Deja Vu as Albion slip to defeat

Martin Carruthers and David Lee were on target for Southend in a 2-0 victory over the Seagulls on the opening day of the season.

They struck again in the second half at boggy Withdean yesterday to complete a notable double for the men from Essex.

The result and the scorers may have been the same as at roasting Roots Hall back in August, but conditions could not have been more contrasting.

The pitch was worse than ever and ref Steve Baines made a couple of inspections before deciding the game could go ahead.

Baines unwittingly did his home town team Chesterfield a favour as Albion spurned the opportunity to narrow the gap on the table-toppers to just one point.

Micky Adams was made to regret using his powers of persuasion on Baines.

"The pitch was the same for both sides," Adams said. "Myself and David Webb Southend manager decided the game should go ahead.

"With hindsight and the way the ball ran in the first 20 minutes it was a bad decision."

The state of the playing surface was not the only decision Adams ended up regretting.

He controversially left 16-goal Bobby Zamora out of an unchanged starting line-up following the prolific teenager's one-match ban.

Adams stuck instead by the team which prevailed at Barnet on Boxing Day, a policy which soon got stuck in the Withdean mud.

The flanks, particularly the one in front of the north stand, were in an awful mess.

The conditions were not conducive to Nathan Jones showing his skills against his old club on the left wing, or Paul Brooker his trickery on the right.

Both were substituted after only 33 minutes, Zamora and Darren Freeman coming on to form a narrow three-pronged strike force with Gary Hart.

"I didn't think it was a game for little wingers," Adams explained. "We want to get the ball down and play and that was impossible.

"I don't like it, but I thought the aerial route and physical strength would serve us better.

"The two substitutions were not to embarrass the players concerned. Conditions didn't suit them. Unfortunately the substitutions didn't work."

Adams is being a little hard on himself in that respect. Zamora and Freeman had Albion's best efforts.

Freeman was desperately unlucky not to break the stalemate early in the second half.

Darryl Flahavan, the Southend keeper, had fly hacked clear and was well out of his goal when Andy Crosby volleyed the ball back into visiting territory.

Freeman's audacious lob from 35 yards hit the crossbar, with Flahavan still stranded.

The result might have been different if that had gone in or indeed Zamora's header from Richard Carpenter's deep cross a few minutes later, which Flahavan pushed behind at full stretch.

Zamora also almost equalised with another header from a Paul Watson corner, which Damon Searle cleared off the line.

Adams' stance on team selection is understandable if, in my opinion, a little misguided.

He would argue it would have been unfair to leave anyone out after the 1-0 win at Barnet.

To have done so would suggest favouritism to certain players, a recipe for dressing room disharmony.

My view? You play your best team, which in Albion's case has to include Zamora.

That is not to say playing him from the start would have made any difference to the result.

Southend adapted better to the conditions and Scott Forbes missed two good chances at either end of the first half to put them in front.

A classic counter punch was eventually responsible for their lead.

Several Albion defenders were caught upfield when they lost possession deep inside the Southend half.

Carruthers broke clear from the halfway line, outstripping Charlie Oatway before calmly slotting his eighth of the season.

The Seagulls' first home defeat for four months was sealed by Lee within four minutes of his introduction.

He arrived unmarked beyond the far post to convert Forbes' low cross from the left, which eluded everybody in the middle of the box.