Southend and Canvey have both welcomed the news that their FA Cup clash will now be staged at Blues's Roots Hall stadium.

Southend United and Canvey Island will now contest the second round tie at Roots Hall on Sunday, December 10, kick-off 1pm, and not December 9 as originally planned.

Blues owner Ron Martin and Island boss Jeff King decided to make the ground and date switch following a meeting at the Gulls' Park Lane ground this morning (Friday), where the non-leaguers had originally hoped to stage the tie.

However, both men realised that the game had captured the imagination of football fans across south Essex and have now opted for Roots Hall and a capacity of 12,306 spectators which can accommodate everybody.

For more on the Canvey-Southend clash, why not check out our Essex Derby section? "Our ground is a small friendly place, but it couldn't handle the magnitude of such a big game," admitted honest Canvey manager King, whose Park Lane base would only be able to cater for 3,000 fans at a push.

"Of course we wanted to play the game at Park Lane, I've said that right from the moment we knew we could be playing Southend. But health and safety matters had to be taken into account.

"I'm sure the match at Roots Hall will be a great occasion and played in front of a friendly atmosphere which everybody, both Canvey and Southend fans can enjoy."

Blues' major shareholder Martin repeated the sentiments of his counterpart. "There has been a lot of talk of moving this game to another ground like Leyton Orient, but there was only ever one alternative choice for the game and that was Roots Hall.

"Now all football supporters across south Essex can come and enjoy the game and I'm glad that we've been able to come to this arrangement with Canvey.

"It is still officially their home game as they came out the hat first in the draw and we will split everything down the middle. We want this to be a memorable day and most importantly we want it played in the right spirit."

Finally, Southend manager David Webb added: "This was the logical conclusion and Ron and Jeff need to take a lot of credit for sorting things out," he said.

"I fully respect Jeff for wanting to keep the game at Park Lane because I would have done the same. Nobody wants to surrender home advantage."

Admission prices for the game have been arranged jointly between both Southend and Canvey. Tickets for the game will cost £20 for adults, £15 senior citizens and £10 children.

Blues are starting to print off tickets today and have asked fans to call the ticket office on 01702 304090 for more details. Canvey will start selling tickets at their Park Lane home on Monday night at 6.30pm.

Roots Hall backer - Ron Martin

By Bernie Friend

Reporter's e-mail: bernie.friend@notes.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.