Preview: Southend United (H)

19 March 2021

The Iron will play the second of four home matches in quick succession on Saturday, when Southend United visit the Sands Venue Stadium (3pm kick-off).

Club News

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20 March 2021

SCENE-SETTER...

The Iron come into the game off the back of three 1-1 draws in their last four goals after Jordan Hallam's stoppage time equaliser in midweek.

Jordan Hallam restored parity for United in the third minute of five added onto the end of the game against Oldham Athletic in a game which saw the side register 19 shots on goal.

THE OPPOSITION...

Southend United come into the game second from bottom in the division with 30 points to their name from 35 games this season.

They have picked up three points in their last five games courtesy of three goalless draws, with the Shrimpers not netting in their last five league games.

The side have scored 21 goals and conceded 49 so far this season. Scunthorpe lost the reverse fixture 1-0 at Roots Hall in December in the only game the Iron have played in front of a crowd this season - only their second win of the season at that stage.

Shaun Hobson has played the most minutes for the Shrimpers this campaign having played 2,796 minutes, while Elvis Bwonomo has played 2,720. Tyler Cordner, who started the season on loan with the Iron from AFC Bournemouth, has played 451 minutes, starting five games and being a used substitute once.

TEAM NEWS...

Attacker Jordan Hallam (hamstring) will miss the game and the club are waiting for a report from a specialist, though it looks like he could be out for a while.

Midfielder Jem Karacan (knee) came off against Oldham and will how he reacts after taking part in training on Friday will be assessed before a decision is made on his involvement at the weekend.

Centre-back Harrison McGahey faces around three-to-four weeks out with a thigh problem, while fellow defender George Taft continues to be out with an ankle injury, though has started running on the training pitch again and manager Neil Cox says he could return to action before the season finishes.

Emmanuel Onariase continues to miss out with a groin problem but has returned to training this week and will continue to be assessed. He may return to the matchday squad, but a late decision will be made.

Striker Aaron Jarvis (hamstring) has had a fresh setback and could miss the rest of the season, while fellow forward Olufela Olomola is back training following a knee injury sustained after coming off the bench against Bolton Wanderers in November, but Cox says he needs to practice match game time to get match fitness up first. He played 80 minutes in a behind-closed-doors game against Doncaster a fortnight back.

Midfielder George Hornshaw and goalkeeper Adam Kelsey are both expected to be out for a couple of months following ankle surgery.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS…

Scunthorpe took maximum points the last time the sides met at the Sands Venue Stadium, back in March 2019. Tom Pearce, Tony McMahon, George Thomas and James Perch all netted as the Iron came from 1-0 down to win 4-1.

Overall, the two sides have met 58 times, with the Iron winning 25 of those, whilst Southend have won 18 games.

