Post-Match Thread and Ratings Scunthorpe United 1- 0 Southend United

[RHB]

Can't offer up to much at the moment. From the sounds of things we didn't deserve too much out of this game, but maybe if we had nicked the penalty, but not to be. Obviously a very biased ref today.

 

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Scunthorpe United 1, Southend United 0

SOUTHEND United’s Glanford Park hoodoo continued with a 1-0 defeat at Scunthorpe United this afternoon.

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[Danshrimper]

We were denied two blatant penalties. Loza did their man and was tripped, it happened right in front of all of us in the away end and everybody could see it was a stonewall pen, the referee had a good view as well so how he didn't give it is beyond me. Secondly, their player literally raised his arm in the air inside the area and palmed the ball away but the ref just ignored it (he's clearly oblivious to the handball rule as we blatantly handled a couple of minutes later and he ignored that too). He was consistently bad all game and seemed far too keen to give them free kicks and not us. Overall the worst refereeing performance in a long time, he was a complete disgrace.

Referee aside, we were woeful and deserved to lose. The new formation worked for a few games but was useless today. The defence forgot how to mark and were far too open considering there were five of them. The midfield were lightweight and gave Scunthorpe all the time in the world, Atkinson, McQueen and Kamara were absolutely awful and gave the ball away every time they got it and couldn't win a challenge to save their lives. Payne was poor and rarely passed in favour of dribbling until he was tackled. Barnett struggled with no service. Wordsworth and Loza had a good impact and Loza was the only player to really trouble their defence. Hunt had a decent free kick but did nothing apart from that as the only service he received were aimless hoofs that he had no chance of winning against their tall defenders. Today went to show how important and underrated Leonard is, can't help but feel it would have been a different outcome with him.

After losing to an average Scunthorpe side I think it's unrealistic to expect any meaningful play-off push.

 

[ry88]

Worst game I've attended this season! First half we were awful, couldn't hold the ball at all. Hardly noticed Kamara, Payne and McQueen were on the pitch. Loza was the only player that impressed as we come into the game a little more in the second half and we could have nicked a point had the referee given us a penalty for a trip on Loza or a handball. Probably didn't deserve a point if I'm honest though!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Phil Brown just said he is waiting to see the referee. It doesn't disguise the fact that he got it all wrong today regarding tactics and no steel in the middle. The penalty may have given us a very undeserved draw.

 

[mattitouk]

Just listened to Phil's interview on BBC Essex radio. Phil is disapointed with the teams performance, but is livid with the referee regarding the penalty debate. He has got to wait around for 20 minutes to speak with him, as he wants immediate answers about it. Strongly believes it was a penalty, and said that even if it wasnt, a corner at least should have been awarded, but for the referee to not award either, and book Loza makes no sense.

 

[eastling]

Sounds as if this is a continuation of poor performances but with lady luck deserting us again in the scoring stakes. We didn't perform well against Shrewsbury nor Colewe either to be honest

 

[jaffa1]

Mick did warn us ; "Over the years he has been getting appointments far better than his experience (and, probably, ability) warranted".

That said, no point in playing Payne with both Bolger and Thompson on the pitch (who spent most of the game in midfield?) as they both struggle to keep the ball within the parameters of the pitch, and will never find him with a simple flat ball out of defence. Leonard we knew was a big miss/hole, and Kamara (away from home v 11 men) was a gamble - I bet Timlin and Deegan are sharing a bitter berth on the coach home.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Chris Phillips ‏@CJPhillips1982 maintenantil y a 26 secondes Yorkshire and The Humber, England
Brown: "I need to know why he hasn’t given that penalty. I asked the fourth official and he smiled and said he’s from Doncaster."

 

[Sammy Shrimper]

Poor perormance today. Lost the game in midfield, and too many long hopefull balls to Hunt and Loza!
Scunthorpe passed their way through us too often.

Highlight of the day - the price of a pint in the Berkeley Hotel!!

 

[mattitouk]

Chris Phillips ‏@CJPhillips1982 maintenantil y a 26 secondes Yorkshire and The Humber, England
Brown: "I need to know why he hasn’t given that penalty. I asked the fourth official and he smiled and said he’s from Doncaster."

Yeah, I heard that also. I dont really get the point of him saying that, I know we dont exactly get along with the Donnies, but one of Scunthorpes rivals are Doncaster, so imo that statement also says that he would'nt do Scunthorpe any favours.

 

[RHB]

Yeah, I heard that also. I dont really get the point of him saying that, I know we dont exactly get along with the Donnies, but one of Scunthorpes rivals are Doncaster, so imo that statement also says that he would'nt do Scunthorpe any favours.

It was a throwaway remark, I wouldn't read too much into it. Chris Phillips is being mischievous.

