Southend United came back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Altrincham on the opening day of the National League season this afternoon. The new look Shrimpers, who had boss Kieron Dyer in charge for the first time, went behind early on with Tom Crawford firing the Robins in front. However, Leon Parillon brought Blues level before second half goals from Oli Coker and Harry Cardwell saw the visitors secure a well-deserved victory. Altrincham also had Matty Kosylo sent off 20 minutes from time but the afternoon started brightly for Neil Gibson’s side who broke the deadlock in the eighth minute. Aidan Barlow saw a low, left footed foot smartly saved by Joe Duncan low down to his left hand side but captain Crawford reacted sharply to fire home the rebound from a narrow angle. In reply, Kyle McAdam sent a rising effort over the crossbar after being teed up by Darren Oldaker but Blues stuck at it and equalised in the 38th minute following a moment of magic from Parillon. The midfielder showed quick feet to beat his man on the left hand side before cutting inside and scoring with a low 20 yard shot he sent into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Next fixture: vs Eastleigh (at home, 2027-02-16) (13th in the table).