National League Play-off Final

Oldham Athletic 3 Southend United 2 (after extra time; 1-1 after 90 minutes)

JOHN CHUBB at Wembley Stadium

Southend United came within ten minutes of promotion back to the Football League they dropped out of in 2021 at Wembley yesterday afternoon, after taking a 2-1 lead early in extra time which saw scenes of joy amongst the 25000+ supporters who had travelled from South East Essex and beyond to cheer them on.

But their opponents Oldham Athletic stunned them with two goals in a late comeback, to book their place in next season’s EFL League Two after three years away, in front of a record crowd for a National League play-off final of over 52000.

Southend got off to the best possible start, as in only the fifth minute Charley Kendall put Kevin Maher’s men 1-0 up, after Gus Scott-Morriss provided a high ball at the expense of Oldham goalkeeper Mathew Hudson, and the Shrimpers striker was able to lift the ball over the head of the Latics number one and put his side 1-0 in front.

With 26 minutes played the Latics came fairly close to levelling the scores, but Mike Fondop fired his effort wide of Blues goalkeeper Nick Hayes’ goal.

With six minutes to go until half-time, there was a .big shout from Oldham and their supporters for a penalty, after Harry Taylor dispossessed Fondop inside his own area, but referee Elliot Bell judged that he had got to the ball first and this was proved by the TV replays.

Then with a couple of minutes left before half-time,the live!y Fondop came very close to securing an equaliser for Oldham, but his effort sailed wide to the left of Hayes’ goal, and Southend remained 1-0 up as he half-time whistle was blown.

But it wasn’t a good start to the second half for the Essex side, as Athletic won a penalty shortly after the restart which was confidently converted by Joe Garner,who sent Hayes the wrong way to level the scores.

Fondop had a great chance to give Oldham the lead in the 63rd minute, but Hayes reacted swiftly to block his effort.

In a rather drab second half nothing else of any great note happened until the 86th minute, when Southend won a corner which connected with Ben Goodliffe’s head, but the Colchester United loanee couldn’t get enough power behind the ball and it was safely gathered by Hudson, as was a long range effort from Scott-Morriss shortly afterwards.

Referee Bell added on nine extra minutes due to.stoppages, but nothing could.separate the sides and the final was heading into extra time.

Southend regained the lead .less than a minute after the start of the extra half hour, after Hudson parried away a Scott-Morriss cross, which fell to substitute Leon Parillon, who nodded the ball into the back of the net to put the Shrimpers 2-1 in front.

That was still the scoreline going into the second period of extra time, and just after.play resumed Josh Walker went on a run and fired in a shot from a tight angle, which wasn’t far away from going in but Oldham shot stopper Hobson managed to clear he ball away.

That miss proved to be costly for Southend, as Oldham scored twice in the space of three minutes through substitutes James Norwood and Kian Harrett put the Latics 3-2 ahead.

The Shrimpers battled on, but looked increasingly tired as the end of extra time loomed, and were unable to find a way back into the match.

At the final whistle,.Kevin Maher’s players dropped onto the turf in dejection, whilst their opponents went to celebrate promotion with the large following that had travelled from the North West to cheer them on.

So Southend will have a fifth campaign in the National League next season, but given the trials and tribulations the club went through for a.long time prior to last year’s change of ownership, Maher, his squad and the supporters can feel very proud of what they have achieved this season, and optimistic about a future which appeared unlikely at all not so long ago.

OLDHAM ATHLETIC (Manager: Micky Mellon) – Matthew Hudson, Reagan Ogle,Mark Kitching (Shaun Hobson 98), Tom Pett, Manny Monthe, Joe Garner (James Norwood 75), Charlie Raglan (c), Corry Evans (Kian Harrett 102), Vimal Yoganathan (Tom Common 84), Joe Pritchard (Jes Uchegbulam 67, Jordan Rossiter 115).

SOUTHEND UNITED (Head Coacn, Kevin Maher) –  Nick Hayes, Gus Scott-Morriss, Nathan Ralph (c), Jack Bridge (Leon Parillon 63), Noor Husin, Harry Taylor, Cav Miley, (Oli Coker 77), Ben Goodliffe, Tom Hopper (Josh Walker 90), Keenan Appiah-Forson (Joe Gubbins 114), Charley Kendall (Macauley Bonne 63).

Attendance: 52115