Barrow 1-2 Southend United: Shrimpers relegated to National League despite win

Southend skipper John White (right) looked dejected after the final whistle

Southend have been relegated from the Football League for the first time in 101 years despite winning at Barrow.

The Shrimpers needed to win and for one of Colchester and Scunthorpe to lose to stand a chance of staying up.

And although Phil Brown's side did all they could, victory for the U's and a draw for the Iron sealed their fate.

Goals from John White and Terrell Egbri were enough to win the game for Southend after Scott Quigley had coolly fired Barrow in front.

Barrow themselves only guaranteed their League Two safety on Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over promotion-chasing Forest Green.

Shrimpers suffer double relegation

Southend were 17 points from safety when the 2019-20 campaign was curtailed because of coronavirus and were relegated from League One on a points-per-game basis.

Constant financial issues had dogged Sol Campbell's time as manager at Roots Hall and the former England defender left in June, replaced by Weymouth boss Mark Molesley.

However, the Essex club spent the first three months of the campaign under a transfer embargo because of an unpaid tax bill - which was resolved in October - and picked up just two points from their first 11 League Two games, with another season of struggle seeming inevitable.

The following month chairman Ron Martin criticised the work ethic of some of his players, who days later were locked out of the ground by fans on their return from a 6-1 Papa John's Trophy defeat by Essex rivals Colchester.

The Shrimpers did string together a run of four wins in six either side of Christmas, but it was to be a false dawn.

Striker Nile Ranger came back to the club in February after three years out of the game but picked up a season-ending injury just 12 minutes into his return - proving to be a gamble which did not pay off.

Earlier this month Molseley was sacked and replaced by returning Southend boss Brown, who had six games to overturn a five-point deficit.

But after starting with two goalless draws, Brown's side lost a near all-or-nothing derby with relegation rivals Colchester, which proved crucial as they fall out of the Football League for the first time since being admitted in 1920 despite back-to-back wins over Leyton Orient and Barrow.

Brown open to remaining at Roots Hall

Southend United manager Phil Brown told BBC Essex:

"It's not time for tears or anything like that, it's time for looking back at the season and asking yourself first and foremost 'could I have done any more', individually and collectively.

"I feel responsible - I honestly thought six games was going to be enough - I set myself a points tally and the Colchester United game [2-0 defeat] put paid to that tally.

"I always like to be a part of a challenge, but I have to make it realistic - we have to understand about budgets, contracts and my situation - it's totally changed from the last time I was at Southend United.

"I left the club knocking on the door of the Championship and now all of a sudden we're in the fifth tier, which is a sobering thought to say the least.

"The realism of it is, if we can be competitive from a budget point of view that might just be enough to attract me and enough to attract players to the football club who can compete."