SEASON - DATE	COMPETITION	RESULT	IRON SCORERS
2020-21 - Sat 12 Dec	LG 2	Southend 1-0 Iron
2018-19 - Tue 12 Mar	LG 1	Iron 4-1 Southend	Pearce, McMahon, Thomas, Perch
2018-19 - Tue 27 Nov	LG 1	Southend 2-0 Iron
2017-18 - Sat 27 Jan	LG 1	Southend 3-2 Iron	Hopper, van Veen
2017-18 - Sat 23 Dec	LG 1	Iron 3-1 Southend	van Veen, Townsend, Turner (og)
2016-17 - Sat 4 Feb	LG 1	Southend 3-1 Iron	Wallace
2016-17 - Sat 10 Sep	LG 1	Iron 4-0 Southend	Madden, van Veen, Morris, Smallwood
2015-16 - Sat 13 Feb	LG 1	Iron 1-0 Southend	Madden
2015-16 - Sat 7 Nov	FAC R1	Iron 2-1 Southend	Madden 2
2015-16 - Sat 26 Sep	LG 1	Southend 2-1 Iron	McSheffrey
2013-14 - Tue 11 Mar	LG 1	Iron 2-2 Southend	Sparrow, Winnall
2013-14 - Fri 13 Sep	LG 1	Southend 0-1 Iron	Iwelumo
2008-09 - Tue 24 Feb	LG 1	Southend 2-0 Iron
2008-09 - Tue 21 Oct	LG 1	Iron 1-1 Southend	Hayes
2005-06 - Fri 10 Mar	LG 1	Southend 3-0 Iron
2005-06 - Fri 26 Aug	LG 1	Iron 1-0 Southend	Baraclough
2004-05 - Fri 11 Feb	LG 2	Southend 0-0 Iron
2004-05 - Tue 19 Oct	LG 2	Iron 3-2 Southend	Torpey, Hayes, Crosby
2003-04 - Fri 2 Apr	DIV 3	Southend 4-2 Iron	Sparrow, Torpey
2003-04 - Sat 27 Sep	DIV 3	Iron 1-1 Southend	MacLean
2002-03 - Sat 25 Jan	DIV 3	Iron 4-1 Southend	Carruthers, Kilford, Calvo-Garcia, Hayes
2002-03 - Sun 29 Dec	DIV 3	Southend 1-2 Iron	Carruthers, Torpey
2001-02 - Sat 23 Mar	DIV 3	Southend 2-0 Iron
2001-02 - Tue 23 Oct	DIV 3	Iron 2-0 Southend	Carruthers, Beagrie
2000-01 - Sat 24 Feb	DIV 3	Iron 1-1 Southend	Berry
2000-01 - Sat 23 Sep	DIV 3	Southend 1-0 Iron
1998-99 - Mon 5 Apr	DIV 3	Southend 0-1 Iron	Sheldon
1998-99 - Sat 10 Oct	DIV 3	Iron 1-1 Southend	Calvo-Garcia
1989-90 - Fri 16 Feb	DIV 4	Southend 0-0 Iron
1989-90 - Sat 2 Dec	DIV 4	Iron 1-1 Southend	Ward
1986-87 - Sat 11 Apr	DIV 4	Iron 3-0 Southend	Broddle, Johnson 2
1986-87 - Tue 4 Nov	DIV 4	Southend 3-1 Iron	Johnson
1985-86 - Fri 24 Jan	DIV 4	Iron 2-0 Southend	Hill, Broddle
1985-86 - Sat 14 Sep	DIV 4	Southend 2-1 Iron	Cammack
1984-85 - Fri 8 Mar	DIV 4	Iron 2-1 Southend	Cammack, Graham
1984-85 - Fri 19 Oct	DIV 4	Southend 1-1 Iron	Cowling
1983-84 - Fri 3 Feb	DIV 3	Southend 0-0 Iron
1983-84 - Fri 30 Sep	DIV 3	Iron 1-6 Southend	Holden
1980-81 - Sun 22 Mar	DIV 4	Iron 2-1 Southend	Pilling, Green
1980-81 - Fri 17 Oct	DIV 4	Southend 2-0 Iron
1977-78 - Fri 3 Feb	DIV 4	Southend 2-0 Iron
1977-78 - Sat 10 Sep	DIV 4	Iron 1-2 Southend	Lumby
1976-77 - Sat 5 Mar	DIV 4	Iron 1-0 Southend	Lumby
1976-77 - Fri 24 Sep	DIV 4	Southend 1-1 Iron	Keeley
1972-73 - Sat 4 Nov	DIV 3	Iron 0-0 Southend
1972-73 - Mon 25 Sep	DIV 3	Southend 1-0 Iron
1971-72 - Tue 25 Apr	DIV 4	Iron 1-1 Southend	Kirk
1971-72 - Mon 30 Aug	DIV 4	Southend 2-3 Iron	Davidson 2, Fletcher
1970-71 - Fri 18 Dec	DIV 4	Southend 2-2 Iron	Davidson, Kirk
1970-71 - Sat 22 Aug	DIV 4	Iron 3-0 Southend	Kerr, Foxton, Heath
1969-70 - Tue 7 Oct	DIV 4	Iron 2-0 Southend	Rusling, Cassidy
1969-70 - Fri 15 Aug	DIV 4	Southend 3-0 Iron
1968-69 - Mon 12 May	DIV 4	Iron 4-1 Southend	Cassidy 2, Rusling 2
1968-69 - Mon 17 Mar	DIV 4	Southend 0-3 Iron	Heath, Haydock (og), Cassidy
1965-66 - Fri 13 May	DIV 4	Southend 0-1 Iron	Sloan
1965-66 - Sat 30 Apr	DIV 4	Iron 0-0 Southend
1964-65 - Sat 23 Jan	DIV 4	Southend 0-1 Iron	Thomas
1964-65 - Fri 18 Sep	DIV 4	Iron 2-1 Southend	Sloan, Lawther

Our full record against Southend is as follows:

	P	W	D	L	F	A
Home	29	18	9	2	55	26
Away	29	8	6	17	24	43
TOTAL	58	25	15	18	79	69

ELSEWHERE IN SKY BET LEAGUE TWO...

