DO NOT be surprised to see the video of this match shown on the next edition of BBC's Crimewatch.

In daring to snatch all three points Southend United matched the Italian Job for sheer audacity and cheek.

Of course, it could be argued City had only themselves to blame.

If you leave your windows open, you're asking to be burgled and, likewise, if you don't take your chances then you always leave yourself open to the sucker punch.

But while defeats hardly deserved always leave a sour taste this was particularly gut-wrenching - losing to just about the very last kick of the game.

More than two and a half minutes of injury time had already gone - the fourth official had signalled just two were to be added - when Southend goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan launched the ball forward from the edge of his own area.

Jon Parkin headed the ball clear but only as far as Kevin Maher, who nodded it back into the City area and and after Leon Cort's knock-on Southend substitute Barrington Belgrave pounced to lift a bouncing ball over goalkeeper Alan Fettis.

There was just enough time for City to restart the game, the referee to blow the final whistle and the City players to sink to their knees.

To add insult to injury, the Minstermen should have been celebrating not just a valuable away point but their second successive away win.

In the first half City played some of their most vibrant football of the season, balancing perfectly craft and graft.

Confident and controlled, City's passing was clean and crisp, their tackling and harrying non-stop.

The only bleat was City's failure to turn such superiority into goals - for all their possession, inventiveness and hard work Flahavan had just one save to make, and that came as early as the fifth minute from Peter Duffield's low drive.

Thereafter, Lee Cook continued where he left off at Exeter seven days earlier by launching a number of raids down the left flank and firing in a number of searching crosses.

Darren Edmondson headed wide before Cook screwed a good chance over the bar then curled a shot just around an upright and brushed the side-netting.

In contrast, Southend were as dull and sluggish as City were bright and sharp. The hosts tested Fettis just once, Mark Beard forcing a fine near-post save from the City 'keeper.

City's dominance was emphasised at the start of the second half as Southend made a double substitution and switched from 5-3-2 to 4-4-2 in order to stem the red tide.

It did the trick as the home side not just quelled the ebb but gradually turned it.

City still fashioned a couple of half-decent chances - Tom Cowan spooning a close range shot over the bar and Cook blazing over after cutting in from the left - but the Minstermen were struggling to retain possession.

A more aggressive Southend had certainly upped the tempo and forced City on to the back foot for long spells.

Cort headed straight at Fettis, while Graeme Jones squandered a gilt-edged opportunity from three yards when he nudged the ball straight at the City 'keeper.

But if it was Southend who were now asking more of the questions that merely gave City the opportunity to show another side to their character.

Having displayed flair and invention in the first half, the second was all about grit and determination.

And if City were struggling to match their forward play of the opening 45 minutes, their defensive resolve could not be faulted.

For all Southend's improvement and City's retreat, the Minstermen still looked relatively in control and when Fettis pulled off a superb save to deny Maher's low drive with just a couple of minutes of normal time remaining a point looked a certainty.

But that was before Flahavan's howitzer and Belgrave's latest of late blasts, enough to inflict the cruellest of blows on the Minstermen.

Fact file:

Southend: Flahavan, Beard, Cort, Broad, Whelan (Searle 46m), Jenkins, Smith, Maher, Selley (Clark 46m), Bramble, Jones (Belgrave 76m) Subs (not used): Gay, Thurgood Bookings: None. Sent off: None. Goal: Belgrave 90m (+3m)

York City: Fettis 7, Edmondson 6, Smith 7, Brass 8, Hobson 7, Cowan 6 (Potter 79m), Bullock 6, Brackstone 6, Cook 7, Duffield 7, Nogan 7 (Parkin 64, 6) Subs (not used): Collinson, Wood, Mazzina Bookings: Cook 28m, Parkin 78m, Brass 82m, Edmondson 89m. Sent off: None. Goals: None

REFEREE: Peter Walton (Nothants)

ATTENDANCE: 4,411

Man of the match: Chris Brass. Rock solid throughout

Updated: 09:43 Monday, October 14, 2002