Southend Utd 1, Huddersfield Town 1

Aug 22 2005 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Man of the Match:

Martin McIntosh - PUSHED all the way for the top award by Danny Adams, who was excellent, Tosh just shaded it for his influence at both ends of the pitch. So strong in the air in the absence of Booth

How they rated:

Paul Rachubka Made a great catch and quick clearance to set up Abbott's equaliser on the stroke of half time to put Town on front foot Rating: 7/10

Andy Holdsworth Made a super early block and had a cracking half volley well saved in the second half. Pushed on with plenty of purpose Rating: 7/10

Danny Adams Excellent game. Made a goal-saving block on Gray early in the game and won stacks of hard tackles. A driving force Rating: 8/10

Martin McIntosh Commanding at the back and had three of Town's best chances. Very unlucky with a header blocked on line Rating: 9/10

Nathan Clarke His long throw troubled Southend from the off. Was able to push on and prompt the attack during the second half Rating: 7/10

Danny Schofield Hit the outside of a post with one of Town's best chances of the game. Also did good defensive work early in the game Rating: 7/10

Jon Worthington Got another smack in the eye for his troubles and did a lot of unselfish work, linking play well in the middle at times Rating: 7/10

Mark Hudson Broke forward superbly at times. Should have hit the target with two second-half efforts, but hiis best game so far Rating: 7/10

Chris Brandon Not as influential as usual on the right wing and his frustration looked like boiling over, so he was brought off Rating: 6/10

Gary T-Fletcher An encouraging first start. Lots of positive running but fired wide from his best chance on a 16th-minute break Rating: 7/10

Pawel Abbott Booked for dissent but made amends with a cracking fourth goal in as many games. Hard working throughout Rating: 7/10

Turning point: IT came on 66 minutes when Southend keeper Darryl Flahaven, with cover from Luke Guttridge, managed to block a fierce downward header from Martin McIntosh near the line. A lead for Town at that stage, with the home team down to 10 men, would almost certainly have signalled another three points on the road.

Spotlight on the Ref: IDENTIFIED as Mr Merlin on the teamsheets, Paul Melin from Surrey was hardly wizard but he had a pretty good game overall. He gave a clear warning to Abbott before booking him for back-chat and he had no option but to send off Eastwood for raising his hands to Holdsworth. Got around the pitch well and decision making wasn't bad at all

Southend United: Flahaven, Jupp (Hunt 9), Barrett, Edwards, Wilson, Pettefer, Guttridge (Bentley 75), Maher, Gower (Goater 80), Gray, Eastwood. Subs not used: Cole, Smith.