A switch to Roots Hall is sensible

Jeff King must surely be joking when he said that if his Canvey Island side meet Southend United in the FA Cup 2nd round that he would fight to play the match on their tiny Park Lane ground.

Both teams face replays tonight (Tuesday) and if they come through would clash on December 9 for a local derby which could attract a really bumper crowd.

I would reckon that at least 6-7,000 people would want to watch the game - more than double the number who could squeeze into the Islanders' home.

I can't for one minute believe the local police or FA would allow the game to go ahead on Canvey with a real potential for major crowd and traffic problems.

Blues would get no more than 600 tickets for the game and can you imagine the giant headache if a large group without tickets turned up to try and force their way in.

You could have a frightening and dangerous situation on your hands and anyway I don't feel it's fair for many local fans to be denied the chance to see the truly mouthwatering David v Goliath match.

Surely for Canvey to play in front of a huge gate at Roots Hall would inspire and motivate them and certainly, judging by Southend's miserable performance against Cheltenham on Saturday, they would fancy their chances of pulling off a giant-killing act.

But as I say it's all ifs, buts and maybes at the moment - neither club is guaranteed a passport through their replays - but hopefully if the game comes about commonsense will prevail in the end.

I understand Jeff King's reluctance to surrender home advantage but at the end of the day I am sure he would see why a switch to Roots Hall would be the only sensible solution.

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