By Albatross
October 25 2002

After the midweek distraction of the LDV Trophy, it's back to the important stuff with a visit to Roots Hall to take on Southend. It's a tricky game, and Albatross looks at the opposition - and Pools' chances. Southend are currently in 8th spot, and five points behind Pools. This season started off slowly for them, with a draw at Hull followed by Home defeats to Carlisle and Shrewsbury before they got their act together with a run of three wins, Oxford, Cambridge and Rochdale being the victims.

They lost form during September, but in recent weeks had looked to have found some consistency; Wins at Roots Hall over Exeter and York, and a fine 3-1 win away to Bury had lifted them to 6th in the table. However they lost at Swansea last weekend, and then went down heavily in the LDV Trophy, 6-1 to Swindon.

It's fair to say that the team Southend fielded at Swindon was far from full strength. However, it did feature six of the team that played at Swansea, plus Graeme Jones, who had missed the game at the Vetch through suspension. In contrast, none of those who started for Pools in the 5-0 defeat at Tranmere had started the previous Saturday.

If nothing else, this may give Pools an edge in terms of fitness. Southend will without doubt make a number of changes, but it's likely that several of those lining up for them tonight took part in the midweek game: certainly Jones, Smith, Whelan, Cort and Flahavan will expect to start.

Graeme Jones is possibly the best-known name in the Southend side; having played a big part in Wigan's promotion a few years ago when he scored over 30 goals, he then spent a while injured before heading up to Scotland. Pools had been rumoured to be interested in him a few seasons back, but it's only this season that Jones - now 32 - has returned to the English League. He's not been as prolific as Southend might have hoped for though, scoring twice in the League and then bagging the consolation goal on Tuesday.

In fact, Goalscoring seems to have been a bit of a problem for Southend this season. They have scored just 16 goals in their 14 league games - compare this to Pools' 25. Leading scorers for the Shrimpers are Tes Bramble and Midfielder Neil Jenkins, with four apiece. Their Defence has let in 17 goals, similar to Pools record, and Leon Cort and Phil Whelan are likely to feature tonight. At 6'4", Cort is likely to be joining the Forwards for set pieces and will need to be carefully watched. The last line of defence is Darryl Flahavan, who had an impressive season last year and has already kept four clean sheets this season.

In Midfield, former Arsenal and England u21 player Ian Selley is likely to be joined by Jay Smith - on loan from Aston Villa - and Kevin Maher. On the bench is likely to be recent signing from Frome Town Mark Salter; the striker has been prolific in Non-League, and signed for the Shrimpers earlier this week.

The big question for Pools, as always away from home, is whether to go for 3-5-2 or 4-4-2. This is likely to be a tricky game for Pools, and experience shows that CT tends to go with three at the back in fixtures like this. The problem position is currently right wing-back; Darrell Clarke has played there recently without impressing too much, and with Bass not impressing at all against Tranmere the other alternative is Paul Arnison, who did OK in a back three at Prenton Park.

Marcus Richardson looks set to continue up front after his impressive debut, and the battle between him and Cort is likely to be a key battle if Pools are to win the game. However, I'd settle for a draw, and so that's what I'm predicting; 1-1, with Eifion Williams to add to his tally.