Written by Kedge
So there I was, Seat 132, Row R, Block V in the West Stand at Roots Hall, on Tuesday 7th November 2006, at 8:26 in the evening. A hush had settled on the crowd. Breaths were held. Hearts stopped. Time stood still.
Some guy wearing a blue shirt kicked a white, spherical object which came to rest in some nylon mesh attached to some white posts.
The crowd went mad. I went mad. Total strangers were jumping up and down, hugging each other.
We all sat down again. There was a lot of running around by people in red shirts and blue shirts, the white spherical object was kicked and thrown and chased all over the place, and then at 9:50 a man dressed in a green shirt blew a whistle and the world went mad again.
So? What was that all about?
Well lowly Southend United, bottom of the Championship, without a win in 11 games, had just knocked Manchester United, Top of the Premiership, one of the richest and most successful clubs in the world, out of the Carling Cup.
To put it into perspective, before anyone thinks, well Dah! Anyone could beat the Man Utd 2nd team, Here is the lineup on the night:
Mancheser United
Tomasz Kuszczak Polish International Goalkeeper
John O’Shea Republic of Ireland International Defender
Wes Brown England International Defender
Mikael Silvestre French International Defender
Gabriel Heinze Argentinean International Defender
Cristiano Ronaldo Portuguese International Midfield/Winger
Darren Fletcher Scottish International Midfielder
David Jones Uncapped Midfielder
Kieran Richardson England International Midfielder
Alan Smith England International Striker
Wayne Rooney England International Striker
Southend United
Darryl Flahavan No international appearances
Lewis Hunt No international appearances
Spencer Prior No international appearances
Efe Sodje Nigerian International (9 appearences)
Steven Hammell Scottish International (1 appearance)
Jamal Campbell-Ryce Jamacian International (3 appearences)
Peter Clark No international appearances
Kevin Maher No international appearances
Mark Gower No international appearances
Freddy Eastwood No international appearances
Gary Hooper No international appearances
I’m sure there were some other things that happened, but to be honest the only thing that mattered after 8:26 was that the scoreboard stayed as it was.
And so to the quarter finals. Who do we fancy? Well, Arsenal at home would be nice. Bring it on!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
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4 comments:
Well done Southend! I didn't hear the result until the morning after, and even then I assumed they'd played a 2nd string Man U team.
Thanks to your article, Kedge, I now consider myself correctly informed! What an achievement... I hope their run in the competition has some way to go yet!
Come on the Shrimpers!! (As it were...)
Spurs v Southend would be nice...
Inspired call Smart.
To me thats as good as playing the Arsenal - maybe gives us a better chance.
Lets all get tickets and have a SPAOTP match day out!
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