Eastwood helps Blues see off Wimbledon

10 Apr

Grant scored the second to make the game safe

A TURGID encounter at Roots Hall was brought to life by on-loan Freddy Eastwood who scored one and assisted another to give Blues victory over Wimbledon and almost assure the club of a play-off place.
Blues are now too far behind the other clubs in the race for automatic promotion but will almost definitely be extending their season having maintained a seven point gap above eighth placed Crewe Alexandra.
A slow and frustrating opening half led many fans to fear another poor home result. David Martin had the best chance but screwed an 18-yard shot wide after a fine crossfield pass by Eastwood.
The visitors rarely threatened but Christian Jolley almost found a team mate with an inviting ball across the box towards the end of the half.
With Martin replaced by Neil Harris and Bilel Mohsni reverting to a midfield spot, Southend gradually started to dictate the play in the second half and opened the scoring with 20 minutes left. A clever set piece saw a short corner returned to Ryan Hall, whose deep cross was headed back by Phillips into the path of the unmarked Eastwood, who flicked his close range header past Seb Brown.
Eastwood was also involved as Blues made the game safe late on. His square pass found Anthony Grant on the edge of the box, who took a touch before striking a fine low shot on the half-volley from 20 yards that gave Brown no chance.
A bank holiday crowd of just under 7,000 went home happy, but with teams above them winning, Southend will need to win all of their remaining four matches to keep their slim chances of automatic promotion alive.

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