Post-Match Thread and Ratings Braintree Town 0-1 Southend United

[Holy Joe]

Maher needs to stop too early subs taking both our best strikers off, nothing upfront after that. Maybe Bim as he was on a card but leave Kendall on FFS!

Was it last season where Maher was often criticised for making subs too late in the game? Think they were often around 75 mins in. So now he's moved to 60 mins it's too early. Maybe it's not the timing of subs but the quality of subs????

 

[KiwiRob]

just heading back now - poor game very scrappy but an away win 3 points and a clean sheet

Crowther and Waldron sitting near me not looking at all happy especially Waldron who spent most of the game on his phone head buried in his hood

MOTM for me probably Coker, maybe Gus for his energy levels

Waldron has every right to feel unhappy. Kevin Maher has not given him a fair crack of the whip after he returned from injury, following a good start to the season.

 

[Holy Joe]

just heading back now - poor game very scrappy but an away win 3 points and a clean sheet

Crowther and Waldron sitting near me not looking at all happy especially Waldron who spent most of the game on his phone head buried in his hood

MOTM for me probably Coker, maybe Gus for his energy levels

Maybe Waldron gets a chance now - assuming Walker is out for a few weeks?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

SOUTHEND United started 2025 with a hard-fought win at Braintree Town this afternoon.

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Goalscorer - Bim Pepple celebrates scoring the only goal of the game (Image: Lucy Copsey)


By Chris Phillips@cjphillips1982Chief sports reporter.

SOUTHEND United started 2025 with a hard-fought win at Braintree Town this afternoon.

In-form Shrimpers striker Bim Pepple bagged the only goal of the all Essex clash as Keivn Maher’s side recorded back to back league wins for the first time this season.

Pepple fired home a well-taken right footed shot in the 20th minute of the game to take his tally to seven goals in his last six games.

But Blues had to dig deep in the second half to come out on top.

Shrimpers midfielder Noor Husin saw an early 25 yard shot smothered by Braintree goalkeeper Lucas Covolan before Oli Coker fired wide of the right upright from a similar distance.

After surviving the scares, Braintree came close to scoring when Chay Cooper collected a poor clearance from Harry Taylor before cutting in from the left hand side and shooting just wide of the left post from 16 yards.

But, with play soon switching back to the other end of the field, the Shrimpers broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, with Pepple on target for the 11th time this season.

The on loan Luton Town forward strode forward from a central position before scoring with a well taken right footed shot from just outside the penalty area.

Moments later, Pepple fired inches wide of the left post after being teed up by Charley Kendall in the right hand side of the penalty area.

In reply, Cooper sent an attempted lob well wide of the left post before Pepple was again posing problems for the hosts as he turned sharply before curling a shot inches wide of the right post from just outside the penalty area.

After the break, Iron striker John Akinde saw his downward header saved by Blues goalkeeper Collin Andeng Ndi before the visitors made a double change in the 64th minute with Josh Walker and Macauley Bonne replacing Kendall and Pepple in attack.

However, shortly after his introduction, Walker was chopped down in shocking style by a poorly timed challenge from Braintree left-back Ryan Clampin.

Clampin seemed fortunate to be shown just a yellow card for the tackle which led to Walker hobbling off.

The striker was replaced by Joe Gubbins in a change which saw Jack Bridge moving into a more central role, just behind Bonne.

But it was Braintree who threatened next with Cooper curling a left footed shot over the crossbar from 25 yards.

The Shrimpers responded with another double change in the 89th minute as James Morton took the place of Husin at the same time Keenan Appiah-Forson replaced Bridge.

Braintree pushed for a late equaliser with Blues surviving a heart in the mouth moment when Cooper’s right wing cross was missed by Andeng Ndi, only to drop wide of the left post.

Southend replied with Coker firing over from 25 yards but a second goal was not required as the Shrimpers survived 10 minutes of added on time to win their first ever competitive fixture against Braintree.

