Southend V Dagenham 1970

F.A Cup 2nd Round, 12th December 1970

Southend V Dagenham

Southend won 1-0 in front of a 10,900 crowd, thanks to a Billy Best goal.

 

 

Camera

One big regret I have is that despite going to hundreds of games from the early seventies till a few years ago, and owning a camera since my teenage years, I had never took one to a game until 2005?
Got my first digital camera that year and actually took it to the LDV Final in Cardiff between Southend and Wrexham, even then I only took a couple of shots before the game kicked off?
Several hundred trips to watch West Ham and the only time I took a camera was a wet day at Fulham, went with one of my kids who had reminded me just before we set off, but again only grabbed a couple of shots.
The whole modern trend of "the selfie generation" standing in the crowds at Football, concerts etc. with a phone in the air recording everything has really passed me by.
Years of standing on crowded terraces, being squashed on underground trains, and going manic when your team scored meant that any thought of having to save those images for the future never entered my mind.

Here's a few of those very few that I have taken, and none are very impressive.

Fulham

Cardiff

Wembley

Newcastle and Sunderland

Boston?

 

Man City V Southend 1956

Article about Man City getting ready for their first ever meeting with Southend in the FA Cup 4th Round in 1956. City won the game 1-0

 

 

Chico Time

 Former Southend and Chelsea player Chico Hamilton who signed for Aston Villa in 1968.

 

Going To Millwall

An old workmate was a regular Millwall fan had often asked if I wanted to go with him to a game.
Being a West Ham fan I wasn't too keen for obvious reasons, then in 1984 they were due to play Southend (my 2nd team) so I took the plunge. 

He drove us down there in his old battered Cortina and at the time it was the old Den in Cold Blow Lane,  the area was a bit of a wasteland with piles of rubbish everywhere and old disused warehouses. The Isle of Dogs was nothing like it is today but this was a few years before Canary Wharf and turning the area into the upmarket one it is now.

As it goes I quite enjoyed it, there wasn't many people there and the ground was one of those really old run down ones that I like, remember thinking the floodlights were about 10 candle power as it seemed really dim, and it was obviously on the Concord flightpath as that went over. As I made my way through the terraces we saw famous Millwall fan Danny Baker.

When the game kicked off I was a bit worried that I could be in trouble if Southend scored and would have to control myself, but didn't need to worry as Millwall won 4-0 which was probably for the best.

I did go to several more games there after with him and it always seemed pretty friendly!!

Here is the programme which is a bit confusing as it says it was a morning kick off on the 1st April, but the game was actually played on a Wednesday night on the 18th April. I can't remember why the original game had been postponed but probably wouldn't have gone if it had taken place on the original day?

Southend 1954

Found the remains of an old 1954 local paper, this one seems to be having a dig at Southend's team selection?

Southend United

My local club Southend are having a decent year, which hasn't always been the case.
Glory moments are few and far between.
The only ones that stick out are beating Man Utd a few seasons back in the League cup, holding Liverpool to a draw in the FA Cup in the seventies, beating Newcastle 4-0 to go top of the league (Division 2, now the Championship) back in the early nineties and reaching Cardiff 3 times in 3 years (2 LDV/JPT Trophies and a play off final) plus the first ever Wembley trip 2 years ago.
The rest of the history doesn't add up to much :(
A few years back I picked up some old scrapbooks at a boot sale full of footie clippings from the late 50's, included amongst them were several Southend ones. I posted them on a Southend memories page on Facebook but forgot to post them here, so here they are :)
All from around 1957-59.