SOUTHEND 3 CITY 0

IF 2016 has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected.

Leicester crowned Premier League champions, Donald Trump winning the keys to the White House, Brexit – few would have seriously predicted any of those.

Now we can add another to the year’s growing list of extraordinary events, Will Atkinson scoring twice against his former club.

Players banging in goals against their old employers is hardly ground-breaking news.

But Atkinson has never been a prolific marksman as two goals in 54 league appearances for City will testify.

He had not scored for Southend since February – and he hadn’t got two in the same game for nearly seven years.

And but for James Meredith, a fellow history-making team-mate, the unassuming midfielder would have been going home with the match ball.

Meredith’s block on City’s line denied the midfielder a hat-trick with arguably the easiest of his chances.

“My shirt was going to come off!” laughed Atkinson. “I was almost up and away celebrating.

“But I’m happy with the two goals. I had a really good time at Bradford but things didn’t really work out in the end.”

Atkinson, whose City swansong was coming off the bench at Wembley in the play-off final, had to go back to 2009 for his previous double for Rochdale.

That was also the year that Southend last lost in the league during November – a remarkable statistic that stretched to a 24th game after seeing off the Bantams.

Stuart McCall’s side were guilty of beating themselves to an extent with an air of sloppiness in their play during the first half and an inability to take a string of decent chances in the second.

A City league defeat is another tale of the unexpected – this was only the second in 18 games so some perspective is needed.

They are rightly seen as a big scalp in League One hence Southend’s post-match euphoria.

Phil Brown has never been one to under-play the situation and the Shrimpers boss had described City’s visit in his programme notes as his “biggest test in nearly four years at the club”.

Home fans afterwards were lauding their best display of the season so far.

Brown’s own position had been on a shaky ground after a poor start following on from an alarming collapse at the end of last season.

But with established players coming back, Southend had shown signs of getting their act together in the Valley Parade draw last month.

Saturday’s win increased their unbeaten run to six games and City will be glad to see the back of them.

Fresh from firing ten goals in the previous three league outings, the Bantams had sadly left their scoring boots in West Yorkshire.

Top scorer Billy Clarke was also a big miss on the back of his outstanding performance against Rochdale.

Away from Valley Parade, he can be so effective at using the extra space and holding on to possession to probe and create on the break.

His replacement Jordy Hiwula, promoted on Saturday morning after the Irishman dropped out, was unable to do any of that. The ball just seemed to bounce off him on an afternoon he will wish to forget.

City’s general ball retention, Nicky Law excepted, was not up to its usual high standard.

Southend pressed high to give them little time to bring the ball out from the back and defenders were rushed into careless passes.

Brown’s boys had already gone close twice through Nile Ranger before their 15th-minute opener.

Southend celebrated the goal with their own ropey version of the mannequin challenge, the latest worldwide craze. But it was City who had been caught like statues after stopping to wait for a hand ball decision that never came.

Simon Cox used a left arm to bring down Stephen Darby’s loose pass before teeing up Atkinson to slide a shot past Colin Doyle.

But the whistle never came, much to McCall’s chagrin. “They’re a good side without needing a helping hand as well,” he said, fully aware of the pun.

Atkinson had rarely ventured too far forward in a City shirt. His style of tucking in and tracking back, while Kyel Reid attacked with abandon on the other flank, played to Phil Parkinson’s orders.

He was one of the unsung workers in the Capital One Cup – Arsenal was his finest hour – and remains the type of player who goes under the radar.

“Maybe you don’t always get the credit you deserve if you’re not scoring or making goals,” he admitted.

His contribution to City’s heaviest defeat in McCall’s second reign was certainly evident although the final scoreline was misleading. That was simply down to Southend – and Atkinson – taking their chances while the visitors squandered theirs.

Not at their best, City still had chances to level through Law and Timothee Dieng, who looped a header against the bar.

But Doyle, back from his World Cup sojourn, also needed to be alert with two fine saves to deny Anthony Wordsworth a Southend second.

McCall delivered a rocket at the break and City came out firing for the next 20 minutes.

But they failed to strike when it mattered, as Dieng was again frustrated with a header that Jason Demetriou cleared off the line.

City’s hopes of a point, or maybe more, then disappeared with Atkinson’s second emphatic finish.

Where there was a Will, there was now no way back for the Bantams.

The winger was even poised for an improbable treble when Doyle found himself stranded in no man’s land but Meredith was in the right spot on the line as Atkinson tried to reverse the ball into the corner.

James Hanson could not take advantage of that let-off, missing the target at the other end with a diving header after Mark Marshall’s shot pinged back off keeper Mark Oxley.

And the home side gave their win some extra gloss when Marc-Antoine Fortune’s cross ricocheted in off the unsuspecting Romain Vincelot.

Fortunately City have an immediate chance to bounce back against Northampton tomorrow on a night that is sure to be emotionally-charged in memory of Bobby Campbell.

Saturday can then be dismissed as just one of those strange results that nobody saw coming. It’s not like we haven’t witnessed a few of those lately.