Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-0 Oldham Athletic

[leeblue]

If you mean Maher, today was his 634th game involved with the club, overtaking Steve Tilson and setting a new club record. Those of us who have witnessed both are very privileged, I doubt we will see the like again. I hope we also will see days where our head coaches don't have to loan money for players to fill their tanks with petrol just to get to training, or money for food.

Kevin Maher is a legend, there would be no Southend United without him and I hope he is still part of our club for many years to come.

But we drew with Tamworth whhaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaa

 

[graingerroad54]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

That is all

You sure?

 

[RHB]

Pretty sure if I turned up to work and did one thing for an entire shift they would sack me for theft of hours.

It's fair to say that Husin has only been a shadow of the player we saw last season, but I kept a close eye on him yesterday and he did a lot of the hard graft in midfield that often goes unnoticed, on the ground and in the air with headers won. So maybe it's a bit harsh to say that his performance wasn't up for it yesterday.

 

[sammy666]

Can anyone recall either keeper making a save by the way?

I recall a gypsy woman. Silver spangles in her eyes. Ivory skin against the moonlight and the taste of life's sweet wine

 

[JD]

Ha ha...Micky left for an event half time so I took over mic duties.

Problem is, hard to see the board from the South East corner AND the fourth official looked to have put a 9 up! That's why he took it down after 2 seconds as he realised he was wrong.

Perhaps it was a 19 and i coudlmt see the 1. Regarding Hobson, same mistake, saw a 5 but couldn't see the 1 for the 15 from my angle.

Oops!

I’ve always said that those boards are too bright, very hard to pick out the numbers as the whole thing seems to have a haze around the glow of the numbers.
Other than the subs **** up I liked your mic style

 

[Bromley Blue]

View attachment 36134that is all

Well they were half right I guess?!

I expected a heavy defeat after the way we defended on Tuesday night against weaker opposition. God I love being wrong.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Great entertainment, good value for the win and a massively improved performance after the Boston debacle. Bonne MoM for me, again. I think those who criticise Gubbins, need to get behind him. He is a competent player who looks for the forward pass at all times. Needs more game time for match fitness but is showing his value.
KAF is a Scrappy-Doo dynamo with a heart bigger than he is and cahonas to match.
I look forward to seeing a fully fit Parillon. There is a seriously good player in there.
Top marks all over the pitch.

 

[rigsby]

Great entertainment, good value for the win and a massively improved performance after the Boston debacle. Bonne MoM for me, again. I think those who criticise Gubbins, need to get behind him. He is a competent player who looks for the forward pass at all times. Needs more game time for match fitness but is showing his value.
KAF is a Scrappy-Doo dynamo with a heart bigger than he is and cahonas to match.
I look forward to seeing a fully fit Parillon. There is a seriously good player in there.
Top marks all over the pitch.

About one minute before our goal I said to mate behind me we need to get LCP in the game. After his second wriggle and forcing a corner, we never got the ball, to him, for about 15mins. We need to use him more, its the last thing Oldham wanted us to do.

Second half they they got noticeably tighter when he dropped to find space. Others teams will be tight or double up.The best ball for him is just what Husin supplied. He could have done the same later in the half but frustratingly checked out and failed to reward LCP.

Combined with several good breaks that all lead to nothing. I think we could and should have hurt them more. I'm not complaining about the win but I think there is more in this team if they believe in themselves.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Great entertainment, good value for the win and a massively improved performance after the Boston debacle. Bonne MoM for me, again. I think those who criticise Gubbins, need to get behind him. He is a competent player who looks for the forward pass at all times. Needs more game time for match fitness but is showing his value.
KAF is a Scrappy-Doo dynamo with a heart bigger than he is and cahonas to match.
I look forward to seeing a fully fit Parillon. There is a seriously good player in there.
Top marks all over the pitch.

I haven’t been a huge Gubbins fan I must admit, I don’t think he’s been the greatest at positioning and defending but .. he was much improved yesterday going forward and overlapping and put one or two decent crosses in. Maybe he’s one who just needs time to find his confidence.

 

[Wobbler]

Maher deserves a lot of credit for keeping faith in the same starting XI as midweek, despite the inevitable criticism he'd face if we didn't get a result. He didn't overreact to what was a blip in an otherwise good run of form and the players repaid him and then some. That is top management.

It's hard to add to what has already been said but I don't think it can be underestimated what a talent we have on our hands in Parillon. That combination of athleticism, turn of pace and close control is rare even at levels much higher than our own. I just hope the summer window comes too early for league sides to consider making a move for him.

Pretty sure if I turned up to work and did one thing for an entire shift they would sack me for theft of hours.