Newport County v Leyton Orient (1pm)
Stevenage v Carlisle United (1pm)
Barrow v Crawley Town (3pm)
Bolton Wanderers v Walsall (3pm)
Bradford City v Oldham Athletic (3pm)
Cambridge United v Forest Green Rovers (3pm)
Cheltenham Town v Salford City (3pm)
Colchester United v Port Vale (3pm)
Harrogate Town v Morecambe (3pm)
Mansfield Town v Grimsby Town (3pm)
Tranmere Rovers v Exeter City (3pm)

Match Reports

Report: Iron 1-1 Southend United

20 March 2021

Alfie Beestin scored a late leveller to claim a 1-1 draw with ten men against Southend United on Saturday afternoon.

The Iron made one change from the team that faced Oldham Athletic in midweek, as Beestin came in for Lewis Spence.

An early right-wing corner from Alex Gilliead saw Kevin van Veen try to force an effort towards goal at the near post but it was blocked away.

Soon after, in the fifth minute, Gilliead was able to sidestep Alan McCormack and get into the box. His cross took a deflection and was sent out of the area to Jem Karacan, who saw his shot deflected, with Mark Oxley gathering.

With 10 minutes gone, McCormack attempted to stall the taking of an Iron free-kick by tying his laces in front of the dead ball. Nevertheless, the Iron played it short to van Veen, who saw a curling, looping shot go just over the bar.

Six minutes later, superb link-up play between Loft and van Veen saw the former lift over the head of John White for the latter. Van Veen then curled a 30-yard effort just over the bar.

On 17 minutes, Southend's Reeco Hackett-Fairchild controlled well on the left before cutting inside and firing a right-footed effort over the bar.

Two minutes after that, Simeon Akinola hooked the ball across goal towards Ricky Holmes but he couldn't get a clean connection on the strike as it ran through to Mark Howard.

Van Veen and Loft looked to link up again with 26 minutes played following a good pass from Beestin, but Loft couldn't quite reach the return. Gilliead strode forward and did win a corner though.

From it, van Veen's delivery was met by a far post header from Loft, with the ball going just wide of Oxley's right-hand post.

Soon after, the Iron won a free-kick 30 yards from goal after Gilliead had fed the ball into Loft, but nobody could connect with van Veen's subsequent ball into the danger area.

Akinola took down a ball over the top in the 37th minute and nudged the ball past Howard, with Clarke there to calmly control and clear.

Southend's Timothee Dieng was teed up the ball on the edge of the area in the 44th minute, but his shot bobbled across goal and wide of Howard’s left-hand post.

The final and third minute of first half stoppage time saw a chance for Southend as the ball came low into the box from the left, but the shot was fired just wide by Holmes.

Early in the second period, Beestin won a free-kick down the left channel for the Iron after being fouled by Holmes. Van Veen went short to Green, who hung in a cross, with the ball headed away.

A second cross was then put in from the left, with Jacob Bedeau ending up on the ground as the ball came towards him. A goal kick was given.

After 58 minutes, McCormack hit a half-volley towards goal from 25 yards which required Howard to palm the ball over the bar for a Southend corner.

The first Scunthorpe change was made in the 64th minute when Abo Eisa came on for Loft.

A minute later, Kyle Taylor was teed up on the edge of the area, but he lashed his 20-yard effort over the bar.

With 70 minutes played, after going down on the edge of the penalty area in need of treatment, van Veen was replaced and John McAtee came on.

Scunthorpe hit the post in the 72nd minute when Eisa opened up 25-yards from goal and had a go, with his low effort beating Oxley, but coming back into play off the upright.

Southend were handed a penalty on the 79th minute when Clarke committed a foul in the penalty area, for which he was sent off, and Ashley Nathaniel-George stepped up to score past Howard.

A double United change was made in the 88th minute as Rowe and Green were replaced by Teddy Howe and Myles Hippolyte.

Just moments later, the Iron were level as Karacan got the ball down on the edge of the area, and Beestin moved the ball onto his left foot before slotting beyond Oxley for his fourth goal of the season.

There were eight minutes of added time but no further chances as the game ended all square.

United return to action on Tuesday night when they host Bradford City at the Sands Venue Stadium (7pm kick-off).

IRON: Howard, Clarke, Bedeau, Gilliead, Loft (Eisa, 64), van Veen (McAtee, 70), Brown, Green (Hippolyte, 88), Beestin, Karacan, Rowe (Howe, 88).

IRON SUBS NOT USED: Watson, Spence, O'Malley.

SOUTHEND: Oxley, McCormack (Taylor, 61), Hobson, Dieng, Akinola (Goodship, 70), Hackett-Fairchild (Mellis, 82), Demetriou, Hart, Ferguson, White, Holmes (Nathaniel-George, 61).

SOUTHEND SUBS NOT USED: Seaden, Cordner, Acquah.