Dull, desperate and diabolical are just three words which describe Southend United's Third Division bore draw with York City at Roots Hall on Saturday.

The second-rate Shrimpers trudged off the pitch to chants of "what a load of rubbish" from their long-suffering supporters - who were made to look real April Fools, as they were dished up another large portion of mediocrity in exchange for their hard-earned cash.

This was the worst display by far of what has been a frustrating season by anyone's standards, but just when you thought it could not possibly get any more disappointing, it did.

Both sides on show at Roots Hall were pretty dire, but Blues, supposedly answering the call of their manager Alan Little to play for pride and seal a top ten finish, were definitely the vastly inferior of the two teams.

Fellow strugglers York are a very average outfit themselves, but they had more method, desire and, most importantly, heart than their Southend counterparts, who were a complete disgrace in almost every department.

In fact, loan-midfielder Nigel Pepper, one of four ex-Minstermen in the Seasiders' starting line-up, was the best Southend had to offer as he hungrily showed appetite for the battle.

However, the Aberdeen schemers' temporary South-end team-mates failed to follow his example as they spluttered their way through another miserable 90 minutes.

Time and time again Little's spineless troops were too busy hiding, when Southend desperately needed someone with character to shoulder the responsibility and muster some sort of spark to inspire Blues on the road to victory.

Too many of the Seasiders' players opted for an easy long-punt forward or a kick into touch when a calm head and slight hint of inventiveness was required.

But that was during a good spell. For most of the game Little's troops were made to look like an 11-piece comedy cabaret act as they failed to carry out the basics of the game, such as communicating with each other.

In fact, Southend had their very own Three Stooges in recalled defender Leo Roget, his central rearguard partner David Morley, and goalkeeper Mel Capleton, who were constantly getting themselves in a muddle and nearly gifting York glaring openings as they failed to open their mouths in a style more akin to Division Eight of the Southend Sunday League.

This crop of jokers even found it hard to keep the ball on the pitch from something as simple as a throw-in, all of which provides substance to the opinions of Blues fans in the Far-Post bar after the match, who reckon Little's bunch are the most awful Southend team EVER!

That was not the only thing they were saying however - Southend's angry supporters blame their team's inadequacies on Little and believe it is time for him to go, which is a harsh assessment.

Little has only been at the Roots Hall helm for a year, a position he took on shortly after being shown the door by the weekend's visitors, but he needs to be given more time.

With nine players out of contract this summer, Little will be able to overhaul a lot of the men he has inherited from his predecessor Alvin Martin and hopefully bring people to the club who are willing to fight to the death for Southend's cause.

Little has been let down badly by his players this season, who on paper look like a good side, but reputations, which a hell of a lot of the Seasiders' current squad are living on, count for nothing.

And if these players have not got the blue of Southend in their hearts then it is time for them to move on to pastures new, because they are not needed at Roots Hall!

Little again rotated his squad and reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, which brought Roget back into the centre of defence for the first time in two months alongside Morley, resting skipper Simon Coleman and veteran Rob Newman.

Nathan Jones, who had a complete howler, returned from suspension at left-back, with Mark Beard also earning a recall in the opposite berth.

Former York men Mark Tinkler and Pepper, another change, took on the central midfield roles, with Southend's completely ineffective wingers, former Minsterman Gordon Connelly and Scott Houghton pushed out wide.

Another York old-boy, Martin Carruthers, led the line with Bristol City loanee Steve Jones, but they were to suffer another barren afternoon.

Southend got off to a lazy start - reminiscent of the equally pathetic display at Northampton Town in their previous fixture, which of course ended in defeat - and nearly handed ex-Blues hitman Barry Conlon, who joined York for £120,000 over the summer, a dream Roots Hall return.

After three minutes, the big Irishman raced on to a raking pass from visiting midfielder Darren Edmondson, shrugged aside his old Manchester City comrade Morley and pulled back the trigger, but Beard read the danger and made a solid block inside the Southend box.

Morley redeemed himself soon after by releasing Steve Jones goalward with a long pass, but the former Billericay Town striker's hesitation cost him dearly, allowing York defender Mark Bower to push the attacker wide, before he hit a 20-yard shot fractionally over the bar from a tight angle.

Within another 60 seconds, Tinkler won a crunching tackle on his opposite number Kevin Hulme, before laying the ball off to Connelly, which eventually found its way to Houghton via captain for the day Carruthers, but the left-winger blazed over the North Bank from the edge of the box.

Southend continued to flatter to deceive and Morley was close with a far-post header from Houghton's cross on 16 minutes, but his effort was deflected wide off of Conlon.

