After last Saturday's dismal defeat against Solihull Moors it's a second consecutive home game and it's an Essex derby with Braintree Town being the visitors. Although mathematically this game does not define whether we will be in the play offs or not, realistically we have to win to keep our chances alive.
The form table over the last 6 games makes interesting reading - whereas we might have been licking our lips at playing Braintree, Ebbsfleet and Wealdstone in our last 5 games a couple of months ago, all 3 teams are in better form than us at the moment. Also of interest is that, besides the top 2 of Barnet and York, of the teams above us only Rochdale can match us for current form and the other sides (Forest Green, Oldham, Halifax, Gateshead, Altrincham) are in even worse form than we are!
Boston, Sutton and Solihull were all winnable games - had we done so we'd have been sitting in 4th place in the table.
Our visitors on Good Friday have undergone something of a resurgence since Steve Pitt took over as manager last December. Although they're only one place higher than they were when he took over, they're now 7 points clear of the team occupying the final relegation spot (The Daggers!) with only 4 games left to play, so barring a massive slump in form (or a crazy run by ourselves) we'll probably be playing them again next season - given that they've currently got the lowest average home attendance in the National League (1,107), that is something of a triumph for them.
Pitt's assistant manager is Maher's old nemesis Karl Duguid so I'm sure they'll be looking forward to renewing their "friendship" on the touchline. It doesn't look like they have any ex-Shrimpers in their squad but they've got a fair few ex- Col Ewe players - including the big lump John Akinde up top. In their last 4 games they've beaten both Barnet and York so seem to have a liking for teams up the top end of the table. They did however lose last Saturday, 4-2 at Tamworth.
So, what are we going to do to turn around our fortunes? Last Saturday was frustrating again, but the subs did little to turn around our fortunes - if anything we looked even more impotent after they joined the fray. Gus went off with a knock which might give a chance for George Wind, but other than that what changes could Kev make to improve things. Charley Kendall might be available to join a 3 man attack I suppose, but what other changes would you make and what do you predict the result will be?
The form table over the last 6 games makes interesting reading - whereas we might have been licking our lips at playing Braintree, Ebbsfleet and Wealdstone in our last 5 games a couple of months ago, all 3 teams are in better form than us at the moment. Also of interest is that, besides the top 2 of Barnet and York, of the teams above us only Rochdale can match us for current form and the other sides (Forest Green, Oldham, Halifax, Gateshead, Altrincham) are in even worse form than we are!
Boston, Sutton and Solihull were all winnable games - had we done so we'd have been sitting in 4th place in the table.
Our visitors on Good Friday have undergone something of a resurgence since Steve Pitt took over as manager last December. Although they're only one place higher than they were when he took over, they're now 7 points clear of the team occupying the final relegation spot (The Daggers!) with only 4 games left to play, so barring a massive slump in form (or a crazy run by ourselves) we'll probably be playing them again next season - given that they've currently got the lowest average home attendance in the National League (1,107), that is something of a triumph for them.
Pitt's assistant manager is Maher's old nemesis Karl Duguid so I'm sure they'll be looking forward to renewing their "friendship" on the touchline. It doesn't look like they have any ex-Shrimpers in their squad but they've got a fair few ex- Col Ewe players - including the big lump John Akinde up top. In their last 4 games they've beaten both Barnet and York so seem to have a liking for teams up the top end of the table. They did however lose last Saturday, 4-2 at Tamworth.
So, what are we going to do to turn around our fortunes? Last Saturday was frustrating again, but the subs did little to turn around our fortunes - if anything we looked even more impotent after they joined the fray. Gus went off with a knock which might give a chance for George Wind, but other than that what changes could Kev make to improve things. Charley Kendall might be available to join a 3 man attack I suppose, but what other changes would you make and what do you predict the result will be?
Last edited:
