A glorious sunny day, a full house and perhaps a final chance of securing a play off place. Add to that 1,900 Southend fans cheering on a team chasing both promotion and the Championship and the scene was set for a classic encounter.

The build up over the last few days for myself and my family has been terrific with the arrival of my friends Jan Linssen, Matt Lemmens, Leo Van De Westelahen and Alexander Heusschen from Holland.

Jan was involved in the making of 'That Final Day' the Dutch Documentary about the Swans v Hull game in 2003. He became a Swans fan after that and has followed the Swans via Dai's website since then. Matt and Leo joined Jan in coming over for the Doncaster game 18 months ago and were keen to sample the unique atmosphere of the Vetch that Jan had told them so much about. Sadly the game they came over for was abandoned through a waterlogged pitch. But they returned today and were joined by Alex who had spend 6 months in Swansea University some years ago and had also been amazed by the passion and fervour of Swans fans on his previous visits to the Vetch.

Kenny Jackett was forced to re-jig his midfield again with the newly crowned scfc.co.uk player of the season Leon Britton failing to recover from injury. I think just about everyone would have expected Adrian Forbes to replace Leon, but Kenny took the bold decision to throw 17 year old Shaun MacDonald in for his first League start. Rory Fallon and Lee Trundle were preferred to Bayo Akinfenwa and Leon Knight.

Side- Gueret, Tate, Monk, Austin, Ricketts, MacDonald, O'Leary, Robinson, McLeod, Fallon, Knight. Subs- Williams, Jones, Akinfenwa, Knight.

The game started at a frantic pace with Kevin McLeod having the game's first shot but it was Southend that had the first real chance to take the lead when Adam Barrett had an almost free header form a Southend corner that Willy Gueret really should have come to claim. Thankfully Willy made amends by turning Barrett's close range header around the post.

Southend were showing exactly why they are top of the table with a well controlled fast passing game. The pace of Freddy Eastwood and Mark Gower was electrifying and looked certain to cause us problems.

On 15 minutes after excellent work from Shaun MacDonald, Rory Fallon headed the ball into the path of Lee Trundle. His shot looked to have goal written all over it but Adam Barrett threw himself into the path of the ball to save Southend.

Just a minute later Andy Robinson, who had started the game really poorly made a cross field run and looked to be going nowhere before he launched a fierce left foot that Danny Flahavan did well to push over the bar.

Suddenly it was all Swansea and we took the lead on 18 minutes. Rory Fallon collected the ball just outside the box, his first touch was not too good and presented Adam Barrett with the chance to clear. When Barrett got the ball stuck under his feet Fallon reacted superbly taking the ball back off him and firing a right foot shot from 20 yards right into the top corner of the net. The goal sparked joyous scenes and Fallon celebrated by taking his shirt off and earning a yellow card. It was interesting to see referee Mr Foy saying sorry to Rory before brandishing the card to the smiling Fallon.

Swans pressed for an all important second but after shots by Robinson and Trundle that were easily dealt with, it was Southend that got the all important second goal of the game. The dangerous Eastwood received the ball from Mark Gower in the Swans area. Kevin Austin, no doubt fearing Eastwood's electrifying pace, gave him too much space and Eastwood took one touch and placed the ball beyond Gueret's reach into the corner of the net.

In recent months that would have been the cue for Swans to crumble, but they hit straight back and regained the lead just 5 minutes later. An inch perfect cross from Alan Tate found Rory Fallon at the far post and his bullet like header hit the exact spot of the net his earlier goal had hit. Once more there were terrific scenes of celebrations and thankfully Rory remembered not to celebrate in the same manner.

Southend immediately hit back with a long range shot that Willy spilled straight into the path of Luke Guttridge who fired the rebound over the bar off what looked like Willy's shoulder.

On the stroke of half time Southend had what looked a good claim for a penalty turned down when Adam Barrett looked to be pushed in the back inside the area. But Swans had given 110% and deserved their 2-1 lead at half time.

