Southend matched their Boxing Day result to boost their own play-off hopes as Fleet boss Josh Wright said it was “a game too far” for his barebones squad and a patched-up defence.
Josh Passley was another unavailable after his sending-off on Good Friday and that meant Alex Aoraha returning to the starting lineup with the manager naming himself amongst the substitutes.
George Moncur, against his old club, was first into the action when his free-kick from the left was punched clear by Nick Hayes. But after that, the visitors pushed up the pitch in search of the goal they desperately needed after a goalless draw on Friday.
They almost got it on 14 minutes when Keenan Appiah-Forson’s effort was initially blocked by Mustapha Olagunju and then Ben Goodliffe arrived for the rebound and his powerful long-range strike came back off the woodwork.
They did get the goal a minute later though. After a spell of pressure, Fleet cleared their lines but Southend were able to get away down the left and Charley Kendall skipped past the Fleet defence to tuck the ball away into the far corner – his third goal for three different teams at the Kuflink Stadium over the past two seasons.
Fleet dug in after that and tried to play Aaron Cosgrave in with a number of searching balls forward while at the other end, Goodliffe tried an acrobatic attempt on goal. Mark Cousins was forced to pull off a good close-range save following a headed effort by Tom Hopper and the Fleet keeper frustrated Southend’s forwards with another effort pushed away to safety.
Fleet were still well in the match at just a goal down when the half-time break came but the game ran away from them in the second-half. Oli Coker almost extended the Southend lead a few minutes after the restart when his first-time attempt drew another excellent save out of Cousins.
But Coker found his goal when Jack Bridge sent a delivery across the area which met with Coker who stabbed the ball home to double the Shrimpers’ advantage on 64 minutes. And a third arrived for Southend as substitute Macauley Bonne got himself in a good position at the back post only six minutes after coming on which allowed him an easy tap-in past Cousins.
The goals kept coming for the visitors and the final one on 90 minutes was from another sub as Josh Walker joined in on the act when Leon Chambers-Parillon battled into the Fleet box and Walker ran on to bury the ball in the roof of the net.
EUFC: Cousins, Lankshear, Manktelow, Olagunju, Bolger, Carr, Aoraha (Poleon 52), Chapman, Moncur (Harriott 67), Edser, Cosgrave. Subs: Wright, Tanga, Anthony, Goddard
SUFC: Hayes, Scott-Morriss (Wind 84), Ralph, Taylor, Goodliffe, Bridge (Parillon 88), Husin (Miley 84), Coker, Appiah-Forson, Hopper (Bonne 69), Kendall (Walker 69). Subs: Gubbins, Andeng-Ndi
Attendance: 3,125 (1,640 away)
Photos: EUFC / Ed Miller
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