on the attacking variety shown so far and the options on Dyer’s bench, although expectation can creep into a performance very quickly. If an early goal does not arrive, we need the team to keep playing the match in front of them rather than the comfortable win suggested by the predictions.

Saturday is also our first Talking Shrimpers watch-along of the season. Phil and I will be with you for the game, so if you cannot make the trip to Damson Park, come and join us on the live watch-along page.

Match details

Fixture: Solihull Moors v Southend United
Competition: Enterprise National League
Date: Saturday 22 August 2026
Kick-off: 12:30pm UK time
Venue: Damson Park
Satnav: B92 9EJ

If you are travelling, book the match ticket or coach while the relevant page is still showing availability and use the verified NCP plan if you are driving. Six points have earned us the right to look forward to this one; getting to nine will still take a proper away performance.