Craven Cottage Newsround

As noted elsewhere, last Saturday found me at Roots Hall to watch Southend get outclassed by Ipswich.

But more importantly, I was on my own private scouting mission. I was watching Freddy Eastwood, subject of rumours galore before the transfer window, some involving Fulham. Southend’s Chairman has ’slapped’ a hefty (if unknown) pricetag on his centre-forward, and reassured fans that it would take a real Premiership offer to prise Freddy away. So far there have been no such offers, the likes of Birmingham, Sunderland and Wolves being the extent of the interest. But word on the street is that Freddy could go higher than that.

Roots Hall is fantastic, a real old-school lower division ground. We walked through residential streets, down a slope and through the back of the stand. Said stand was packed with good-humoured home supporters, with good views of each end only obstructed by a series of supporting beams along the pitch. There were a series of skimpily dressed young Essex lasses selling something or other inside the ground, and a further dozen of them on the pitch at half time performing a dance routine. I was somewhat bemused, but I realised that we’d spent the half-time period standing, arms-folded, and watching them intently, so I suppose credit where credit’s due. But back to the start… it was a mild early autumn afternoon, with a nip in the air and a hint of rain, and it was perfect for football.

My friend Martin says that Freddy Eastwood’s shots don’t get saved, his shots are all or nothing, struck with great power but not always accurately. So they either break the net or fly wide. And so it proved in the only real chance he got in this match, put clean through on goal the ball came over his right-hand shoulder and he walloped it… just wide. He should’ve scored.

At the time Southend were 1-0 against a far better Ipswich side. Sylvain Legwinski was running the game with the ease of a small boy playing Subbuteo against his pet cat. He made it 2-0 with a controlled volley from 25, showing excellent technique to make the game safe. Ipswich added a sweeping third on the counter-attack moments later, and the game was done. Eastwood looked to his bench, signalled that he was done, and off he went. We later learned that he was suffering from a virus.

So how did he play? Quite well I thought. Clearly athletic, he moved with a grace not often seen on a football field. His touch was good, linking well with teammates who were quick to support him. I half expected him to try to do everything himself, but his play was generally unselfish. Martin spotted that Eastwood dropped deep into the team’s midfield to try to get more involved, which is good and bad. On the one hand Southend were being completely overrun in the middle of the park, so tactically it was a reasonable thing to do; on the other hand the team was only going to be scoring with him high up the park, and he probably ought to have been sitting on the last defender to make something happen. He clearly felt some frustration but acquitted himself quite well in a one-sided match, doubly so if he really was suffering from illness.

It’s always hard to know how players in lower leagues might fare higher up, but clearly someone in the top division will take a punt on him at some point. He has the attributes to succeed, whether he does or not probably depends on where he ends up (e.g. I don’t know how useful a move to Sheffield Utd would be).