Was it a Fox 50?

Steve Cotterill got an ovation at the start, just as well really. Some people booed at the end mostly out of frustration but at least they have learned to do the booing at a more appropriate time. What was noticeable from the time Uriah Rennie made Southend re-take the kick off, was the sheer volume of his whistle – does he have a Fox 50 specially made, or maybe an old-fashioned Acme Thunderer? Whatever, we had plenty of opportunity to ponder the decibel count through the night as the whistle barely left his mouth.

For the first 15 minutes Southend never left their half and there were promising contributions from Gifton but subsequently our visitors could have scored with a couple of shots across goal that beat the Beast and also the post, one either by Bradbury or Francis (depending if his shirt had a 2 or a 21 on it) and another from Hooper. Then on 30 minutes Rennie gave a free kick for dangerous play after Harley went to kick a ball and a Southend player ran from behind him and attacked his foot with his head. Thankfully they wasted it.

Most of our efforts for the rest of the half seemed to involve Gifton but despite the quality of his hold up play, the knock downs somehow never fell cleanly enough to claret feet. After 40 minutes I wondered what had happened to our wingers, such a threat for the past 2 games but almost absent at times today. Then Jones woke up with a quick run and a cross but the effort led just to a corner. There followed time for Rennie to give Southend a couple of dubious free kicks then we got one of our own deep into added on time. Rennie prolonged the agony long enough for John McGreal to go down in the box with what looked like a serious injury, after he had gone off half time was called as soon as the free kick had been taken. I'm sure Johnny Mac is delighted to have had the opportunity to injure himself for nothing.

In the second half I wondered how the defence would react to the reshuffle – badly was the answer with a jittery display and a couple of gifts from Harley and Foster, thankfully dealt with. Playing the ‘best side in the division' Southend must have thought the Championship had just become easier and started to play with more belief and energy. There was a lot of huff and puff from Burnley but not much quality. I had hoped it would have been like watching Brazil, instead it was Gremio that turned up for us on the night. At least the defence got their act together eventually.

Steve Cotterill then replaced both our wingers (Gareth for Wade and Mahon for Jonah) – not that strange really as neither of them had done much – and it began to look like a nil nil even with 15 minutes left. Mr Whistler was at it again but managed to miss the most blatant handball of the night.

It all fizzled out with 5 minutes of publicity for GM Fitted Furniture when we still didn't look like scoring and during which James O'Connor was named Man of the Match. I would have had Big Frank, Micah Hyde and Gifton up the list before him but it's a game of opinions. And finally a yellow card, to Flahavan (I know it was him because he was wearing green), then to another chap in white but by then I'd stopped trying to see the numbers because my head was hurting. At the end I was relieved we had kept a point and a clean sheet – earlier this season we lost games like this.

I suppose it has to be seen as a reality check, a performance that somehow didn't really click. In part Mister Whistler didn't help by breaking up the flow at every opportunity, but if we are going to sustain a run of form we really need to start grinding out victories against teams like this when we are off colour. Still, those of the disappointing 10,461 crowd who felt it necessary to boo at the end perhaps forgot that against Wolves, Colchester and Hartlepool it ended worse than this. Maybe the challenge of better opposition will produce better performances? On tonight's effort, however, we remain a work in progress rather than genuine promotion candidates.