This might be a better link as it takes you to the top of the 363 (so far) comments!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna....show=20
And then there's this...
To paraphrase Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, I've seen things you people wouldn't believe; attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. But I have never seen Jamal Campbell-Ryce beat a decent full-back.
But now I, 11,532 people at Roots Hall and thousands (nay, millions, Southend United are a massive club at last!) watching last night's Carling Cup game at home on TV have seen JCR do just that. More than once, I think, although that could be an early case of a false memory forming in my slightly delirious mind.
So well done him. Epic stuff.
And while I'm dishing out gold stars, it would be remiss of me not to mention Darryl Flahavan - even if my girlfriend did slightly spoil things by pointing out that Darryl "is quite a looker" - the entire defence (Efe Sodje! Spencer Prior! And is it just me or is Steven Hammell better than the Championship?), Kev "Stroller" Maher and young Freddie himself.
Some of those performances came as no surprise - we've won back-to-back promotions, after all - but some, the majority even, were considerably more out of the blue...we've made a sluggish start to our "Push for the Premiership", you see.
As the fattest and hairiest member of the South London Shrimpers said this morning in an email from an airport in Fiji, "somebody told me the most amazing joke this morning...Southend beat Manchester %£*$ing United and are
League Cup quarter-finalists".
It's no joke Jimmy. And, while there is something almost intrinsically funny about supporting a team like Southend, it is not even much of a shock, the result, I mean, not the fact that JCR beat Gabriel Heinze...that's just ridiculous.
Now before I start getting the email equivalent of dog mess parcels from irate Manchester Kickers fans in Salford, Miles Platting, Cheadle Hulme and Torquay, can I just state that yes, of course I think last night's result was an upset and a very pleasant surprise. But "the result of the season" (as one hysterical news reader called it last night)? Please.
I appreciate that these are "live and exclusive"/football-didn't-exist-before-1992 times (and yes I know that we can be as bad as the other lot) that we live in and everything has to be the greatest something ever, but one team, playing at home, beating another team from the division above, on a cold Tuesday night in a cup competition, is not that shocking.
Far be it from me to give Lord Ferg any pointers on how to keep his multi-million-pound squad of internationals in gainful employment, but if you turn up to play a fired-up bunch of talented under-achievers and canny veterans and you make nine changes to your first XI, well, put it this way, you're levelling the playing field a tad.
And can I just make one other observation Sir Alex, old chap. Yes, Freddie fairly leathered that free-kick, but it wasn't a "once in a lifetime" strike for the lad. I know you're busy tracking superstars like Michael Carrick but Eastwood has already had a few of those "once in a lifetime" moments for
Southend (Norwich this season, at Bristol City on his birthday, at Swansea last season...and those are just the ones I have witnessed).
And if you're serious about that bet that "he doesn't score another goal like that in his life", I'm happy to put our respective wine cellars on it.
Perhaps you were confusing Freddie with Darren Fletcher or Kieran Richardson (don't get me wrong, they're both solid players that should both definitely start for United...Southend United).
But then I suppose I can hardly blame his Royal Ferginess for patronising little old Sowff-end a bit. It's that kind of place.
As the numerous texts I received during and after the game would confirm ("Are those cheerleaders at every game or just tonight?", "What do you mean it was a sell-out?") Southend just doesn't sound like a football kind of town. A Bacardi Breezer and Max Power kind of town, yes.
So while my head wants to be all indignant about Ferg and the umpteen talking heads on the telly this morning saying what an upset last night was, my heart tells me that it was something special. We may be a Championship side (for another six months, at least) but our players were still given white wine to celebrate with last night. And Flahavan only had Sky Plus fitted this morning, the day after his big night on the box. There is something endearingly "fourth division" about almost everything we do.
So this Southend fan is going to enjoy the moment a little longer, but not that much longer.
Here's to three points on Saturday against Preston and Chelsea at home in the last eight...actually, I'd settle for anybody but Wycombe, that's got "greatest cup upset ever" written all over it.