 

[WillMay333]

Ref all but gifted us a win tonight. Paper over cracks imo. Same frustrating issues week in week out. Will always be happy with 3 points, but starting the game with 4 strikers in the squad and finishing with just Bonne is not good enough. These same subs every single game are killing us. 2 for 2 when youre 1-0 and not in control makes no sense whatsoever and almost cost us the win. So extremely frustrating.

 

[amsemp]

Kendall’s performances can’t be understated. He’s so tenacious and the amount of work he gets through is so impressive. He’s made Bim more of a threat and there’s the makings of a really dangerous partnership there. I get the feeling that as soon as one goes in for Kendall, more and more will follow.

Bim was class again. If there’s a deal to be done there, we have to pursue it. He’s filled the very difficult to fill Cardwell hole and at 22 years old, he’s likely not hit his ceiling yet. If Luton do recall him it’s a huge concern for the remainder of the season given how integral he is.

Didn’t agree with Kev’s decision to take the front two off. Just seemed like a bizarre move at only 1-0 up and we didn’t really look anywhere close to as threatening after that. But we saw it out and it’s another 3 points in the bag so difficult to be too critical. Had they have equalised though, Kev would’ve come under a lot of fire.

Some pretty scummy challenges from Braintree which the ref got wrong for me. Clampin should’ve been off for the challenge on Walker (hope he’s okay), and only booking the fella for dissent rather than for the initial challenge on Coker was madness. Got the Bim booking wrong too which probably contributed to Kev’s thinking in bringing him off and could’ve cost us.

But we’re coming home with 3 points and we’re in danger of putting a good run of form together. So on to the next!

 

[bazzashrimper]

Ref all but gifted us a win tonight. Paper over cracks imo. Same frustrating issues week in week out. Will always be happy with 3 points, but starting the game with 4 strikers in the squad and finishing with just Bonne is not good enough. These same subs every single game are killing us. 2 for 2 when youre 1-0 and not in control makes no sense whatsoever and almost cost us the win. So extremely frustrating.

Why did the ref gift us a win? There was one difficult decision to be made (red card for an awful tackle that made us end up with one striker on the pitch at then end) and he bottled it.

 

[Thundersley Blue]

Waldron has every right to feel unhappy. Kevin Maher has not given him a fair crack of the whip after he returned from injury, following a good start to the season.

Disagree with you, Waldron has had chances ,but obviously fewer this season. He is very much the 5th striker. Wouldn't surprise me if he went on loan to get some football, though that might not happen now with Walker's injury.Very hard when we don't have any sort of a B team to bring players up to full fitness. Still we will see.

 

[hlane17]

Maybe Waldron gets a chance now - assuming Walker is out for a few weeks?

If Walker's out then Waldron will probably get time off the bench. But not convinced IMO, looked thoroughly out of his depth pre-injury this year. But surely got to be a better option than Bonne lol

 

[RHB]

Considering the awful pitch thought we were excellent in our defensive play.However when we took Bim and Charley off plus the awful challenge on Walker we lost our way in the offensive play.Thought we were going to concede fortunately Braintree lack any quality and we held on to pick up the points.

Trophy next to continue building

Wot he said, and Miley is almost back to his best self too. Back to back wins and Southport next.

 

[WillMay333]

Why did the ref gift us a win? There was one difficult decision to be made (red card for an awful tackle that made us end up with one striker on the pitch at then end) and he bottled it.

Coker in the build up was a foul (granted they shouldnt have just stopped) and Colin was very borderline penalty. The challenge on Walker was never a red.

 

[johnlattimerssponge]

I was not entertained but looking on the bright side we won and the BBC got the weather forecast wrong so we avoided getting soaked on the open terrace.

