Former Whites boss Tommy Widdrington is now at Southend as Assistant Manager and was quick to snap up Sean Clohessy, who opted to move up to the Football League rather than join Bath City.
On Tuesday night both the parking and teamsheet had been free but tonight saw the normal £2 parking reinstated with a teamsheet for 10p. The game kicked off at 7.30 and both teams had an early chance each. Jamie Turley put in a good cross that trialist striker Matt Wright headed over the bar.
Southend came very close to scoring in the 6th minute when a Louis Soares shot hit the left hand post and came out to Scott Spencer. Spencer hit a shot in but was given as offside so the goal didn't count.
Both teams created some openings with Southend exploiting their pace down the right wing and Salisbury using Wright as an outlet up front. He was unlucky not to connect with a cross with a diving header and had another headed goal disallowed for alleged interference with the keeper.
In the 44th minute Ben Adelsbury won the ball in midfield with a strong tackle, moved forward and then hit a 35 yard shot towards goal. The Southend keeper was not in a good position and was unable to get close to the ball as it flew over his head and into the top corner. A superb goal to give the home team a 1.0 lead at halftime.
At the start of the second half Salisbury made four substitutions with trialists Joyce, Silva, Dutton and keeper Pryce taking to the field. Southend replaced their keeper as Rhys Evans came on, with Moshni Bilel a replacement in the back four.
Salisbury came very close to adding a second goal moments after the restart. Tom Dunford recieved the ball at the edge of the area and tried to chip Evans. The ball flew over the keeper and dropped down only to hit the crossbar and bounce out.
Jamie Turley was having another good game in the centre of Salisbury's defence and made a couple of last ditch clearances to preserve the lead. There were some nasty challenges by Bilel - one leading to a melee in the far goalmouth while a crunching, lunging tackle in front of where I was stood had the Salisbury fans baying for his blood and asking Widdrington to get him off. They got their wish in the 80th minute following a late and unnecessary tackle on keeper Pryce.
It looked like Salisbury might hold out for most of the half but they came unstuck in the 84th minute after conceding a corner. The initial cross was cleared but went straight back to the corner taker. He managed to keep the ball in and take it inside the covering defender before putting in a deep cross to the far post for Pattison to head in.
Both teams tried to get a winner with Southend hitting a shot wide and Salisbury putting together a good counter-attack which Evans saved well. The game finished 1.1 and there were a lot of positive comments about the Salisbury performance at the end from the crowd of 536.
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