Post-Match Thread and Ratings Lincoln City 2-1 Southend United

[OldBlueLady]

Lots of hugging a la Adam Barrett went on in the Lincoln defence and Tilly had obviously done his homework on Ryan Hall. I know he was reported as having been to RH recently and that homework paid dividends as it stifled our best creative force. It was a chance that Sawyer should have taken to shine but I'm afraid he didn't. Yes, there was some decent stuff at times, but what is the point if you beat 3 players with some good skills and then promptly give the ball away? We allowed Ashley Grimes far too much possession and time on the ball, and it cost us the match, we have to learn to tackle more effectively.

Evans - 6, at fault for 1st goal although Easton actually gave ball away, kicking more wayward than normal. I do like him but maybe it's time for Morris to be given the gloves again
Clohessy - 5, thought he had a torrid time dealing with Facy and Grimes
Barker - 6, likewise, although he dealt with it better
Coughlan - 5, think the shorts that were too tight had an effect on his playing ability and his temper!
Gilbert - 6, was doing ok until injured
Sawyer - 7, please regain whatever it is that you've lost from your game. There were odd instances of it but not enough
Ferdinand - 7, welcome back, you've been sorely missed
Easton - 7, worked tirelessly, hope the injury wasn't too bad
Hall - 6, won the header for Blair's goal but did little else
Sturrock - 8 MOTM, worked his socks off, got some decent crosses in but why oh why do we persist in playing him as a striker? In my opinion he simply isn't one, he's a wide right midfielder, his natural positioning backs this up so let's use him there
Corr - 7, again worked very hard and caused a few problems

Subs:
Cominges for Gilbert - 6, prefer him in midfield,
Grant for Easton - 7, much more like the old Anthony Grant, assuming he was dropped, maybe that was what he needed to reignite the fire and passion
Asante for Hall - N/A, not on long enough

Support - 10 out of 10, brilliant stuff! The Lincoln stewards were very impressed with the majority of our support and liked the witticisms of the chants. Kev took some video on his camera of the support just after our goal, if we can work out how, we'll upload it.

Officials - 4, short man syndrome in the middle again.

 

[05smithr]

Sturrock - 8 MOTM, worked his socks off, got some decent crosses in but why oh why do we persist in playing him as a striker? In my opinion he simply isn't one, he's a wide right midfielder, his natural positioning backs this up so let's use him there

PAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Wide right midfielder, are you joking me, so youd rather have sturrock than hall

 

[OldBlueLady]

Sturrock - 8 MOTM, worked his socks off, got some decent crosses in but why oh why do we persist in playing him as a striker? In my opinion he simply isn't one, he's a wide right midfielder, his natural positioning backs this up so let's use him there

PAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Wide right midfielder, are you joking me, so youd rather have sturrock than hall

Not at all, Hall, being a left footed player, is better suited to the left wing. Obvious I would have thought.

 

[05smithr]

Well if you'd atually watch southend, you'd know that halls best performances have been on the right. so lol at you!

 

[TravellingBlue]

Enjoyed the day trip, good local beer and had a fantastic steak and ale pie! Was worried about this one, just really didn't see us putting one over ST and PB.

Evans - 5 Worried me the whole match. Should have held the first goal.
Clohessy - 5 Struggle the whole match against an agile Lincoln front line.
Barker - 6 Coped better than the other defenders, but was up against it.
Coughlan - 5 Uninspiring and moaned a lot
Gilbert - 5 One particular occasion he gave the ball away he chased back missed the tackle and then gave up!
Sawyer - 6 Still waiting to see 'it'. Goes sideways too much, looks lightweight.
Ferdinand - 7 Good to see the youngster back, solid.
Easton - 6 Struggled at times, fingers crossed for his injury.
Hall - 6 Not in it, one or two nice runs.
Sturrock - 6 The usual working performance. Thankfully it was an open goal three yards out!
Corr - 6 Worked hard but little impact.

Subs:
Cominges for Gilbert - 5 meh
Grant for Easton - 7 Don't understand being dropped, he is our one class midfielder.
Asante for Hall - N/A, not on long enough

Support - Was a massive 10 out 10 wonderful!!!
Officials - 4/5 meh

Got to say that I thought Lincoln were the better side and up front have a cutting edge - something we massively lack. Good to see Tilly and Brushy and Screech. Time to move on now, get over the past and only look to the future.

 

[james_c]

Evans 5 one word awful dont like fans getting on his back though how will that help
Clohessy 6 average at fault for second goal
Barker 8 excellent as usual
Coughlan 6 tried his best
Gilbert 4 did his best but was skinned to often
Sawyer 8 motm for me always going forward alot of skill and great passing range.
Ferdinand 7 ok good defensively still prefer grant and easton
Easton 6 didnt have long enough on the pitch
Hall 5 worse game i ever seen him have
Sturrock 8 very good player dont like the stick he gets told someone to shut up for saying he was ****. are they supporters i think not
Corr 7 won everything had a great game

Cominges 6
Grant 8 Donthink was right to drop him
Officials - 6 ok

 

[Maroon Blue]

Enjoyed everything about the day out except for the result. This coupled with the Morecambe defeat now consigns us to mid-table, two defeats to average-poor teams. A great shame after away wins to much better teams including Rotherham & Oxford, which gave a glimmer of hope towards play-offs.

