Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend 3-2 Hartlepool

[RobM]

Are you Wiggy in disguise?

 

[sadsy]

Best laugh I've had for years when they announced Scannell as MotM !! Grant was immense again tonight , won everything. Thought both strikers were poor tonight and should have been changed much earlier.

 

[chapperzUK]

I'm talking about the needless one we gave away - agreed on Robinson one on ones. When you play 11 against 10 I fail to see the need to take a player on. Very frustrating

I see your point. Watching the second half, I believe that we should have scored but we didn't.

 

[bertiebigbanana]

I think some people must have been watching through rose tinted specs. Against ten men you let the ball do the work. Showboating at 2-0 up and 40 yards passes when ten yard triangles are the obvious option turned what should have been a comfortable victory into a shockingly depressing night apart. I suppose 10 from 13 and still an outside chance of the play-offs is a positive as is proof that without TWO decent centre halves we are shafted.

Mildy 6 Average
Francis 6 Average
Sankofa 5 Why not right back with Franno in the centre
Clarke 7.5 Pick of the bunch - whatever he wants for a contract is worth every penny
Barrett 5.5 Four year contract my arse Captain my arse. Basically arse. NOT good enough
Scannell 6 Wildly inconsistent a weak penalty but why was the nudge needed anyway ?
Macca 7 No complaints other than his theatrics
Granty 7 some crucial tackles at just the right times
Moussa 6.5 Great goal, otherwise spent most of the second half hiding
Theo 6.5 Has played better but poor service didn't help
Barney 4 waste of space, needless booking,

Dougie - one sublime touch, not enough time
Betsy - Not enough time

good to see someone else has thier eyes wide open!

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Scannels defensive work leaves a lot to be desired. Part of the problem tonight was the wide players coming into the middle too much, leaving the full backs exposed.

Must say credit to Hartlepool too though, a great effrt from 10 men. Thought Porter led the line superbly. Barney could learn a few things rather than miscontrolling every ball that comes to him then waving his arms about trying to get a free kick.

 

[* ORM *]

Must say credit to Hartlepool too though, a great effrt from 10 men. Thought Porter led the line superbly. Barney could learn a few things rather than miscontrolling every ball that comes to him then waving his arms about trying to get a free kick.

That's a fair point. I've been too busy whinging at ours to heap praise on the way they kept plugging away.

 

[manor15]

Best laugh I've had for years when they announced Scannell as MotM !! Grant was immense again tonight , won everything. Thought both strikers were poor tonight and should have been changed much earlier.

As I was walking out a woman near me, when they announced MOTM said

Did he say it was the blind peoples charity choosing MOTM?

Made my night!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Moussa 9 - Best player on the park. Goal of the season. He has come of age!

Referee. He didn't have a bad game. He tried to let it flow and wasn't afraid to wait to pull out cards. The last 5 minutes were a bit mad, but badly let down by his linesman at the end when it went off.

Woah, woah, WOAH! Goal of the season? Are you sure? :stunned: He did well, yes, but not a goal of the season contender for me - Barney's at Brighton, Jeff's overhead at Peterborough, even Macca's last week - all way ahead.

What is the rule about linos changing sides? That's the 2nd time we've had a dodgy lino for the whole game in the last few games, I thought they're supposed to stay where they are. Poor decisions, Sankofa definately handled, but then Scannell's conceding of the pen was really harsh, so they evened each other up.

 

[bertiebigbanana]

Blimey OBL, I'm warming to you! must be the benfleet air

 

[stevie_G_G_G]

Mildenhall - 6 - Flapped a bit and could have cost us
Francis - 6.5 - Great first half, poor 2nd half
Sankofa - 4 - Never again at CB please
Clarke - 7.5 - Did the job of two men, missed Dorian
Barrett - 6 - Still a weak link at LB but the best of a bad bunch atm
Scannell - 6 - Dribbled well but no end product. Not League 1 standard
Macca - 7 - Got in and around the monkey hangers midfield
Grant - 7.5 - Good solid performance
Moussa - 8 - What a goal and our best midfielder on the ball by far
Robinson - 7 - Runs the channels very well. Hope he gets signed up.
Barnard - 5 - Poor again

Subs - 5 - Not worth a mention today. No impact off either.