He also ran his socks off, pressed all day long, kept attacks going with some skilful pieces of play when being pressed and was even throwing himself into challenges in the air.

He's not impacting games near enough with the ball for someone with his ability but you can't fault the work he does for the team, which is why he plays.

 

[Colchester and proud!]

Couldn’t be prouder of the team and the club tonight.

Justin and the rest of COSU must be absolutely buzzing. This is vindication of their vision (and their investment) with a bumper crowd and a rocking North Bank witnessing yet another statement win following the wins v Halifax and Altrincham.

Add in draws at Forest Green and I suppose Tamworth and that win at Eastleigh and we’ve played 6 playoff chasing teams in the last and month and a bit and have won 3 and drawn 3 of them. We may have had a blip Tuesday at Boston but this team is on a charge who teams will be hoping to avoid the playoffs.

What is so impressive is how Maher has rebuilt the team on the fly. Just three of our starting line-up from opening day were in the starting line-up today - and one of those was Joe Gubbins who probably wasn’t first choice then or now. Hayes, Goodliffe, KAF, Parillon, Bonne and Hopper weren’t even at the club. They’ve all be integrated into the starting line-up and moulded into a team.

At the heart of the team is Tom Hopper. He’s lost a bit of pace but the work-rate is exceptional. He sets the tone and doesn’t allow the opposition defence to rest. They have to fight for every ball and he just doesn’t let them get easy clearances. Playing against him is playing in hard mode. I was sceptical of his signing but he is exactly what this team was missing. He won’t have the same goal threat as Cardwell had but he transforms this side. Alongside him Bonne looks rejuvenated. Had he been this fit in September we’d likely be talking about trying to get home advantage rather than just make the playoffs. I’d expect a close season story from Chris Phillips about how he’d fallen out of love with football but has now rekindled it.

KAF got a lot of plaudits today and whilst he buzzed all over the place, scored another header and was largely effective he was also the reason we didn’t win by more. Three times he got the ball in space with a man unmarked and three times he got his ball wrong. For now I’ll take the positive that he was getting in those positions but this is something to keep an eye on going forward where he may need a bit more composure and quality on his final ball. He has however earnt his place in the side.

The star of midfield though is Parillon. He’s the player people thought Moncur was. He glides past players like they aren’t there but has some end product as well. One of our big priorities in the summer is to find a plan B for when he gets snapped up. Mad to think he was playing part-time football just two months ago.

I thought Maher got all the subs right. Miley solidified midfield, Coker added some more energy, Ralph and Bridge‘s experience helped see us over the line. The only other change I may have made was up front where I think we could have done with some pace - where was Kendall?

We’ve now got a deeper squad and we made the most of it. It was also a good way to get players returning from injury up to speed, although I did worry we had too many of them on the pitch at the same time. A word too for Gubbins. I think he had another quietly impressive game. He might be our best crosser in the squad. That left peg of his is surprisingly cultured. We might need to give him some more support in front of him though.

So great to have Roots Hall rocking. Soak it in. We’re in the business end of the season and we’re performing in front some of our biggest crowds of the season.

You have summed up the Tom Hopper contribution very well, lots of fans don't notice what he brings to the team, it is that hard work he puts in that make KM pick him week after week and why the Cowley's used to praise him so often and do the same. He will never score lots of goals, but the effort and sheer nuisance value he creates gives opportunities for others.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

There was also a blatant push in the back of Bonne in the first half when he headed towards goal, it’s in Diversity’s video but from his angle you couldn’t see it, clearly visible from the East

Yeah but the Bonne haters will just say it was a poor header and should have scored, the same as his headed goal bound shot that was cleared with a hand

 

[Bratislava Blue]

A satisfying and enjoyable watch. KAF is putting in performances of late that the side has been missing for most of the season. Maybe we needed someone like LCP in the starting XI before this could be realized.
I hope that it's not too late.
As for Mortons recent form and the ask from some to bring back Miley. In opinion Mortons gives us more from an attacking perspective and that's the way we have to play in these remaining 6 games. Mortons range of passing is better than that of Miley and his delivery at corners is our best option.
If our current starting XI can stay injury free we need to stick with them apart from the Easter Monday game wherer we may need to freshen things up.

 

[Maroon Blue]

A pulsating game full of endeavour and determination to secure the 3 points. Thought we were significantly the better team first half and bossed midfield. Second half Oldham got tighter and made it a relief when the final whistle blew. Pleased to get a rare clean sheet and on reflection Hayes had a relatively comfortable afternoon. This shows how well the defence played and protected him. Like the blend in midfield, Husin does the unseen off the ball work, KAF full of running and energy, Morton sits and gets us moving, LCP that tricky ball player that we have missed this season. Bonne & Hopper ran themselves into the ground, everybody including subs contributed to keep our season alive.

