The noise gave it away. The sweet sound of 22,000 ecstatic Southend supporters swimming in a sea of Wembley ecstasy left their head coach, Kevin Maher, in no doubt: soon he would raise the FA Trophy.
Maher, unable to tolerate the tension, had turned away just before Gus Scott-Morriss’s winning penalty against Wealdstone, but was instantly embraced by Mark Bentley, his first-team coach, former midfield partner and, most importantly, friend.
The pair enjoyed a visceral release of pent-up emotion not simply from the previous 90 goalless minutes, or from the season, but from the entire period since they, alongside their assistant Darren Currie – who spent the shootout an arm’s length away barely moving, back to the action – were appointed in October 2021.
Any and all trophies are precious, but some are more precious than others. When this coaching triptych arrived – for Maher and Bentley it was a return to the club with whom, in better days, they had skipped from League Two to the Championship between 2004 and 2006 – Southend had just lost their Football League status after 101 years’ unbroken membership.
Their 1,670 days’ work had incorporated transfer embargos, a points deduction, winding-up petitions, payless months, stretches where water was collected from the training ground’s leaking roof to wash kit, and times when players had to pop to a nearby supermarket to use the toilet.
Little wonder then that dry eyes were scarce in the moments after Wembley glory. As the players celebrated wildly, Maher headed for his wife and three sons, enjoying the warmest of embraces. Others on his staff sought out those who have spent a lifetime providing unwavering love and support.
Messages to that effect had been played to the whole group some eight hours earlier in a darkened room at Southend’s Hertfordshire hotel. “It’s been a hell of a journey, lads,” Maher said shortly before the video began. “Let’s go finish it.”
Cue poignant moments largely soaked up in a silence broken only by the laughter drawn by several clips, including one from a family who had superimposed a player’s head on to a shrimp and printed it on a flag.
By then, it was lunchtime and the wait for a 4.30pm kick-off was dragging. All that remained before boarding the team bus was a short, sharp briefing on Wealdstone’s strengths and weaknesses delivered by Maher, and a set-piece run-through by Bentley and Currie.
The drive to Wembley was not new for a decent proportion on the coach. Southend made the same trip 11 months previously, when the occasion had ended in an agonising extra-time defeat by Oldham in the National League playoff final.
Although Southend did not make the league’s showpiece event this year, they earned more points and scored more goals than in 2024-25, finishing sixth on a budget that would, if money spent correlated directly to league position, have left them somewhere between seventh and 12th.
Their previous visit did at least make that first sight of the arch and the walk into Wembley’s vast, palatial dressing rooms less intimidating. The coaches’ room alone is comparable in size to many fifth-tier changing areas, and few other stadiums provide luxuries such four ice baths and hair drying stations.
A strict 3pm arrival – AFC Stoneham were clinching the FA Vase as Southend’s coach made its way into Wembley’s underbelly – was followed by 45 minutes where the players were unable to go outside.
Some detached, diving, via headphones, into their own worlds. Other passed time together, with Scott-Morris’s contribution to the matchday programme providing hilarity. He had profiled each of his teammates, describing Harry Taylor as a “brick wall” but also commenting negatively on his breath and darts ability. The words were received entirely as meant.
The head of performance, Wayne Andrews, set up for activation exercises. The kit manager, Ian Derrick, unpacked. The head of medical, John Gowans, massaged calves and strapped ankles. Despite the huge space, the smell of deep heat became reassuringly prominent.
Once Southend’s warm-ups began, Maher meticulously wrote up Wealdstone’s starting XI on the small whiteboard provided. He makes that his task at every game, a way of committing the opposition’s lineup to mind.
Eventually shrill beeps signalled kick-off was imminent. Maher gathered the team in a circle. “Every one of you deserves to walk up those steps today – don’t forget that” he said. “We will go deep if we have to. Let’s put on a fucking performance.”
Half-time arrived and so did calm. Maher, animated on the sideline, took a breath and said only what was necessary. There was none of the chaos one might imagine during a cup final. “Forty-five minutes of the season, chaps,” he concluded. “We can be tired in a week’s time, can’t we?!”
Players were also invited to give their input. It was another example of Southend’s unity. That togetherness, a strong bond, was obvious from a day around the team.
Maher had ensured every player, in the squad or not, was present throughout. On naming the team at the hotel, he apologised to those not involved. “It is the hardest part of the job,” he said sincerely.
On arrival, everyone, including the suspended Taylor, had their shirt waiting on a peg. To sit there with all that excitement and anticipation swirling around him, knowing he was excluded because of a pair of yellow cards in Southend’s playoff eliminator defeat, must have hurt. But he never let that show.
He was proof that Maher’s earlier words were not empty. “We all go together,” Maher had said before they left the changing room to warm-up. “Like marines – we leave no man behind.”
That tightness was evident later, too. When Collin Andeng-Ndi saved Wealdstone’s first two shootout penalties, the touchline gaggle turned to point approvingly at the goalkeeping coach, Anssi Jaakkola, acknowledging his role in what soon proved the game’s defining intervention.
During the on-field celebrations, the players involved the analysts and media team. Harry Boyes sought out the long-serving communications manager, Matt Mundy, and thrust him in front of Southend supporters on his final day working at the club he follows.
It was a fitting final action of the season. Maher, his staff and players, had formed something not measurable in numbers and achieved Southend’s first domestic cup. For longsuffering supporters, it brought tangible, and much needed, joy.
As is football’s way, the future immediately became unknown. Justin Rees saved the club from extinction with his July 2024 takeover, but his pre-match interview with BBC Essex said the day would be “bittersweet” and hinted at future change.
Oliver Gage was appointed sporting director in April, with John Still departing. A new head of recruitment will soon arrive.
Scott-Morriss admitted in the buildup he had yet to be offered new terms, and many others, as is the way at a level where deals are short, will also be out of contract.
Whatever follows, Southend’s class of 2025-26 will always be remembered. Be careful what you wish for? Yes. Absolutely. But Sunday at Wembley was a wish well fulfilled.
