SOUTHEND United were not just beaten in the second leg of their play-offs against Doncaster Rovers on Friday night – they were blown away.

The only department where they were superior to their Yorkshire opponents was in the supporters. “They were incredible,” said Blues boss Steve Tilson.

Sky Sports commentator Alan Parry commented: “It’s amazing. You would think Southend were winning 5-0 by the noise they are making.”

This was only one of a number of comments he and his summariser Garry Birtles made in tribute to the 2,000 travelling Blues fans as they kept up a continuous roar of encouragement throughout the second half.

At the end, the Doncaster fans had been clearly similarly impressed and raced down to the Blues end to pay their tribute, too, applauding them for several minutes.

Blues boss Tilson was quick to admit that Doncaster were the better team on the night. There was no doubt about that. Tilson commented: “I was a bit shell-shocked but Doncaster fully deserved to beat us, they played well, proved they are the best footballing side in the division, and I hope they go on and win it.

“We did well to get into the pay-offs and now we have to build for next season.” Ironically, though, it could have been so different had Blues seized an early opportunity to take the lead when Simon Francis embarked on one of his great surging runs down the right flank, and his centre was perfectly flighted to elude the Doncaster defenders, but James Walker ideally positioned at the far post hit the ball against the crossbar when all he needed to do was tap it over then line.

A goal then could have made all the difference. It would have given the Blues confidence, and rocked Doncaster back on their heels and they would have needed a quick reply to get back into the game.

Instead, though, it was Rovers who took the lead shortly afterwards when Peter Clarke became entangled with the impressive Jason Price in the penalty area and Stock put them ahead with a cleverly taken spot kick after sending Darryl Flahavan the wrong way.

There was just no stopping Doncaster after that. They took the lead when a cleverly floated centre into the Blues goalmouth was challenged by Price, Flahavan and Adam Barrett, and it was the Blues defender who got the last touch to send the ball over the line. This set up the scene for former Newcastle player, James Coppinger to completely
take over the proceedings going on to score one of the most brilliant hattricks you are likely to see.

He made sure Doncaster went into half time with an unassailable 3-0 lead with a spectacular dribble through the Blues penalty box, before slotting the ball home.

An almost identical run in the second half set him up to rifle a left foot shot past Flahavan, and then, when Blues conceded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area, he exchanged a quick onetwo with a colleague before swerving his shot into the top left hand corner of the net.

Blues 5-0 down were on their knees. But not their fans whose continuous encouragement was rewarded when Nicky Bailey scored a late consolation goal.

Nobody could complain about the result. Doncaster provided a brand of football that was a credit to League One. The mystery was how they failed to beat lowly Cheltenham Town on the last
day of the season and miss the opportunity of going up automatically.

Now, they must face Yorkshire neighbours Leeds United in this weekend’s final at Wembley. They will need a performance similar to that of the one against Blues to get through.

Blues must now start planning for the new season, which promises to be just as difficult as the one just ended – especially with former Premiership side Leicester City determined to get back to the Championship at the first attempt, and Blues’ neighbours Colchester United doing the same in a new stadium.

It was a great feat by the Blues in getting to the playoffs – although they will be rueing the bad run over Christmas which lost them the opportunity of an automatic promotion spot.