Southend 3-2 Yeovil: a comeback to savour, an hour not to ignore

At 2-0 down, Southend looked, to borrow Kieron Dyer’s phrase from Monday, dead and buried. Twenty-seven minutes later, Promise Omochere was celebrating a debut winner in front of the South Stand and Roots Hall had completely lost itself.

It was an incredible comeback. It was also a match which should not be allowed to become a convenient 3-2 story in which everything before Darren Oldaker’s free kick is forgotten.

For an hour, Southend were too slow, too easy to expose and again too wasteful when openings appeared. For the final half hour, they played with the purpose, tempo and courage Kieron Dyer wants to make the identity of this side.

The task now is to produce that football for 90 minutes, not wait until the game appears lost.

Possession without a threat

The first half lacked incision. Southend had plenty of the ball in Yeovil’s half, but possession moved without enough speed or penetration. Neither side had created a chance after 20 minutes and the first decisive pass of the afternoon belonged to the visitors.

Zain Westbrooke’s ball over the top released Archie Davies in the 25th minute. Harry Taylor went to ground as he tried to deal with it and Davies lifted his finish beyond Joe Duncan.

Southend wanted a foul. Dyer said afterwards that members of his staff watched the incident again and believed one should have been given, while people on the Yeovil bench did not. The referee allowed the goal and, whatever the argument over the contact, one ball had again opened Southend up.

Ryan Colclough worked hard to drag the game forward. He tested Jos Barker from distance and Leon Chambers-Parillon also forced the goalkeeper into a save after winning the ball high up the pitch. The efforts were there, but Harry Cardwell was too often fighting a losing battle by himself through the middle.

Southend ended the half a goal down and with boos around Roots Hall. Dyer later called the football slow and laboured. That was fair.

Two shots, two goals

There was more urgency after the break. Colclough forced Barker into two saves and Southend appealed for a penalty when he went down in the area. Then Yeovil crossed halfway and scored again.

Ryan Jones found Luke McCormick in the 58th minute and the Yeovil captain curled an excellent finish beyond Duncan. It was a quality strike, but the ease with which Yeovil reached the opportunity exposed the defence again.

The published match data tells the story brutally. Southend finished with eight attempts to Yeovil’s two, and five shots on target to two. Both Yeovil efforts on target went in.

For me, Vontae Daley-Campbell was Southend’s man of the match. He was the one defender playing with any certainty, kept giving Southend width when Dyer pushed the full-backs on and supplied the cross Cardwell flicked towards Omochere during the comeback. Omochere made the decisive contribution, but across the entire match Daley-Campbell was Southend’s most consistent performer.

That attacking gamble carried risk, but something had to change. Dyer made three substitutions in the 63rd minute, bringing on Omochere, Rayan Oyebade and Josh Popoola for Oli Coker, Taylor and Lewys Twamley. Southend stopped circulating the ball in front of Yeovil and began forcing the visitors to defend their own penalty area.

One free kick changed the belief

Oldaker started it in the 66th minute. From around 25 yards, he curled a superb free kick beyond Barker and into the South Stand goal.

It was an excellent set piece because of the control, not because he tried to smash the cover off the ball. Oldaker found the space above and around the wall and, as soon as it went in, the mood of the match changed.

Southend still needed some fortune. With the score at 2-1, Stephen Walker appeared ready to restore Yeovil’s two-goal lead before Kyle McAdam raced back to intervene. Had Walker made it 3-1, the afternoon almost certainly ends very differently.

Walker’s chance cannot be edited out of the story. Southend earned the win with the pressure they applied, but they also rode their luck.

Promise changes the picture

Omochere brought the dimension Southend had been missing. He gave the centre-backs a physical contest, made the ball stick and allowed teammates to get close enough to matter. Cardwell was no longer left to occupy the entire Yeovil defence alone.

The equaliser showed it. Omochere held off the pressure and laid the ball to Chambers-Parillon, whose low effort beat Barker in the 79th minute.

It might have been one of Southend’s least convincing strikes of the afternoon, but it was the one that brought them level. The build-up was excellent, the finish was scuffed and the ball went in. Football can be like that.

Six minutes later, the debutant completed the turnaround himself. McAdam played the ball into Omochere, who used his strength to hold off his marker, turned and drove a fierce finish into the roof of the net.

That was the clearest glimpse yet of what the new signing can offer. If Omochere stays fit, he is going to be a handful at this level. One substitute appearance does not answer every question, but a goal and an assist within 22 minutes of coming on is quite an introduction.

Trust earned back, but only partly

Southend deserve full credit for the fight. At 2-0, after the previous two results and with frustration growing inside Roots Hall, it would have been easy for the game to drift away. Instead, the players increased the tempo, kept winning the ball back and attacked in waves until Yeovil cracked.

The crowd played its part too. The official attendance was 8,246, including 295 from Yeovil, and the noise rose with every Southend attack once Oldaker had opened the door.

Three points are always welcome. So is a team refusing to accept defeat. Supporters went home having watched a great game and a finish they will talk about for a long time.

But the first 60 minutes cannot be hidden by the excellent 30 which followed. The defence was exposed twice. The attack lacked a focal point. Colclough and Chambers-Parillon worked openings, but the finishing remained wasteful until the shape changed and Omochere arrived.

Before the match, Dyer had made a major statement by saying he could not trust some players. Afterwards, he told them: “Please, please have the trust that I have in you.” The final half hour was an answer, but only the beginning of one. They earned some trust back by refusing to fold. The next task is to earn it over an entire match.

If this is the attacking football Kieron Dyer promised, it is certainly entertaining, although perhaps not recommended for supporters with weak hearts.

Match details

Southend United: Duncan; Daley-Campbell, Taylor (Oyebade 63), Cox, McAdam; Oldaker; Twamley (Popoola 63), Coker (Omochere 63), Chambers-Parillon; Colclough (Hartigan 86), Cardwell (Austin 89).

Goals: Oldaker 66, Chambers-Parillon 79, Omochere 85; Davies 25, McCormick 58.

Attendance: 8,246 (295 away).