 

[blues exile]

Two wins on the bounce very welcome but the questions won't go away and they are always the same ones. It was a poor game, Pepple again making all the difference between two uninspiring sides. One moment epitomises the problem. We start a move inside our own half. For once there is plenty of movement off the ball. Braintree defenders scuttling back in disarray. Husin, in acres of space around the centre circle, receives the ball, turns 360 degrees and passes it back, killing any momentum and the prospect of an attempt on goal. Sums up the philosophy of the coaching staff, play it safe and keep possession. The lack of ambition is never going to achieve a playoff challenge. As for the substitutions, words fail.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Coker in the build up was a foul (granted they shouldnt have just stopped) and Colin was very borderline penalty. The challenge on Walker was never a red.

I disagree. Coker was 50/50, so half the refs would say play on. As the co commentator said, because Collin got the ball first, it was not a foul, and his momentum carried him onto their player. The Walker foul was atrocious, and purely to take out a player bursting through. It was reckless and dangerous, and should have been a sending off in my opinion. We will wait and see what damage it's done to poor Walker.

 

[Tinks]

Found it boring and lacked any action but 3 points is 3 points and we need the points on the table atm so will take that.
I don’t think I can add anything that has not already been mentioned in this thread.

Pepple - please can we keep him.
Colin - didn’t have a lot to do and a clean sheet which will do his confidence good.
Taylor - remains solid.
Ralph - had a quiet game I thought
Golding - again I really like this lad and think he can do a good job for us
GUS - is GUS - never stops running
Miles - getting back to his old self and the Miles we all know.
Coker - just getting stronger and more solid on the ball
Husain - still not back to how he used to be
Bridge - I think most of the teams have got the jist of Bridge now
Kendall - I really like this young lad and think he will be good for us and is showing lots of potential
Hope Walker is ok.

We really need to up our game if we are going to have a chance in pushing for a play off spot.

 

[RHB]

For the avoidance of doubt our No18 is James Golding

 

[amsemp]

Disagree with you, Waldron has had chances ,but obviously fewer this season. He is very much the 5th striker. Wouldn't surprise me if he went on loan to get some football, though that might not happen now with Walker's injury.Very hard when we don't have any sort of a B team to bring players up to full fitness. Still we will see.

I think Waldron’s been unlucky with injuries and circumstances, as he looked like he was forming a good partnership with Cardwell which was scuppered with his move to FGR and injury to Waldron. We wouldn’t have signed him if the stats didn’t add up and/or he didn’t pass the eye test.

I hope he gets a chance as I think there’s a good player in there. He’s another one who works hard and could be an understudy/other option to Kendall in future.

For what it’s worth, I’m still yet to be impressed by Walker. 3 goals in 19 games (one of which was a tap in against an Isthmian League North Division side) isn’t great on paper, and is only slightly better than Waldron’s 3 goals in 22 games. But Walker gets far less **** than Waldron and I don’t really get it.

 

[Sherif H]

Obviously we will take the points, but that was a dire game played out between two lower mid-table sides.
One thing you can always guarantee with Kev is that double substitution of both strikers, which basically kills any attacking momentum stone dead.

 

[Simon Templar]

If Walker's out then Waldron will probably get time off the bench. But not convinced IMO, looked thoroughly out of his depth pre-injury this year. But surely got to be a better option than Bonne lol

Waldron must get a chance now. Recall a game at home last season where he chased down loose balls and got accurate crosses in which led onto goals. I think he scored a few too in the games he played. Sadly it doesn’t look like Bonne can score. Time for a change. Scrappy game today, but I’ll take the three points. Nice to see Cav back on form.

 

[amsemp]

Obviously we will take the points, but that was a dire game played out between two lower mid-table sides.
One thing you can always guarantee with Kev is that double substitution of both strikers, which basically kills any attacking momentum stone dead.

Taking two strikers off and replacing them with another two can work really well. Tilly used to love doing it. It’s only an issue if the two on the bench aren’t anywhere near as good as the two on the pitch, which they aren’t.