Nathan Jones then hit an edge of the box free-kick straight into York's defensive wall, before Pepper headed Connelly's right-wing corner inches off target.

Tinkler's 20-yard drive was deflected over the bar by visiting defender Barry Jones on 26 minutes, but play soon switched to the other end.

It was Conlon causing trouble again, as he got in front of a dozing Nathan Jones to meet defender-cum-frontman Mark Sertori's left-wing centre, but his 12-yard volley lacked the power needed to trouble Capleton.

Little, desperate to put one over the club which sacked him after 11 years' loyal service, must have demanded a vastly improved performance in the half-time dressing room pep talk, but he never got it.

In fact, York were by far the better side during the second period, getting forward at regular intervals and hitting crosses into the Southend box at every opportunity, while Blues were busy going nowhere, striking long desperate balls or negative backwards passes.

A corner from York midfielder Steve Agnew nearly led to an opening goal three minutes into the restart, but ex-Leeds United defender Chris Fairclough saw his far-post header deflected wide by Morley.

Two minutes later, Southend forced the only save of the whole game as Pepper met Nathan Jones's left-wing centre with a diving header, parried by York custodian Alan Fettis.

Pepper was at it again on 49 minutes when he nodded another Connelly corner over the bar, before Carruthers had his only chance of the match, firing a low eight-yard drive into Fettis' arms, after Barry Jones had cut down his shooting angle.

As the proceedings diminished from a snooze into a snore, Roget and Sertori pulled out their handbags for an off the ball scuffle which temporarily lifted the gloom, but York were soon back on the offensive and missed the best chance of the game.

Pepper did well to rob Conlon, before immediately surrendering possession to York's substitute midfielder Christian Fox, who nudged his defensive team-mate Peter Hawkins goalward.

Hawkins accelerated unmarked into Blues' penalty area, but with Capleton at his mercy the left-back dragged his shot wide of the right-post from just 12 yards.

Southend's response was to do nothing but continue defying belief with the most woeful of performances, which left the Shrimpers sliding further down the league standings into 17th place.

Although, Nathan Jones did fling a left-wing centre over to his namesake Steve with seven minutes remaining, but the flat-footed forward failed to get off the ground and convert the opportunity.

(Right) It's mine - ex-Minsterman Mark Tinkler wins the ball in this midfield tussle

(Left) Gordon Connelly - gets a cross in from the right wing

(Below right) Scott Houghton - makes a foray down the left wing

Pictures: LUAN MARSHALL

Match facts

Shots/headers on target: Southend 4, York 4.

Corners: Southend 10, York 5.

Bookings: Southend - Roget (59mins, un-gentlemanly conduct), Connelly (89mins, foul), York - Sertori (59mins, ungentlemanly conduct).

Southend Utd

(In 4-4-2 formation with ratings out of 10):

Capleton 5 - looked nervous and needs to start speaking.

Beard 6 - one player who can never be accused of lacking heart.

Morley 6 - pick of a shambolic defence.

Nathan Jones 4 - had an absolute nightmare.

Roget 5 - another who needs to do a lot better.

Tinkler 6 - tried to get Blues motoring.

Connelly 4 - completely anonymous, apart from a couple of sliding tackles and corners.

Houghton 4 - bar the very occasional cross, ran around without doing much.

PEPPER 7 - the pick of a very, very poor bunch.

Steve Jones 5 - showed a few dangerous glimmers in the first-half, but looked completely lost as the game went on.

Carruthers 5 - captain for the day, but seems to have lost some of his trademark appetite.

Subs:

Maher 6 - eleven minutes in place of Houghton not enough for a player who even impressed during such a short spell.

Subs not used: Newman, Coleman, Fitzpatrick and Cross .

York City

Fettis 6, B JONES 8, Fairclough 6 (Hocking 5), Bower 7, Edmondson 6, Hulme 6, Agnew 5, Hawkins 5, Williams 4 (Fox 6), Sertori 6, Conlon 6 (Alcide 5). Subs not used: Howarth and Bullock.

Attendance: 3,364

Referee K Leach (Codsall) 7 out of 10.

Next game:

Rotherham United v Southend United

(Today, 3pm)

Other Divsion Three results

Brighton 1 Swansea 1

Carlisle 0 Hull City 4

Cheltenham 2 Torquay 0

Darlington 2 Rotherham 2

Halifax 0 Chester 1

Hartlepool 2 Exeter 1

L Orient 0 Macclesfield 0

Mansfield 0 Barnet 1

Peterborough 3 Rochdale 3

Plymouth 2 Northampton 1

Shrewsbury 1 Lincoln 2

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.