Chatham Cup Round Two
Southend United 0, Caversham 4;

Southland Football’s last remaining Chatham Cup hope Southend United was bundled out of the competition at Bain Park yesterday when it was beaten 4-nil by Footballsouth Premier League team Caversham from Dunedin.

The visitors, currently placed second in the league, were restricted to only a few passages of the fluent football they are renowned for, but their clinical finishing in front of goal proved too much for the Amcal Waikiwi Pharmacy sponsored Southend unit.

Hmmm...a pretty surly looking Andy Duncan (centre foreground)
maybe not overly happy with Cavy's play.

A solid start led by Southend’s back line trio of Mark Faulkner, Iain Walker and Jacob Grant kept the Caversham strikers at bay until the 25^th minute of the first half when a deflected shot on goal found its way to Caversham’s Ant Hancock who volleyed the ball from the edge of the penalty area past Southend’s keeper Gregor Ramsey.

Southend's Grant Faulkner runs the ball out of play
ahead of Cavy's Anton Ross

Ten minutes later Anton Ross combined with Patrick Fleming in a slick passing exchange that led to Ross doubling Caversham’s lead to 2-nil.

The game threatened to get away completely from Southend when 5 minutes later Fleming himself netted Caversham’s goal number three.

Southend's Mark Faulkner about to intercept the ball from Cavy's Patrick Fleming.
And did...

The signs were ominous for Southend as the teams went for the half-time break.

However a drop off in performance from the visitors and a lift in effort from Southend United meant the teams produced just the one goal in the second half and that was scored by Caversham’s Evan Jones after 9 minutes of play.

Southend’s front runners Andrew Ridden and Steve MacDonald frequently combined well to make life a little more difficult for the Caversham defenders but more often than not Caversham’s Player-of-The-Day Darren Overton was somewhere in the vicinity to help break down the threat.

Southend & Spirit FC player Andy Ridden clearly gets the ball away
from Cavy's Patrick Fleming.

Southend did get the ball in the net midway through the half but the goal was ruled out by an offside decision.

The fixture was the most important one yet for local referee Nobby Clark who with his assistants Dean Seager and John Doody allowed it to flow but controlled it with authority.