Lee Trundle had an early chance in the second half after a great through ball from Rory Fallon. Trundle went around his marker and fired a low shot that Flahaven did well to turn around the post.

For such a high tempo blood and guts encounter it was surprising that the game's second yellow card didn't come until the 54th minute when Luke Guttridge brought down Shaun MacDonald just outside the box. Lee Trundle took the free kick before the wall had formed but Flahaven was alert to the danger and dived full length to save.

A minute later and it was Swans who looked to have a legitimate claim for a penalty turned down. Rory Fallon jumped for a cross and seemed to be denied his header by the hand of the defender. It seemed surprising that no Swans player appealed but both Kenny Jackett and Kevin Nugent reacted furiously and had to be restrained by the fourth official.

Lee Trundle really should have scored after again being put into as great position by Rory Fallon but Trunds screwed his shot wide. He and Swansea paid a high price for the miss as Southend went straight down the other end and equalised. There looked to be little or no danger and Eastwood received the ball 25 yards out but with all 4 Swans defenders in close proximity. Kevin Austin's challenge was poor and with the other 3 defenders leaving the situation for Austin to deal with Eastwood managed to beat Austin, lose his balance, regain it and hit a low left foot shot which didn't have much pace past a static Willy Gueret.

The second goal really was a turning point and Swans lost their way. Kenny Jackett tried to turn things around by bringing on Leon Knight for a surprisingly quiet Lee Trundle and Trundle reacted poorly by walking straight down the tunnel and not reappearing before the final whistle. Did he really not care how the game would go?

With 10 minutes to go Kevin McLeod was stretchered off in tears with a nasty looking injury and replaced by Tom Williams. The last 10 minutes saw Swans waste numerous free kicks and send over a number of dreadful crosses and it was Southend that finished the stronger, no doubt buoyed by news from other games that the draw would confirm their promotion. Full time saw great scenes of celebration but from the Southend players and fans leaving everyone with the feeling of what might have been.

Thankfully results again went our way giving us yet another last chance next week.

Subs-

Gueret 6- Rooted to his line far too much.

Tate 8 - Another great performance.
Monk 8- Solid and back near his best.
Austin 6- Gives 100% but against the pace of Eastwood was always likely to be exposed.
Ricketts 8 - Seemed to make so much difference to Sam to have a natural left sided player in front of him who knew his responsibilities.

MacDonald 7 - Excellent game with some great touches. Never afraid to try things.
O'Leary 6 - Did what he does best breaking up opposition attacks in midfield but offered little going forward.
Robinson 6 - Flashes of genius but some way off his best.
McLeod 6- Made us look far more balanced.

Fallon 9 - Would have been MOM without 2 classic goals.
Trundle 5 - Far from his best and showed a poor reaction to his substitution.

Subs-
Knight 5 - Made little if any impact.
Williams 5 - Only on 10 minutes but wasted several opportunities.

Finally my Dutch friends all enjoyed the game and the atmosphere at the Stadium and had a terrific night out last night in the company of their ' new friends' from this site.

If they have returned to Holland with bad heads this morning they will no doubt be muttering the names of Dai Smith and Andrew Thomas.
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Swansea: Gueret, Ricketts, Austin, Tate, Monk, O'Leary, McLeod (Williams 82), Robinson, MacDonald, Trundle (Knight 71), Fallon.
Subs Not Used: Akinfenwa, Tudur-Jones, Forbes.

Goals: Fallon 19, 34.

Southend: Flahavan, Jupp, Wilson, Hunt, Barrett, Gower, Maher, Guttridge, Bradbury (Bentley 67), Goater (Gray 86), Eastwood.
Subs Not Used: Pettefer, Cole, Lawson.

Booked: Guttridge, Gower, Maher.

Goals: Eastwood 28, 63.

Att: 19,176

Ref: C Penton (Sussex).

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