Southend United Ladies: a rebuilt side aiming high after a mixed start

Southend United Ladies began the season with almost 300 appearances in their back three and four competitive debutants around them. That is this team in one picture: an experienced core trying to carry a rebuilt squad towards another challenge near the top.

The first three results have been mixed. Southend beat Hertford Town 1-0 in the league, lost 3-2 at home to Frontiers in the Women’s FA Cup and then went down 2-0 away at Chelmsford City.

Three games will not tell us where they finish. They have told us enough to make the season worth following.

A winning start which should have been easier

Hannah Stone scored the first competitive goal of Southend’s season against Hertford at Garon Park. Her 33rd-minute finish came from around 20 yards after Abbie Rex’s cross was collected by Georgia Hyland and laid into Stone’s path.

There was patience in the build-up and real quality at the end. Southend should still have made the afternoon easier. Abbey Dell was denied after Lauren Johnson sent her through, while Zoe Tryfonos and Hyland both went close. Stone threatened again from the right.

Molly Lee was just as important at the other end. She pushed out a fierce Emily Warren shot and later smothered Elissa Morris in a one-on-one. When Southend failed to find a second goal, those saves mattered.

The clean sheet mattered as much as the winner. Hertford made Southend work through a demanding final 20 minutes in the heat, but the home side found a way through it.

Rex, captain Johnson and last season’s player of the season Jodie Murphy supplied the experience at the back. Hyland, Tryfonos and Darcy Drewitt made competitive starts. Maizie Kelly followed from the bench for her debut.

The established players gave Southend a base. How quickly those new names settle may decide how high this side can go.

Two new midfielders make their mark

The FA Cup defeat to Frontiers was a setback, especially after the team spoke before the season about wanting a better run. It also showed that goals can come from the new group.

Drewitt and Kelly scored Southend’s two. Katie Burbridge told the Talking Shrimpers podcast that the new midfield additions both found the net from long range, with efforts which looped over the goalkeeper.

Burbridge described a tight, feisty tie which remained in the balance through much of the final 20 minutes. Frontiers eventually took it 3-2 and Southend’s cup campaign was over at the first hurdle.

Too little threat at Chelmsford

Nick Sheldrick made six changes for Southend’s first away league game. Lee, Amber Denton and Sophie Stack returned. Niamh Carpenter and Kelly made their first starts, as did new signing Hannah Warner.

Kelly produced Southend’s first effort after chasing Lee’s long goal-kick, but most of the first half was spent without the ball. Denton made two important interventions, while Carpenter and Warner also stopped Chelmsford attacks inside the area.

Southend reached half-time at 0-0 because of that defensive work. The match changed in the 51st minute when Murphy clashed with Chelmsford’s Ewelina Przybylek, who converted the resulting penalty.

Johnson shot over in response. Sheldrick introduced Tryfonos and Stone, but Southend never built enough pressure to threaten an equaliser. Abi Woollvin added the second with six minutes left after a right-wing delivery was not gathered.

It was the least encouraging performance of the three. Rotation will affect fluency in a rebuilt side, but Southend still need to find a better attacking level away from home than they produced at Melbourne Park.

Across all competitions, the opening record is one win from three with three goals scored and five conceded. There is no reason for panic, but no reason to pretend the Chelmsford performance met the standard this group has set itself.

This is not a team starting from nothing

Southend finished second in Division One South last season. They won 11 of 18 league games and scored 50 goals on the way to 35 points. Watford Ladies Development won the division seven points ahead.

A top-end challenge is therefore not something invented for a preseason interview. Southend were close enough last year to understand the next step.

This is not exactly the same team having another go. Ellie Nicholls left after supplying a large share of the goals. Sheldrick’s answer was not to nominate one replacement. He wants scoring contributions throughout the side.

Stone, Drewitt and Kelly have provided the first three, which at least starts that process across different players. More will be needed, and the Hertford chances show there have already been opportunities for a stronger return.

The FA currently lists 28 registered Southend players. It is a useful record, not a depth chart, because it does not tell us who is available on a given Sunday. The opening matches do show Sheldrick giving new players responsibility early.

The people and targets at the centre of it

Johnson is the captain and a link between the club’s early youth work and the senior team now trying to move forward. She said in August that she joined Southend at 14 through its first youth setup and had represented the club for about 11 years.

Winning the league would be the dream for Johnson. She believes a top-three finish and continued progress are realistic measures for a squad which still has to gel. She also wanted a longer FA Cup run. That part of the plan has already gone after the Frontiers defeat.

Murphy entered the season as the reigning player of the season. Rex brings more defensive experience, while Lee has already shown her value in goal. Stone delivered the opening winner and the new midfielders made an immediate contribution in the cup.

Striker Abbey Dell entered the campaign wanting more goals and a higher finish for the team.

Burbridge began playing when she was four or five and spent eight years in a boys’ team before moving into girls’ and women’s football. She is also part of Talking Shrimpers, which gives our coverage a first-person connection to the squad without changing the need to be honest about performances.

Burbridge has spoken about the improved standards in training and wants Southend to become a side opponents fear. Her version of success includes recognisable, cohesive football rather than results alone.

Sheldrick has not promised a finishing position. His stated aim is to push towards the top end and challenge for promotion. That ambition fits a team which finished second, but the rebuilt side still has work to do before its league position can match its target.

Nick Sheldrick and a more serious setup

Sheldrick was appointed in November 2025 as the first Southend United Ladies manager employed in a paid capacity. The 31-year-old UEFA B licence holder previously worked with Billericay Town, Needham Market Ladies, Essex County FA Women and Dagenham and Redbridge.

The paid role says something about the direction of the programme. So does the increase in contact time.

Sheldrick told Talking Shrimpers that the players now train on Tuesday and Wednesday, with online meetings planned to help the group learn together.

That process will not appear neatly in every scoreline. New combinations can look promising one week and disjointed the next. Hertford showed a side able to create chances, then protect the result when it had to. At Chelmsford, the attacking fluency disappeared.

Greater integration with the wider club is part of the same work. The Ladies side now shares the club’s kits and has more visibility. A fuller youth pathway remains a long-term ambition. So does eventual semi-professional status.

Roots Hall showed why this matters

To understand the audience waiting for Southend United Ladies, go back to May. The side beat Colchester United 6-0 in its first match at Roots Hall, watched by 3,055 people.

Southend did most of the damage before half-time. Ellie Nicholls scored a hat-trick in her final appearance for the club and Stone added the other as the side went in four goals ahead. The player listed on the official match record as Trialist B added a fifth after the break before Lily Aungier completed the scoring in stoppage time.

Sheldrick described the performance as a statement that Southend intended to compete at the top of their level. It was an emphatic way to close the previous campaign, but the occasion carried more weight than the score.

Johnson and Burbridge have both spoken about what that day meant. Younger supporters wanted pictures with the players and treated them as the people they had come to see.

That gives a young supporter a team to recognise and gives the players proof that people will turn up when the opportunity is there.

The next one comes against Wormley Rovers at Garon Park at 2pm on Sunday 6 September. The club says entry is free. You do not need a season’s worth of background to start following them. Turn up, watch the game and decide what you think.

What comes next

The early cup exit has gone. The league season is only two matches old, which leaves time for new combinations to settle and for Sheldrick’s extra work on the training pitch to show.

The first question is whether Southend can turn more of their chances into goals. After that comes consistency. The level cannot drop as far as it did at Chelmsford if this is going to become another top-end season.

It is too early for a verdict. It is not too early to start watching.

Fixtures and results are available on the Talking Shrimpers website, and we will be covering Southend United Ladies with match reports throughout the season.