The Blues welcome National League outfit Southend United to The Arena, in the Third Round Proper of the Isuzu FA Trophy.

BRENTWOOD TOWN FC

At the time of writing, Brentwood Town suffered a shock 5-1 defeat at home to Grays Athletic. Kai Brown reduced the deficit for The Blues in the closing stages of the game. The Blues were in 9th position on 23 points, only four points away from the play-off positions, with three games in hand on the league leaders Bury Town. Of their 14 games played, The Blues have picked up 21 points alone, alongside points shared between Waltham Abbey and Gorleston respectively.

Brentwood Town’s last 5 results:

Brentwood Town 1 – 5 Grays Atheltic 

Brentwood Town 4 – 0 Gorleston

Hereford FC 0 – 1 Brentwood Town (FA Trophy 2nd Round Proper)

Sporting Bengal 2 – 0 Brentwood Town

Brentwood Town 8 – 0 Ipswich Wanderers 

SOUTHEND UNITED

At the time of writing, 10 man Southend United were held to a goalless as they faced Woking. Little could separate The Shrimpers from The Cards during the first 45 minutes, but the first action of the second half saw Cav Miley receive a second yellow card and forced them to play the remainder with a man less than the hosts. They were in 16th position in the league and have won five of their 20 games played.

Southend United’s last 5 results:

Woking 0 – 0 Southend United

Southend United 2 – 2 Forest Green Rovers

Altrinchham 2 – 0 Southend United

Southend United 0 – 1 Yeovil Town

Southend United 3 – 4 Charlton Athletic (FA Cup 1st Round)

In the opposition’s dugout:

Kevin Maher leads the Shrimpers for this fixture. Maher began his professional career at the Tottenham Hotspur Academy before breaking into the first team at Southend United, where he made over 450 professional appearances for the club. Under his captaincy, Southend United secured back-to-back promotions from League Two to The Championship. Maher has completed 585 first team appearances during his 22-year playing career and has featured for other clubs including: Oldham Athletic, Dagenham and Redbridge, Whitehawk and Chelmsford City.

Since his appointment as manager in October 2021, Maher has won the National League Manager of the Month Award twice respectively in February 2023 and in October 2023, as his squad secured 13 points in five games while conceding one goal. The Shrimpers reached the Third Round of FA Trophy last season: Jack Bridge and Nathan Ralph were among the scorers in their two all draw to Hampton and Richmond, before bowing out in a 4-2 penalty shoot-out.

This is the club’s 119th season in their history, having finished in 13th place for their first season in the National League during 2021-22. Just one season later, The Shrimpers were two points from Qualification for the National League play-off quarter-finals having won 20 of their 46 games.

Ones to watch: 

Gus Scott-Morriss is The Shrimpers leading goal scorer this season, having netted an impressive 9 goals in the National League. Three of Scott-Morriss’ nine goals were scored in successive games throughout September and he scored consecutive goals in the league during August.

The last time the two sides met:

The sides last met in November 2022 at Roots Hall in the Essex Senior Cup, with The Shrimpers winning 3-0. The only other occasion in which the two sides have met was on the 7th of December 1968 in an FA Cup clash, which saw the Shrimpers gain a 3-1 advantage at half time before adding another seven to their goal tally.

This is the first time in the club’s history that Brentwood Town have advanced into the Third Round of the competition, having defeated National League North outfit Hereford last month.

The Blues are also one of only three clubs in the eighth tier of English football remaining at this stage of the competition, alongside Hadley and Sittingbourne.

By Michaela Georgopoulos