The match between Southend United and York City has been dubbed a true six-pointer by Martin Carruthers.
Throughout his career, Carruthers played for both the Shrimpers and the Minstermen.
The 51-year-old also believes that the significance of this Saturday’s game between his two former teams at Roots Hall cannot be overstated.
“I hope that Southend is going to have better times going forward, but Kev Maher still loses 10 points,” Carruthers stated.
“Without that, they’re just outside of the playoffs, but looking at the league table, the game against York is now a true six-pointer.”
Both York and Blues have just two points separating them from the relegation zone.
Carruthers, though, is optimistic that the Shrimpers will climb the National League standings.
According to Carruthers, “there isn’t much between the bottom and mid-table.”
“I’m really hoping Southend can get going because it’s close.”
“Now that the embargo has been lifted, there have been a few new signings, and I know Kev is doing a great job there.”
They should get a huge boost from that, but I doubt they have enough to get them out of trouble.
“They’ll be watching the standings, but if they don’t make it to the playoffs this year, maybe they’ll try harder to advance the following year.”
Carruthers still maintains a close watch on the Shrimpers and remembers his time at Roots Hall with genuine nostalgia.
Carruthers remarked, “I have a lot of happy memories from my time there.”
The only bad thing about our group of guys was that we never really lived up to our potential.
“I felt that Alan Little was an excellent coach and manager, and together we developed a very potent squad.
We never really clicked, and I believe that during my time there, we underperformed.
“I loved it there and made some great friends I still speak to now, even though it was disappointing.”
Between 1999 and 2001, Carruthers played 83 games for the Blues and scored 29 goals.
Additionally, he has been saddened by the financial difficulties that the Shrimpers and another of his former teams, Scunthorpe United, have faced recently.
“Observing it has been excruciating,” Carruthers said.
“We always put ourselves forward for promotion when I was at Scunthorpe, and teams like Southend went on to win the Championship.”
“It hurts so much to watch them fall from grace, and no club should ever be in danger of ceasing operations.”
“Perhaps they both return to the Football League shortly.”
Carruthers, who briefly played on loan for York in 1999, is currently the education manager at Notts County, though.
He has thus personally witnessed how challenging it is to be promoted from the National League.
According to Carruthers, “the team where I work, Notts County, fell out of the Football League, and I think it took four years to get back in.”
“Southend is also discovering that this is an extremely difficult league.”
However, Carruthers thinks Maher, his former Shrimpers teammate, will keep making sure the team stays on the correct track.
Carruthers remarked, “I was thrilled to see Kev go in, but it’s been a really tough time for him and the club.”
“I’m sure it will succeed, and hopefully he will now have the support of the new owners.”
However, Carruthers also wants to succeed in management for himself.
Matlock Town of the Northern Premier League is led by the former forward.
Additionally, he wants to finish the season strong.
“We’re doing fine,” Carruthers remarked.
We lost six points as a result of Marske, a team that left the league.
We were four points out of the playoffs, and that really hurt us.
But a lot of games have been postponed, so we currently have a good number of games scheduled.
“We still have a chance to win some hardware; we’ll try to push hard for the play-offs and we have a Derbyshire Senior Cup semifinal against Buxton next Tuesday.”
“We feel optimistic and nothing is lost.”
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