Mick
Life President
We have played Boston seven times before, all in the League, and, thanks to a comfortable home mid-week match back in August, we have a slight edge. We’ve won four, they’ve won three. We’ve scored 10 goals, they’ve scored 8 goals. We’ve had one red card, they’ve had one red card. Our red card went to Darryl Flahavan and resulted in a successful 45 minutes in goal from Tes the Cat. Kevin Maher played in the first six games.
Man in charge tomorrow is Craig Hicks from Sutton, the Surrey FA referee Development Officer. He spent four years refereeing at National League level before being promoted to a Football League referee at the start of the 2017/18. This is therefore the seventh season he has been refereeing League One and Two games without ever looking likely to go much higher. This will be his first non-league match since the play-off semi final in 2017. His last match was Wimbledon’s shock home defeat by Dagenham in the Cup when he picked up an injury after 10 minutes and hasn’t refereed since.
He has refereed Southend ten times before, all whilst we were a Football League team.
His first was the rather poor, customary, first round Cup defeat in 2017/18 at Yeovil. A penalty to win the game and I don't think the referee impressed too many, Three yellow cards in that game, our one to Kightly.
Then came his first Roots Hall match on the day that Chris Powell made his managerial Roots Hall debut. Unlike Powell, Mr Hicks showed himself to be way out of his depth in that match against Scunthorpe in the same season when a late, late Turner goal gave us a 3-2 victory. Hopper got their first goal. Yellows for Turner and McLaughlin and three yellows for them (including Hopper), one of which turned into a red right at the end. Powell took a little longer to look out of his depth.
His second match at Roots Hall was 2018/19's curtain raiser against Doncaster. A reasonable first half was followed by a poor second and the words "out of his depth" surfaced once again. This time we lost 3-2 with yellows for Turner, Hopper and five of theirs.
Then came the same season's 0-0 draw against Oxford. Yellow for Demetriou and two of theirs. Poor, especially second half.
A third visit to Roots Hall that season followed for the Checkatrade fiasco when a very strong team was humiliated by Portsmouth’s reserves. No cards in this one.
His next match was 2019/20’s first Southend match of the season against Coventry at St Andrews, which turned out to be surprisingly close, considering the way the season panned out. They scored the only goal of the game which had a yellow apiece; ours to Lennon. Not too much criticism.
Not too much criticism either in his second Southend away match of that season on New Year’s day at Wimbledon not least because he awarded us a very late penalty which gave us a point from a 1-1 draw. Yellows for their McLoughlin and our Hopper and Kelman.
That was followed by the same season’s home match with Burton. It was a 3-2 defeat, the scoreline getting a bit of respectability thanks to a last-minute own goal from O'Toole. Both yellows went to them; one, of course, to O'Toole.
The improvement was maintained in our first win of the 2020/21 season (in November !!!) at Walsall behind closed doors. A yellow for Lennon and a yellow and subsequent red for one of theirs.
Finally another behind closed doors game at Leyton Orient that same season. A 2-0 defeat with two yellows apiece – ours going to Bwomono and Dieng.
This seasons 12 games, plus 10 minutes, have seen a remarkably low 28 yellows and no reds.
Assisting will be Sam Wesson from Leicester and Alexander Shipp from Claydon, near Ipswich. Fourth Official is Lee Hible from the Sheffield area.
Man in charge tomorrow is Craig Hicks from Sutton, the Surrey FA referee Development Officer. He spent four years refereeing at National League level before being promoted to a Football League referee at the start of the 2017/18. This is therefore the seventh season he has been refereeing League One and Two games without ever looking likely to go much higher. This will be his first non-league match since the play-off semi final in 2017. His last match was Wimbledon’s shock home defeat by Dagenham in the Cup when he picked up an injury after 10 minutes and hasn’t refereed since.
He has refereed Southend ten times before, all whilst we were a Football League team.
His first was the rather poor, customary, first round Cup defeat in 2017/18 at Yeovil. A penalty to win the game and I don't think the referee impressed too many, Three yellow cards in that game, our one to Kightly.
Then came his first Roots Hall match on the day that Chris Powell made his managerial Roots Hall debut. Unlike Powell, Mr Hicks showed himself to be way out of his depth in that match against Scunthorpe in the same season when a late, late Turner goal gave us a 3-2 victory. Hopper got their first goal. Yellows for Turner and McLaughlin and three yellows for them (including Hopper), one of which turned into a red right at the end. Powell took a little longer to look out of his depth.
His second match at Roots Hall was 2018/19's curtain raiser against Doncaster. A reasonable first half was followed by a poor second and the words "out of his depth" surfaced once again. This time we lost 3-2 with yellows for Turner, Hopper and five of theirs.
Then came the same season's 0-0 draw against Oxford. Yellow for Demetriou and two of theirs. Poor, especially second half.
A third visit to Roots Hall that season followed for the Checkatrade fiasco when a very strong team was humiliated by Portsmouth’s reserves. No cards in this one.
His next match was 2019/20’s first Southend match of the season against Coventry at St Andrews, which turned out to be surprisingly close, considering the way the season panned out. They scored the only goal of the game which had a yellow apiece; ours to Lennon. Not too much criticism.
Not too much criticism either in his second Southend away match of that season on New Year’s day at Wimbledon not least because he awarded us a very late penalty which gave us a point from a 1-1 draw. Yellows for their McLoughlin and our Hopper and Kelman.
That was followed by the same season’s home match with Burton. It was a 3-2 defeat, the scoreline getting a bit of respectability thanks to a last-minute own goal from O'Toole. Both yellows went to them; one, of course, to O'Toole.
The improvement was maintained in our first win of the 2020/21 season (in November !!!) at Walsall behind closed doors. A yellow for Lennon and a yellow and subsequent red for one of theirs.
Finally another behind closed doors game at Leyton Orient that same season. A 2-0 defeat with two yellows apiece – ours going to Bwomono and Dieng.
This seasons 12 games, plus 10 minutes, have seen a remarkably low 28 yellows and no reds.
Assisting will be Sam Wesson from Leicester and Alexander Shipp from Claydon, near Ipswich. Fourth Official is Lee Hible from the Sheffield area.
