It's only thanks to Macclesfields narrow defeat at Doncaster that the Harriers don't find themselves third from the bottom of the League tonight after this awful defeat against fellow strugglers Southend Utd.

At Christmas both Darlington and Carlisle looked certainties for relegation but now we have only a single point advantage over Darlo and with Carlisle winning regularly the ten point gap will soon be made up and it'll be us and Macc at the bottom.

All fingers are pointing to the aftermath of the FA Cup games against Wolves and the striking similarities to Shrewsbury's cup run of last season.  After playing both Everton and Chelsea their season collapsed into a run of defeats and they slumped to second from bottom of the League in just a few weeks.

The one main difference is that they at least won two games in that bad run.  That's two more than we have.

In football circles this is now known as 'The Shrewsbury Effect' and has left football fans, observers and scientists confounded.


There was a return to the side for Abdou Sall in place of the suspended Wayne Hatswell and no place for either Danny Williams and Bo Henriksen.  Rumours abound that Danny is on his way out to Chester on loan and that Bo has gone back home to Denmark.  If Danny was going to Chester surely he'd have gone by now but in the case of Bo then I have heard that takings in the Watermill and Mirage are both down so there must be some truth in this.

Jesper Christiansen also came back into the side with John Williams and Scott Rickards returning to the bench as Jan opted to go for the single striker up front.  Graham Ward took the place of Rickards.

Within five minutes controversy took hold when Southend were awarded a penalty for a supposed infringement on Drewe Broughton.  Following a missed shot by Dudfield the referee pointed to the penalty spot.  He claimed that Abdou Sall had pushed Drewe but it appears to be a case of mistaken identity because it was Craig Hinton who was stood nearest to Drewe.

Constantine took the penalty and immediately after the ref crossed over to his assistants and duly sent Jan Molby to sit in the stand.  This is now the third time this has happened, away at Doncaster and at home to Swansea, and fan's say that he doesn't care.

Following that the Harriers seemed more galvanised and we went close on numerous occasions without finding the net.  Dean Bennett and Adam Murray both went close but not as close as Jesper who could have opened his scoring account but, with only the keeper in his way, his weak shot went straight at him.

Ian Foster then had a chance to thank Jan for bringing him back but his shot from outside the area went only inches wide.

Christiansen had another chance minutes before the whistle for half time but his header went well over even though he was just a matter of feet in front of the goal.  During these wasted chances for us Southend had just two of their own from Dudfield and Constantine.

We went into half time looking as though we could get something from this game but hadn't taken into account the referee.

Disaster struck the Harriers with just seven minutes of the second half underway when Southend were awarded yet another dubious penalty.

Broughton had a shot that came back off the post and was then returned back in by Mark Gower.  Matt Gadsby was well placed on the line to stop it going in but the linesman said that Gadders had handled it and the decisive referee agreed.

Constantine again showed us how to take a penalty and increased the deficit to two goals.

After that the Harriers heads dropped and Ian Foster made way for John Williams in an effort to rescue the game but he made no difference and Southend almost increased their lead further.  First Tes Bramble had a chance scuppered by new signing Dean Keates and then Dudfield again went close but shot just wide.

Soon after it was all over when the Shrimpers got the third and final goal.  It was another shot from Dudfield that this time was on target but, with the ball covered by Brock, Hinton tried to deflect it but only succeeded in putting it past his own keeper.  Lack of communication yet again!

The panic button has now been pressed, lights are flashing and alarm bells are ringing.  Will the players hear them?

Swansea at home (1 point?) Doncaster away (nullpoint?) Northampton and York at home (1 point?)  God help us.