T&B - 6 - Could have cost us by not switching Francis and Sankofa earlier but got away with it.

Ref - 8 - Maybe I'm blind but thought he did a very good job today. The only thing he missed was a benefit to us

 

[Andy_S]

Why do we make life so difficult for ourselves? After 55 mins or so we should've been comfortable, but thanks to Franno's weakness, some dilly dallying from Tilly, some casual nonsense from several players, we nearly threw it away and were embarrassed. I wish Tilly was more decisive sometimes. It was nearly Colchester all over again. You could see the opposition scoring, but he did nothing. Changes should've been made sooner. We got 3 points, but that last half an hour really took the shine off things. How on earth Monkhouse and Nelson didn't get sent off is beyond me.


Ratings:

Mildenhall 6: Didn't really have too many saves to make. Made 1 hash of a cross though when he came far too late. I can only think that he was desperate to take some pressure off of the team by claiming such a cross. Unfortunately he missed, but luckily we got away with it.

Francis 6.5: He delivered some stunning crosses and until the 63rd minute was solid as a rock. He then had his usual away with the fairies moment, failed to deal with Porter and let them back into it. Brush absolutely rollocked him and for the last half an hour he played with a sulk and at one point looked as if he wanted to cry.

Sankofa 6: Not a centre back. Francis isn't either but I still can't figure out why we played Sankofa there. He was poor for Brentford in that position and hasn't looked at home there when playing there for us. Herd must be gutted.

Clarke 7: Not as good as he has been recently but still did pretty well and thankfully calmed Grant and McCormack down when they looked as if they wanted to be sent off.

Barrett 6: Game after game he does nothing to encourage me to want him at left back. He sees the ball and he goes for it, without much consideration of what or who is around him.

Scannell 7: Tidy. His confidence was visably boosted by the goal on Saturday. If the man of the match award helps that then I'm all for it. People are saying his positioning was poor, he was too narrow etc etc, but for me, that helped things for us. When he does that he occupies a man and it lets Francis get forward. His upper body strength also gives us something different. Unfortunately said strength gave away the penalty, but for me it looked shoulder to shoulder. If he wasn't so strong it wouldn't have been a pen I suppose!

Grant 7.5: A different player to the start of the season. Whilst at times he was immense tonight, he still has these bizarre moments where he gets himself and the team into all kinds of problems.

McCormack 7: Good driving forwards, yet at times wayward passing. Sums him up as a player I suppose. He was one of the main culprits for causing many heart palpitations towards the end.

Moussa 7.5: Set up 2 and scored a beauty. Was it me or did he seem to pull wider tonight? In the second half he seemed to disappear off the radar though along with the teams quality. Coincedence?

Barnard 6: Awful, awful penalty and did nothing but get in the way the entire time he was on. GET IN THE BOX AND STOP DROPPING DEEP. He's changed for the worse since last season and it's frustrating me to high hell.

Robinson 7: What we're going to do when he's not playing I don't know as he's integral to our winning ugly style at the moment. He is very frustrating when one on one with the keeper though.

 

[CyrilSneer]

I must be the only one. Everyone else seems to think Grant was man of the match. I thought he had a poor game. He dived over the ball which led to the penalty, and twice was caught in possession, once trying a backheel, giving the ball away, which nearly led to a goal.
With all the positive ratings for Grant, I must be missing something.
Our right side went missing in the second half, and in the end we were lucky to beat 10 men at home. Shocking second half, but I almost expected it, considering Im sure that is the first time this season we have attacked the North bank in the second half.
Anyway, a wins a win. Ill be putting on a £5 treble tomorrow on Orient, Brighton and Colchester for the first and last time.

 

[Mick]

Woah, woah, WOAH! Goal of the season? Are you sure? :stunned: He did well, yes, but not a goal of the season contender for me - Barney's at Brighton, Jeff's overhead at Peterborough, even Macca's last week - all way ahead.

What is the rule about linos changing sides? That's the 2nd time we've had a dodgy lino for the whole game in the last few games, I thought they're supposed to stay where they are. Poor decisions, Sankofa definately handled, but then Scannell's conceding of the pen was really harsh, so they evened each other up.

There is no rule; it is up to the referee as to how he deploys his assistants.

