Tims 92

Southend United

Roots Hall

Ground No. 65

Visited - Saturday 21st May 2005
Result - Southend United 1-0 Northampton Town
Competition - Coca-Cola League 2 Play-Offs (Semi-Final)
Attendance - 9152

With the end of the 2004/05 season fast approaching, I decided to take the opportunity of getting one final ground on the list done before the summer.

Having seen the first leg of the other League 2 play-off tie, up at Lincoln the previous week, it was another journey eastwards, but this time in a southerly direction, towards Southend, to see their second leg meeting with Northampton Town. The first leg between the two sides had finished 0-0, so with all to play for, there seemed every possibility of it being a good game.

The journey down there went fairly well, changing in London to get a connecting train, and after that I arrived into Southend-on-Sea at about 2pm, choosing to get off at Prittlewell station and walk to the ground from there, before going into town.

Once at the ground, the first thing you notice is how hemmed in it is by houses on all four sides, there certainly isn't any room to expand if the club wanted to do so, hence the talk of a move to a new stadium. After walking around as much as the outside as I could, I eventually found an open gate, and went inside to get some pictures. Once inside it's a much more impressive sight than the exterior, although the ground is far from being able to be called modern, it does have a charm, perhaps unmatched anywhere else in the country. With the barrel and sloping roofs of 3 sides, and the numerous pillars all around, not to mention how tightly packed in it is, you cant help but fall in love with it.

I was able to walk all around the stands, taking pictures from every angle, which was good, so after having got enough pics, I finally left, walking around to the ticket booth to collect the ticket that I had pre-booked several days earlier. For the rest of the afternoon, I ended up walking around the town, and sea front, before time eventually caught up, and it was back off up to the ground, ready for the game.

I'd chosen to sit in the Upper-Tier of the South Stand, and after going in, eventually found my seat, which offered a perfect view of the action. I was on the front row, directly behind the goal, overhanging the lower tier. We were unbelievably close to the pitch, it felt like I could reach out and actually touch the goal net! In that respect, it reminded me of Loftus Road and the School End, which gives you a similar feeling of being close to the pitch. Despite the great view, the downside to this stand was that it had fairly poor facilities, and as well as not much leg room, it did seem poorly designed, in that it was quite difficult to get out of at the end of the game.

To our left was the West Stand, which was quite interesting, a fair sized, single tier, all-seated stand, which had a double barrel shaped roof supported by plenty of pillars. The corner between this stand, and the one opposite was filled in, although the North Stand was smaller than the West Stand, and the roof dipped down to accommodate this. Like the West Stand, the opposite end also had a barrel shaped roof, although with less rows, there was only one ‘barrel’. Completing the Roots Hall picture, was the East Stand, which was the tallest structure of the lot, and had a sloping roof instead of the barrel type. All in all, despite not offering the comforts of other grounds, it did have plenty of character, and I personally quite liked it.

Due to Sky TV, the game eventually kicked off at 6:15pm, so with the last train back being at 8:38pm, I was praying that it wouldn't go to extra-time, otherwise I would have been faced with a choice of either watching the game, and having to find a hotel, or missing the conclusion to the tie. The first half didn't exactly fill me with confidence, as it was played out with neither side seeming to have the cutting edge. Southend started brightest, and for a large part of the half, looked like they would win with ease, but the goal just wouldn't come, and Northampton gradually got more and more into it, finishing the half the stronger team.

In the second half, with only four minutes gone, a rather dubious penalty was awarded to the home side by the ref, who wasn't having the best of games. Top scorer, Freddy Eastwood converted with ease, right in front of us, and with that a few nerves were settled. Unfortunately though, like the first half, Southend didn't really seem to be able to convert their possession into chances, so buoyed by this, and with a gathering urgency to get something out of the game, the visitors started to press forwards, and it looked inevitable that they would eventually score, taking the game (as id feared beforehand) into extra-time. Thankfully though the hosts managed to hold onto their slender lead, and when the final whistle eventually went, after four minutes of injury time, a great cheer went up around Roots Hall, as a place in Cardiff was confirmed.

Throughout the game, unlike at Lincoln the previous week, the Southend fans really rose to the occasion, and helped their team with a barrage of sound. No doubt aided by the design of the ground, they really were quite loud, with most of the singing seeming to come from the area around me.

After clapping the team off, everyone eventually left the ground, and I made the hurried walk back to the station, hoping to get back in time for the train back to London. Once there though, standing on the platform, the train kept getting delayed, and delayed, by half an hour in all, which got me worried, as once back in Liverpool St, it left me with just 15 minutes to get back to Euston, for the last train home. Fortunately though, the tube was working well, and I managed to make it with five minutes to spare, back on the train home, after a long day.

Overall I was quite glad that I made the trip, Roots Hall really is a great ground, and it will be a shame when/if the club do eventually move out, because although it's obvious that to compete at a higher level they would need a new ground, it's unlikely that they will manage to quite capture the charm that their current home holds. Hopefully one of the days I’ll get the chance to go back, as it ranks up there as one of my favourites.