Play-off hopefuls cling on to the dream

ATHLETIC’S final home game in Coca-Cola League One features two teams heading in different directions.

While Athletic have slipped to mid-table obscurity after a dismal second half to the campaign, the Shrimpers have staged an unexpected late bid for a play-off place.

And though they are likely to miss out on a top-six spot, Southend have built up a momentum which they hope to carry into the 2009/10 campaign.

Southend arrive at Boundary Park in eighth place and can still mathematically qualify for the play-offs.

They would have to win their last two games of the season while Tranmere must lose their final two fixtures and Scunthorpe would have to pick up no more than one point from their last three matches.

It is an unlikely scenario, but the Shrimpers won’t be throwing in the towel until it is impossible which could be the case at shortly before 5pm tomorrow.

Athletic, who are without a win in their last 10 league matches, will be eager to finish their home campaign with a long-awaited and much-needed victory.

They will also be looking for a league double, having won 2-1 at Roots Hall in November courtesy of goals from Chris Taylor and Lee Hughes, neither of whom will feature in a depleted Athletic team.

It won’t be easy against a Shrimpers since boasting the division’s best away record in the last third of the season.

They have triumphed in six of their last seven away league matches at Northampton, Huddersfield, Hereford, Brighton, Peterborough and Colchester. The only blemish was a defeat at Swindon.

The run of away-day successes is remarkable bearing in mind they had failed to win in 10 previous away league matches on the road.

Southend have had a terrific end to the campaign after looking dead and buried in mid-February when they were in 14th place, 15 points adrift of the play-offs.

Since then they have won 10 times and lost four, collecting 30 points from those 14 fixtures.

The Shrimpers’ success has been achieved without a prolific scorer.

Their leading marksman is Lee Barnard with 10 goals, followed by Theo Robinson (7), Peter Clarke (6) and Dougie Freedman (5).

There is considerable local interest as Athletic midfield player Kevin Maher will face the club where he spent 10 years before being released last summer.

And Southend include three players with Athletic connections – Steve Mildenhall, Kevin Betsy and Anthony Grant.

Mildenhall, the giant 6ft 6in keeper, was at Boundary Park in 2004/05 and has since played for Notts County and Yeovil.

The much-travelled Betsy, who was born on the tropical Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, was at Athletic in the same season as Mildenhall. He has since played for Wycombe, Bristol City, Yeovil and Walsall.

Midfield man Grant, meanwhile, was on loan from Chelsea in 2005/06 and, after similar spells with Wycombe, Luton and Southend, he joined the Shrimpers on a permanent basis last summer.


FIXTURES

TONIGHT – Leicester v Scunthorpe.

TOMORROW – Chelt-enham v Carlisle, Colchester v Peterborough, Hartlepool v Leeds, Huddersfield v Brighton, Millwall v Leyton Orient, MK Dons v Walsall, Northampton v Hereford, Athletic v Southend, Stockport v Crewe, Swindon v Bristol Rovers, Tranmere v Yeovil.