Match Preview | Southend United

The Bees will travel to Southend-on-Sea where 7th place Southend United will look to close the gap between us.

Barnet will be wanting to capture our good form at the end of 2022 after losing out to Oldham Athletic in a closely contested game. 

Southend United have been on an impressive run managing to pick up a possible 15 points out of 18 in their last couple of games. 

Southend got the better of us in the reverse fixture early this season winning 3-0 in early November. 

Nicknames: The Shrimpers 

Founded: 1906

Ground: Roots Hall Football Stadium (12,492 seats)

Manager: Kevin Maher 

Top goalscorers: Jack Bridge and Callum Powell (8 goals)

League position: 7th  

Form: WLWWW 

One to watch: Jack Bridge 

Jack Bridge is Southend United’s number 7 and plays in the central midfield. He has also had game time on the left side of the midfield. Bridge has made 29 appearances for The Shrimpers and found the back of the net 8 times making him the joint-top goalscorer. 

Bridge was born and rise in Southend and would join the academy at the young age of 9. He found find himself going on loan to a different club before making a permanent move to Northampton town in 2018. 

He would return to his childhood club with a move in the summer of 2021 as a free transfer and has now made over 50 appearances for Southend United. 

In the dugout: Kevin Maher

Kevin Maher is a familiar face at Southend United because during his playing career play made over 350 appearances for the club during a span of a decade. He would also be made captain of the club where he played a virtual part in getting the club promotion twice, from League Two to the Championship, in successive seasons. He started his career at Tottenham Hotspur youth academy and would be promoted to the first team but would fail to register a single appearance.

He would get his first managerial gig at Southend United coaching their under-21s and 23s team. Maher would have a quick stint as Chelmsford City caretaker before coming back to coach the youth teams. Before he was appointed the manager of Southend United he had two stints as the caretaker for Bristol Rovers the first happening in 2019 and the second in 2020. He has been at Southend United since joining them in October 2021.