Evans 6 - Never sure what to expect either great save or feeling could do better
Clohessy 6 - Better going forward, please whip that cross in earlier though, before first defender gets back and blocks
Coughlan 5 - Laboured a bit, worried another two games in next five days too much
Barker 6.5 - Solid as ever, rarely puts a foot wrong
Gilbert 6 - Second best left back at club behind Barker, still backs off too much when attacked
Hall 5 - Anonymous, perhaps expect too much after Tuesday and recent troubles
Easton 6 - No real impact before went off injured
Ferdinand 6 - Like him in the team but a bit sloppier in possession than usual
Sawyer 7.5 - MOTM always looked for the ball, running with it and to get it forward with the right pass. Hoof ball not in his game
Sturrock 7 - Worked tirelessly again and great finish for the goal when others may have thrashed at it
Corr 6 - Won his share of headers never found a blue shirt unfortunately, seemed to labour at times

Comminges 5.5 - Unsure, got booked for late challenge, looks solid but was not overly confident, not his best position
Grant 6.5 - Looked a bit livelier but where has the all action, free scoring, ball winning pre-xmas Grant gone, moaned at Ref until booked.
Asante 5 - No real time, caught offside at end when could have done better

Very disappointing result against a team that recently shipped 4 against Barnet and 5 at home to Bury & Shrewsbury. With injuries now to Gilbert and Easton further impeding a tired looking team, I fear our season is done after a great run until last weekend. Fantastic support, obviously appreciated by our previous management team. Lets try to keep it up to hope our season does not peter out completely.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Well if you'd atually watch southend, you'd know that halls best performances have been on the right. so lol at you!

"If I actually watch Southend"? You clearly don't know me at all! :nope:
Hall is able to work both wings in a similar way to Mark Gower did (although not with the depth from midfield) but he is a left footed winger and his best crosses are with his left foot. Sturrock has, on many occasions, got seemingly impossible crosses in from the right and as his number of assists will back up, has been an important player for us in that respect. It's not just me that rated his performance on Saturday, plenty of others did too.

 

[Jack The Flag]

Get Evans out of goal!

 

[Blue_Wes]

Jeez, am I glad this game is over. With the constant bickering we've seen in the lead up. It's seen fans arguing, a continuation in our lethargic performances and arguably our play off hopes dashed. It does say a lot that Jacks drinking habits and a little spat have 7 pages more interest than the game itself (no offence Jack!). I'm just glad it's behind us now and that hopefully we can draw a line under it and move on, hopefully a little more united in fan base.

FWIW;

Evans 5: Shocker for the opener, kicking was poor, and should be dropped now.
Clohessly 5.5: Struggled to contain the Lincoln winger, and barely got forward.
Gilbert 4: Not his day at all. Needs a massive confidence boost, time for some man management PS.
Barker 6: Good goal line clearance, but didn't look at the races today.
Coughlan 5.5: again struggled with the front two, and resorted to just hoofing the ball up field.
Hall 5: Post court hangover?? Just did not get involved.
Easton 5.5: Shocking pass for the opener, and poor passing in general, shame as he'd improved of late.
Sawyer 6.5: One of the more positive players, wanted the ball and moved well with it, but little end product.
Ferdinand 6.5: good to see him back, did the simple things, but didn't really impact the game.
Sturrock 6.5: Didn't see a lot of the ball & fortunate with the goal, that said he finished it well, and he needed that after the plethora of fluffed chances this season.
Corr 5.5: Starved of service, and saw very little of the ball. Seemed to be far too easily out muscled by the Lincoln defenders too.

Comingues 6: Did ok.
Grant 6.5: The one positive out of today. After recent performances he deserved to be dropped, and it seemed to have the desired affect as he was desperate to prove the manager wrong. Hopefully this little reality check in realising he is not undroppable with help kick start his form.
Asante n/a: 6/7 minutes is not really enough time to rate. Will do his confidence good to get some game time though.

Fans did well today despite the bickering. like L said glad this game is out the way, it's been a contentious issue for too long now. More importantly though is the continual lethargic displays from the team. The drop in morale and (apparent) effort does worrying seem to coincide with the wages issue though, hopefully the resolve in pay will see us pick up a bit now; providing the players haven't become disillusioned with the club, as no doubt they would have needed reassurances this wouldn't happen given Ron's history, and a break of these promises may just be too much.

A difficult game tomorrow night, I'll gladly take a draw now.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

Tilly had obviously done his homework on Ryan Hall. I know he was reported as having been to RH recently and that homework paid dividends as it stifled our best creative force. We allowed Ashley Grimes far too much possession and time on the ball, and it cost us the match.

Spot on. Tilly gets one up on Sturrock after this one im afraid despite all the experts who said Tilly was tactically clueless.

On the other hand swap Grimes for Sturrock JR and we would probably would of won that comfortably.

 

[* ORM *]

PAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Wide right midfielder, are you joking me, so youd rather have sturrock than hall

Apart from the fact that Hall can switch flanks as will I could quite easily see Sturrock playing RM a bit like Pettefer used to do for us. I'd also like to think we will get a pacy striker to work alongside Corr next season and that Blair becomes an optional pick rather than a shoe in from a midfield that would have 6 or 7 line up options.

Forget play-offs we don't have a squad deep enough with fatigue and injury taking their toll. Let's give the youth and fringe players a decent run out to see whether they have potential. We must have better LB options than Herd as well. I'd quite happily go winless in the knowledge that we are safe of I knew that PS was spending some weeks experimenting with options for next season.