Southend United 3-1 AFC Fylde: the press delivers the response

After Barrow, I wanted Southend to make an opponent uncomfortable instead of being forced off their own game. Against AFC Fylde, the answer arrived in the second minute. The 3-1 win at Roots Hall was deserved, although the visitors had enough chances to make the result much closer. The strongest evidence of improvement came before Southend took the lead: they had gone after Fylde’s possession from the start.

Before kick-off, Roots Hall remembered James Walker with a minute’s applause. News of the former Southend forward’s death at just 38 had brought sadness during the week. He made 54 appearances for the club between 2008 and 2010, and Saturday offered a moment to celebrate his life. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

What Dyer kept from Eastleigh

My preview asked which parts of the Eastleigh change Kieron Dyer would retain. Anthony Hartigan stayed in the starting side with Darren Oldaker, and Jack Sims kept his place in goal. Harry Taylor moved to the bench. Dan Cox returned after the red card that ended his Wales Under-21 duty early, while Harry Cardwell started ahead of Promise Omochere.

Josh Popoola, absent from the previous two matchday squads, returned in place of Sahid Kamara. Oli Coker remained a substitute; he came on for Ryan Colclough before half-time. The preview had already corrected my reading of Coker’s absence at Eastleigh: Dyer had rested him because of an ongoing issue.

The balance I had been looking for depended on what those choices allowed. Hartigan protected the back four and kept the ball moving, giving Oldaker more freedom ahead of him. I thought Cox’s return alongside Goodliffe helped Hartigan look forward with confidence instead of spending the match reacting to trouble.

The opening the preview identified

The preview had named Fylde’s commitment to playing out as an opportunity if Southend coordinated their press. Cardwell gave that pressure its trigger. After Leon Chambers-Parillon had curled a shot wide, Cardwell closed Zac Jones as Fylde tried to build from the goal kick. The goalkeeper’s hurried clearance reached Oldaker. Southend worked the ball back to him on the left of the area, from where he shot across Jones into the far side of the goal in the second minute.

Oldaker’s position gave the regain an immediate destination inside the box. The angle demanded an accurate finish, captured in Bryan Rocknean’s photograph. Away from the goal, I liked the way he received in tight midfield spaces and turned to open the pitch.

Southend’s own passing then supplied Fylde with opportunities. Cox’s poor backpass led to Greg Olley missing an open goal. Ben Goodliffe’s backpass went further, beyond Sims and into the North Bank net for the equaliser. Pitchside after the match, Goodliffe told Sensei Phil he had scored “a 35 yard screamer”.

Three minutes later, Colclough restored the lead against his former club, finishing Daley-Campbell’s cross from the right via the inside of the left post. Southend had answered the mistake without letting it interrupt their attacking play.

Dyer explained afterwards that the move had begun with Cox using Sims to recycle possession, before Hartigan found Daley-Campbell on the other side. Hartigan’s first-time pass into the space behind Fylde gave the full-back room to deliver.

I still prefer Southend to clear the immediate danger and contest the ball further up the pitch. A backpass directed towards their own goal leaves little margin when the goalkeeper is elsewhere, and I put that mistake on Goodliffe. The second goal explains Dyer’s argument for recycling through Sims, but it does not remove the risk that worries me.

Daley-Campbell kept supplying chances

Daley-Campbell was my man of the match. The National League also selected him at right-back in its Team of the Week. His cross for Colclough gave Southend the lead back. Six minutes into the second half, Cox’s tackle broke up a Fylde attack and Southend moved the ball to Daley-Campbell. His delivery found Goodliffe at the far post. Jones saved the header, but Goodliffe followed it with a left-footed finish off the underside of the bar, making the score 3-1 at the correct end.

A further right-wing cross found Chambers-Parillon unmarked close to goal, only for the midfielder to head wide. Daley-Campbell later set up Coker, whose shot went straight at Jones. The deliveries had given Southend chances to extend the lead; on both occasions the finish was missing.

Oldaker also dropped into the right-back area when Daley-Campbell went forward. His willingness to cover mattered: Southend could release the full-back without leaving the same space available for Fylde to attack.

Harvey Broad, the preview’s named threat from Fylde’s left, did start. Max Taylor replaced him after 36 minutes, with Southend already 2-1 ahead. That shortened the contest anticipated in the preview; it would be too much to claim Southend had neutralised his forward runs for a full match.

