It has taken me the whole of Saturday and all of Sunday morning to bring myself to even want to think about the shambles I witnessed at Roots Hall. I jokingly said to my mate that it couldn’t be any worse than the LDV game a couple of years ago! Don’t you believe it! 

The line up and bench was the same as Burnley so it was 3-4-3 with Royce behind Mancienne, Cullip and Stewart. Ainsworth, Bolder, Lomas and Timoska were across the middle with Rowlands and Cook either side of Blackstock. 

Rangers got off to an awful start with a terrible error from the increasingly erratic Royce. A routine back pass was misjudged horrendously by the keeper and he never got to the ball properly to strike it. He was on the stretch and his poor effort cannoned of Bradbury and crept over the line. Rangers never looked like recovering from the error and it the only surprise is that Southend hadn’t scored again before the break. Royce did redeem himself eventually but not before another of his limp wrested punches almost handed Southend a second. He made a fine save from a Lomas header and held a low Bradbury shot midway through the half. 

Rangers should have had a penalty when Lee Cook was clearly hauled over by Peter Clarke. If we could see it from the diabolical viewing position in dilapidated Roots Hall then referee Walton has no excuse. Well he does, he referees most games with his head up his arse which does impair the vision somewhat.  

Half time was a blessed relief for the Rangers fans as it meant they could do something other than watch the garbage that was on show in front of them. The second half started with Cullip inches away from a crazy own goal and Lee Cook testing Flahavan with what must have been Rangers first shot in anger. 

Rangers had a second penalty shout when a ball pinging around in the Southend box struck a hand but if Walton couldn’t see the first one it was a waste of time even appealing for the second. The moment when the game really turned away from Rangers came when Sami Timoska injured his groin and couldn’t go on. 

This was the time for Gregory to change it and get some help up with the criminally isolated Dexter Blackstock but instead he stuck with the formation, brought Rehman on to play wide right and moved Ainsworth to wide left. I sent a text to Ron in the pub at this point and said he has made the wrong change, how right I was! 

Within two minutes the consistently inept Rehman had gifted Southend the second goal. The Shrimpers had a free kick in the middle of the park and Mark Gower on the left made a run behind Rehman. All the R’s fans saw it but Rehman didn’t and when the leaden footed oaf had finally clocked onto what was happening it was too late. Gower collected Maher’s quick pass and fired it past Royce. 

Seven minutes later Gregory finally decided to get some help up with Blackstock and replaced Cullip with Ray Jones. Yet another tactical masterstroke and for the second time Southend scored within two minutes of the change. A left wing corner was sent into the box and Efe Sodje flew in to power a header past Royce to make the game safe. I haven’t seen the goals, but I would lay odds that Sodje had been marked by Cullip at every other corner. 

That was enough for me and given the three hour journey there I was on the way back to the car when I received text messages telling me about the fourth and fifth, both scored by Kevin Maher, which were excellent by all accounts. If there is any small consolation from the evening, I was back in Ruislip by 10.40!  

The performance smacked of the bad old days of Francis’ second spell when 5-0 defeats at Preston and Wimbledon as was saw the R’s fans fighting amongst themselves whilst there was precious little in the was of fighting on the pitch. This team seems to be going the same way and when they need the fans the most they are doing a fine job of making people stop wasting their money and slowly turning people that previously thought there was a chance into people that think all hope is lost. 

The management need to take some blame also, the Rehman change was just plain barmy, Jones should have been thrown on when there was still an outside chance of getting something. You could argue that Gregory didn’t know that would happen but given that Rehman has to be the worst centre half at the club since Gus Caesar I think he could have had an educated guess. 

No ideas, no fight, no chance. 

Man of the Match: Erm… Any ideas as I cant pick one out of that shower!

simon@qprnet.com