Hayes 7
GSM 7
Taylor 7.5
Goodliffe 8
Gubbins 7.5
KAF 8.5 MOTM
Morton 7
Husin 7
LCP 8
Bonne 8
Hopper 7.5

Miley 6.5
Ralph 6.5
Bridge 6
Coker 6

KAF gets my MOTM, absolute pest to Oldham, would not let them settle and the winning goal. Oldham, for me, now look nailed on for fourth. Did expect their wing backs to give us more trouble as they are good players. Also was worried when Fondup came on as he likes to throw his weight around and he did but faded. Normally gets his head on crosses but did not really provide the goal threat I expected. Kudos to Ben Goodliffe who had his best game for us and nullified their threat. Roll on Saturday and expect a raucous away end at Sutton, I shall be in the main stand trying to be respectful to our hosts UTB

 

[ms brush]

Ha ha...Micky left for an event half time so I took over mic duties.

Problem is, hard to see the board from the South East corner AND the fourth official looked to have put a 9 up! That's why he took it down after 2 seconds as he realised he was wrong.

Perhaps it was a 19 and i coudlmt see the 1. Regarding Hobson, same mistake, saw a 5 but couldn't see the 1 for the 15 from my angle.

Oops!

It was a bit confusing, but actually pretty funny! Well done for taking over, not an easy thing to do when there are over 8000 pedantic armchair critics...

 

[OldBlueLady]

Thoroughly enjoyed that - thought Kev got the tactics and substitutions spot on. Hopper and Bonne both ran their hearts out, and I suppose with no match Tuesday, that's why both were left on for the entirety. Hopper also very dominant when on defensive duties again. Bonne's football brain is really becoming clear and he's so versatile as well.

Midfield were all industrious and showed flair at times, with LCP and KAF the stars of the show. Morton was a bit wasteful with the ball at times, with a couple of shockers, but remains our best deadball deliverer.

I was really pleased with the defence, as Gubbins and Goodliffe have both attracted some fair criticism recently but both did very well, with Goodliffe looking quite Kensdale-esque at times. Taylor was solid as a rock and much firmer on his feet. Gus required to be more defensive than he'd usually like, and got a bit cross on more than one occasion with the ball not being passed to him for a shot! Thought Oldham had done their research on him well.

Oldham were a bit inclined to shove our players as they went for a header, which went largely unpunished, and it's an area where we've got to improve and play the system more. We don't make enough of stuff like that, we're too nice!

I didn't see the penalty claim for Oldham, will have a check on D1versity's video to see if any clearer there.

Oldham were getting on top of us in the 2nd half, which is why the introduction of Cav and Nathan was vital as they both served to shore things up and made it harder for Oldham to break through. Cav did slip and jar his thigh so I have to hope it wasn't anything serious. He does organise things much more than anyone else out there, much more of a vocal presence on the pitch. Similarly, Bridge and Coker also helped with a more solid and experienced presence and I thought Bridgey did some excellent defensive work, and him and Bonne definitely played the ball in the corner very well.

All in all, it was a proper match of football, and hopefully it came over well on the TV for those watching at home. The atmosphere was fantastic - more of the same in those matches ahead, please.

Hayes - 7
Gus - 7
Taylor - 7.5
Goodliffe - 8
Gubbins - 7
Morton - 7
LCP - 8
KAF - 8.5 joint MOTM
Husin - 7
Hopper - 8
Bonne - 8.5, joint MOTM

Subs :
Miley for Morton - 7.5
Ralph for Gubbins - 7.5
Coker for KAF - 7
Bridge for LCP - 7.5

 

[cerbera45]

Really enjoyed the game yesterday, so refreshing to see an open match with both teams "going for it" rather than silly feigning injury and time wasting.

 

[OldBlueLady]

@Spaceman Spiff wishing you well mate, take care and rest up x

 

[BEERMONSTER]

You have summed up the Tom Hopper contribution very well, lots of fans don't notice what he brings to the team, it is that hard work he puts in that make KM pick him week after week and why the Cowley's used to praise him so often and do the same. He will never score lots of goals, but the effort and sheer nuisance value he creates gives opportunities for others.

Befitting the old tag 'A players player' never undervalued by those playing alongside him but his contribution often goes unseen from the sideline by many.

 

[* ORM *]

If VAR was in operation we would have been 2-0 up as we would have had a penalty of our own for handball in the first half.

And the day VAR comes to Roots Hall is sadder than any other day in our history