The chances still left the result vulnerable

Before the break, Cox headed Hartigan’s cross against the bar. Chambers-Parillon’s later miss was especially costly because Daley-Campbell had found him free so close to goal. Southend created enough to extend their lead, yet their finishing kept Fylde interested.

Olley’s early miss was a substantial reprieve. In the second half, Luca Thomas shot over from distance with Sims off his line. Jack Morris then headed against the woodwork and, late on, fired wide of the right post from a good position. Fylde’s failure to convert those openings belongs in the assessment of a deserved Southend win.

I felt the shape became less secure after the later substitutions, as the energy fell. Dyer described an illness-affected camp, with Colclough needing to come off early. It was the second consecutive match in which illness had affected Southend; Hartigan had been struggling for three days, according to the manager.

Coker then sustained a severe dead leg, while Daley-Campbell finished with cramp. Dyer said he had wanted to remove Coker and described a side physically unable to keep pressing as it had for the first hour. Southend’s retreat was forced, in his account. That deserves weight alongside the missed chances, particularly after the late equaliser at Eastleigh had made another tiring second half uncomfortable to watch.

The back line still sounded quiet on the television coverage. The microphone cannot tell the whole story, but I want more direction from a defence that is beginning to look settled.

The cost at the top

Southend remain third, with 24 points from twelve league matches, one behind Harrogate. Boreham Wood came from behind to beat Altrincham 3-1 and reached 32 points, so the gap to the leaders stays at eight. Fylde dropped from fifth to seventh on 20 points; Southend have opened the four-point advantage the preview said a win would bring.

The defensive record still reads one clean sheet in twelve. An own goal accounts for Saturday’s concession, but Olley’s opening and Morris’s header prevent that from becoming an argument that Southend had kept Fylde under control. The improved press helped win the game. There remains work to do when opponents get beyond it.

The TSP predictions

Southend’s score is listed first in every prediction.

Contributor	Prediction
Sensei Phil	1-2
Charlie	3-1
Chris B	2-2
Katie	1-1

Charlie called 3-1 exactly, following his exact 1-1 at Eastleigh. My 2-2 allowed for more Southend defensive damage and another recovery; I am pleased they made that call too pessimistic. Sensei Phil expected Fylde’s away form to carry them to a win. Southend made the visitors chase instead, although the chances conceded explain why both draw predictions had a reasonable basis beforehand.

Next up: Boston away

Southend go to Boston United on Saturday 10 October. Boston lost 6-0 at Yeovil at the weekend, but I would not mistake that for a promise of another easy afternoon. They have a home response to make. My call is a 4-1 Southend win. If Boston try to press early, Oldaker’s turns and Daley-Campbell’s runs offer a way into the space behind them. Southend need to make those openings count before the energy falls again.

Match details

Southend United 3-1 AFC Fylde (half-time 2-1). Enterprise National League, Roots Hall, Saturday 3 October 2026.

Goals: Southend: Oldaker 2, Colclough 16, Goodliffe 51. AFC Fylde: Goodliffe 13 own goal.

Southend: Sims; Daley-Campbell, Goodliffe (Taylor 71), Cox, McAdam, Oldaker, Hartigan, Popoola, Chambers-Parillon (Massiah-Edwards 71), Colclough (Coker 42), Cardwell (Omochere 60). Unused substitutes: Austin, Keogh, Woodham.

AFC Fylde: Jones; Drewe, Lancaster, C. Whelan, Broad (M. Taylor 36), Merrie (Main 56), Olley (Matthews-Lewis 66), T. Whelan, Butterfield (Upton 56), Mayor (Morris 66), Thomas. Unused substitute: Boyes.

Attendance: 8,371, including 46 AFC Fylde supporters. Referee: Craig Hicks.

Sources & further reading10 sources+

• Talking Shrimpers: GOODY TWO SHOTS (5 October), match analysis and Boston outlook
• Football Web Pages: Southend 3-1 AFC Fylde, match record
• Brian Jeeves, Yellow Advertiser: match report and goal descriptions
• The Non-League Paper: James Walker tribute
• Gloverscast: National League Team of the Week
• Football Web Pages: National League table after 3 October
• Boreham Wood: the 3-1 win over Altrincham
• Football Web Pages: Yeovil 6-0 Boston
• Talking Shrimpers: Fylde preview
• Talking Shrimpers: Eastleigh report

Chris Phillips’ Echo live updates and Dyer’s post-match comments were also drawn on.

Photograph: Bryan Rocknean.