 

[West Stand Wes]

Not good enough from us today. Scunthorpe absolutely dominated the 1st half, can't remember a time we've looked so impotent. Predictably we missed Lenny in midfield, anyone who doubts his value in the side would have eaten their words had they seen the state of our midfield today, they were bossed by Scunny. Some slight improvement in the 2nd half, but we didn't deserve anything from the game. Having said that, Loza was denied a blatant penalty and another a few minutes later from a handball although I didn't see that so clearly. A point would have been undeserved but we conceivably could have nicked one
Bentley 7 - great reflex save in the 1st half. Typical performance from him
O'Neill 6 - Work rate was there, lack of support from midfield gave him little opportunity to break forward
Barrett 6 - Fairly solid as ever
Bolger 6 - Gave away a few fouls but didn't do much wrong
Thompson 6.5 - Played okay and didn't do too much wrong when pushed into unfamiliar territory in midfield
Hendrie 6 - Same as O'Neill. Wasn't given a chance to impress going forward
Atkinson 5 - Went missing like the rest of our midfield for periods. Looked to me like he lost his man for their goal, although I could be wrong. Work rate good as usual but nothing else of note
McQueen 5 - never got in the game. Not sure him at CM in an away game is appropriate, looked lightweight compared to them
Kamara 5 - Wasn't bad, wasn't good. Few neat touches but again as with all the midfield, failed to take control of the game
Payne 6 - Neat dribbles and hard work as you would expect of him and tried to make things happen but not his day
Barnett 5.5 - didn't win as much in the air as we have grown used to and was bossed by their CB's, ball never stuck with him.
Subs - Loza 6.5 - gave us some spark and should have won a penalty, decent half
Hunt 6 - didn't really manage anything of note, bossed in the air much like Barnett
Wordsworth 6 - thought we looked a bit better when he came on but didn't kick on.
Ref doesn't deserve a rating for today's performance, not good at all. Denied Loza a definite penalty and him along with his linesmen made some poor decisions, one that immediately springs to mind involved bolger jumping with a scunny player, losing out but then the linesman gave the throw their way. Ah well.

 

[RHB]

All the reports of those that were there so far confirm what I heard via the commentators. We didn't deserve anything, even with a probable penalty turned down. Maybe we need to understand a bit more about how we were set up and whether having a bit more steel in the midfield would have helped. Which brings us the question of Timlin's absence and not releasing Deegan on the game...................for the inevitable thread that will follow I guess.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

For most of the first half we played like a team facing relegation - or a team where the players had just met each other. Scunthorpe were confident from the initial kick-off and played the ball to feet and moved quickly with the ball.

In comparison we couldn't string any passes together at all and the centre of midfield was a complete mess. Unable to hold the ball or create any space led to Payne and Barnett getting next to no service. But worse there were holes in the defence that a one-legged giant could have run through. This left Hendrie and O'Neill constantly turning back to cover when they were trying to get forward - and Scunthorpe exploited the holes behind them to good effect.

After the first goal (a simple cross and Madden steals in to score and seemed to be unmarked - strange given he is one of the leading goal-scorers in the division :'() you just hoped they would pep up. And then Dan makes a fabulous reflex one handed save - superb stuff.

Perhaps this would ignite the team but no - we were easily pushed off the ball, slow, lacking in ideas, anaemic, weak, wishy-washy, lucklustre - even mediocre would be too good an adjective to describe our "play".

At one point 3 Scunny players faced with 4 Southend players easily passed the ball around as if playing against dustbins on the training ground. A Scunthorpe throw in - don't worry, we won't bother marking or following players making a run.

However by about 40 minutes, joy of joys, we were beginning to make a match of it - not that we had improved - it was just that Scunthorpe were coming down to our level a little.

And then second half the first two substitutions were just what we needed - Kamara and McQueen were quite terrible. Wordsworth carried the ball at his feet more yards in the 1st minute of his appearance than Kamara did in 45 minutes.

Our first shot on target came after about 60 minutes and finally their goalie had to stop leaning against the goal-post, put down his tea and get his gloves dirty. There after the game disintegrated as niggling foul followed in succession. Barnett going off with a back injury was a loss and though we were better in the second half we still were not very good.

I have seen school semolina with more structure, attack and bite than that performance.

But then with 10 minutes to go Loza works the ball into the box, he wobbles with the ball at his feet and the Scunny player takes him down from behind. A lifeline - a penalty and possibly a draw. Come on! .............. errhhh no. The referee gives a goal kick. Soon after another shout for a penalty was ignored (but I didn't see the incident through the crowd of players) and you knew we could be there all night and not have scored.

So another turgid and ponderous game at Scunthorpe ............ I thought the F.A. Cup game was bad - but that was a delight compared with today's "entertainment".

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Denied Loza a definite penalty and him along with his linesmen made some poor decisions, one that immediately springs to mind involved Bolger jumping with a Scunny player, losing out but then the linesman gave the throw their way. Ah well.

Yes - the Scunny players were wanting a foul ......... and then they get the throw-in which indicated to me that Bolger got his head on the ball. There were some odd decisions but we can't blame the referee for the overall performance.

 

[Voice of Reason]

If brown and timlin have had a falling out Phil needs to get over himself and pick people on merit

 

[mattitouk]

how did the rumour that timlin and phil had a falling out, come about?

 

[Pak Power]

post number 45 on the pre match thread by Greyerfox (I think)

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

how did the rumour that timlin and phil had a falling out, come about?

People are guessing as he wasn't even on the bench. That may be the case, or it may be that he picked up a knock in training. He is competitive in training. He likes to win. So let's see what explanation comes out on Monday.