 

[Rob Noxious]

Why do we make life so difficult for ourselves? After 55 mins or so we should've been comfortable, but thanks to Franno's weakness, some dilly dallying from Tilly, some casual nonsense from several players, we nearly threw it away and were embarrassed. I wish Tilly was more decisive sometimes. It was nearly Colchester all over again. You could see the opposition scoring, but he did nothing. Changes should've been made sooner. We got 3 points, but that last half an hour really took the shine off things. How on earth Monkhouse and Nelson didn't get sent off is beyond me.

Don't be too hard on Michael Nelson- his goal v Brentford on 29.4.06 got us promotion to CCC!

 

[fredheim_holm]

Moussa 9 - Best player on the park. Goal of the season. He has come of age!

Agreed. I must seem like a moussa fanboy with my sig, but I don't really think I am.

He burst forward with pace and neat dribbling, right through the middle and put a fantastic finish into the corner, really exciting to see him run with such speed. Goal of the season so far for me.

 

[A Century United]

Woah, woah, WOAH! Goal of the season? Are you sure? :stunned: He did well, yes, but not a goal of the season contender for me - Barney's at Brighton, Jeff's overhead at Peterborough, even Macca's last week - all way ahead.

Seen the goal on SSN a few times now, and it is a great goal - clearly better, I am afraid, than Macca's (which he only scored because he screwed up a pass and the ball bounced his way) and up there with Barneys. JCF's, I think, is out ahead at the moment.

 

[rowhst101rhall]

Much better overall performance while the score was all square. As soon as we got 2 up, both times, we started to showboat a little, and stopped putting balls into the box, instead trying to find slide rule passes through a maass of players to score an inch perfect goal. In the end it nearly cost us, but another three points and that is mighty pleasing.

Mildenhall - 6 Wouldn't have known the Pools striker was offside for that fabulous save in the first half, but average tonight especially in the air.

Francis - 6 Some superb balls in, but those little lapses and fally overs still need to be erradicated.

Sankofa - 5 - AARGH. CB - No.

Clarke - 7 - Solid in the air and an encouraging voice at the back.

Barrett - 6 - Solid enough, but needs to talk more to Moussa, to utilise the left flank more.

Scannell - 6- Poor Challenge for the penalty, with the guy going across goal with cover present. Some nice touches and improvement overall imo.

Grant (MOM) - 8 - Not as wayward as on Saturday, huge improvment this season and we fell away as he went deeper in the second half.

McCormack - 7 Another bustling performance and won some good ball.

Moussa - 7 - Stayed wider a bit more often and ran well with the ball. Superb goal, best at the Hall this season. Look even more accomplished on SSN.

Barnard - 6 Needs to get in the box more for me too.

Robinson - 7 Good pace, yes 1 on 1's poor, but did get in the positions for us to pick up on that, and has a knack of hitting the net. Superb run to take the defenders away in the build up for Moussa's goal.


Nice to see Dougie back one nice touch and his ability and knowledge on the pitch could be a bonus for us in the run in.

Betsey didn't really have time or the ball enough to make an impact either way.

A Friday win makes the weekend, and with a shaky last 1/2 hour, glad to get another three points.

 

[Skyblue]

Looking at the wide varieity of marks its facinating to see how people see the players influence on the game. This game was weird. I left feeling quite down as if we had lost because after the second when Hartlepools midfield parted and gave Mousa a clear path on goal , I thought the flood gates would open amd we would improve our goal difference and heaven forbid accually get it into a plus situation. Instead Hartlepool found their shape and although sacrificed a man in midfield kept their defencive shape and were always an attacking threat. Their 10 raised their game and our 11 dropped theirs, content to play numerous balls back and sideways without any final killer pass. The game was crying out for a bit of individual flair in the shap of Laurent or Freedman, but alais Tilly was backto his old ways of leaving subs to late. I'm going to have to keep looking at the league table to cheer me up.

 

[rowhst101rhall]

Did anyone else notice the comeback of the diamond formation in the second half, with Grant much deeper and McCormack pushed forward?

 

[Rayleigh boy]

shabby second half .... why does Tilson look so fed up on BW ??

great day and a sad day .. cos i think the Moussa secret is out and we will lose him sooner ot later - just a great goal