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Southend United 0, Accrington Stanley 1

SOUTHEND United’s League Two season started with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Accrington Stanley this afternoon.

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Belford 6 Not much to do
Clohessy 7 Put some decent crosses in
Phillips 6 Won his headers
Barker 5 Past it, looked like he was on another planet half the time
Prosser 6 Hoofball, average
Leonard 6 Tried hard but didn't produce enough
Hall 8 Only real creative threat
Timlin 7 Played some decent passes, worked hard
Ferdinand 5 Anonymous
Tomlin 6 Potential, just seemed to lack confidence in front of goal
Assombalonga 6 Had to put up with being a target man which he didn't want to be

Cresswell 7 Won every header, not much else he could do
Spicer 7.5 Good running forward and put pressure on them
Harris 6.5 Talked a lot, didn't do much

Sturrock 4 Some awful calls eg Prosser over Straker, Ferdinand over Spicer, and didn't act until it was too late
 
Sounds like we created chances which is the main thing, a bit of confidence and some match time and I'm sure things will fall into place.
 
Belford 6 Not much to do
Clohessy 7 Put some decent crosses in
Phillips 6 Won his headers
Barker 5 Past it, looked like he was on another planet half the time
Prosser 6 Hoofball, average
Leonard 6 Tried hard but didn't produce enough
Hall 8 Only real creative threat
Timlin 7 Played some decent passes, worked hard
Ferdinand 5 Anonymous
Tomlin 6 Potential, just seemed to lack confidence in front of goal
Assombalonga 6 Had to put up with being a target man which he didn't want to be

Cresswell 7 Won every header, not much else he could do
Spicer 7.5 Good running forward and put pressure on them
Harris 6.5 Talked a lot, didn't do much

Sturrock 4 Some awful calls eg Prosser over Straker, Ferdinand over Spicer, and didn't act until it was too late


Have you seen Straker in pre season? He has been gash.
 
Sounds like we created chances which is the main thing, a bit of confidence and some match time and I'm sure things will fall into place.
Full strength with Hurst, Cresswell, Eastwood, etc we could be a pretty good side, just the lack of depth which worries me

Have you seen Straker in pre season? He has been gash.
No I haven't, why have we signed him then?! Surely can't be worse than Gilbert!
 
How we did not win that game i do not know, we had alot of chances in both halves and they have one chance and score.
Tomlin really impressed me very good with the ball at his feet, was a bit surprised to see Prosser in front of Straker and Leonard infront of Hurst/Martin.
Definetly trying to play more football they showed that in first 30 mins.
In my opinion our weak link is Barker, who should be dropped for Cresswell who won everything in the air upfront!
New Boy from Watford with the long name didnt really have the ball at his feet long enough to comment on whether he's good or not.

Great to be Back in the North Bank, only thing i would change now is what end we start at! we NEED to be shooting towards the Vocal North Bank in the Second Half
 
Sounds like we created chances which is the main thing, a bit of confidence and some match time and I'm sure things will fall into place.

We had a goal disallowed, their keeper made at least 4 good saves. We created plenty and played the ball on the floor till Cresswell came on and we reverted to long ball.

Barker has come to the end of the road as far as I am concerned.

Tomlin could be lively
Assonbalonga looks strong and can be a handful
Timlin did well considering no pre-season
Spicer could well do good job next to Timlin.


Surprised Hurst didn't start on the wing, I guess Sturrock has his reasons.
 
I'm starting to dislike Accrington Stanley. Last season they rob us of 2 points directly from a corner. In their last league game before today, they did everything but score and lost, denying us promotion and keeping us in this division. Today they score their only shot on target.

The buggers.
 
We have a dreadful record vs Accrington so not really surprised by the result!
Anyway despite the scoreline we did create a hatful of chances that on another day we would have converted. Dunbavin their keeper made two really decent stops and they also cleared off the line. I have to say the performance was better than what I was expecting. The negatives? The result obviously but a very weak midfield where a rusty Timlin and ineffectual Ferdinand operated was one and Barker faded badly in the 2nd half having been at the races I thought in the first.

Still only first game and some relative encouraging signs...
 
Well where to start?

Firstly lets just say that the football on display today was poor from both sides and yet again certainly not worthy of the £21 admission price. League 2 football is **** poor and the prices a disgrace.

On to the game itself. Well accrington were exactly as expected . They were quick to close and played the angles at every opportunity and tried to bully in both boxes.

You would have thought that it would be easy to counter this . Get the ball out wide and use the ball inteligently.

I would have to say that those who didnt attend, and there were many will not see a much more disjointed performance this season and certainly wont see any improvement at all on last years squad except maybe the pacey tomlin who plays his part well.

We could and should have won this by a mile and should we miss out again by a point on the autos again( unlikely) then its games like today that will have done the damage.

We missed so many chances today either scuffing shots or just being plain wasteful and when we did get through on target accringtons keeper pulled off some good saves.

I said after the peterborough game that i would fear for sturrock should we not get off to a good start to the season and this defeat means we have now conceded 11 and scored 0 in the last 3. Some might argue about the level of oppostion for the first two defeats but there can be no such argument for the last of the three. I think that should we lose the next two then uncle Ronald will weild the axe.

Ratings:

Belford 6 Average from him. I honestly think that a bigger kid would have got his hand to accringtons only shot on goal.

Prosser 2 Abysmal. Missed two free headers and was just terrible with the ball. Where the **** was Straker. Should have had a straight red for deliberate handball.

Barker 6 Was solid in the air and cleared his lines well , but again distribution was poor.

Phillips 6 As above.

Clohessy 6 Got foward well and got stuck into the tackle . Put some dangerous balls

Hall 5 Annonymous throughout the match . Shooting from freekicks and during play was poor

Timlin 6.5 Got about and was the pick of the midfield. Unlucky not to get on the score sheet , but missed the target from 6 yards.

Ferdinand 5 Was busy but spent the game chasing round like a headless chicken and is far too light weight for this division

Leonard 5 Wasnt effective going foward and struggled to retain the ball.

Tomlin 7 (MOM) Look very lively but the service to him was very poor and he had a very physical defender all over him throught but looked creative and unlucky not to get on the score sheet

Assambolonger ? (lol) Look pacey but very raw and one footed . Hardly had any impact .

Things need to improve and fast. Getting smith in and having a fully fit eastwood and harris and dare i say it corr will be key.
 
Belford 6 At fault with the goal otherwise composed collecting crosses
Clohessy 7 Typical performance, best wing play of game
Phillips 7 Didn't miss much in air. Distribution could have been better at times - but who was showing?
Barker 5 Poor game. Bad distribution, found out pace wise on occasions. Can see Creswell/Phililips this season at back.
Prosser 6 Average. Won share of headers but caught out on ball,which nearly cost us dear in second half
Leonard 5 Big disappointment. Didn't look comfortable.
Hall 5 Thought he was poor. Didn't take anyone on (as we know he can). Didn't give the impression he was up for it at all
Timlin 7 Played with heart - this should have inspired some of the others. It didn't. Considering lack of fitness it was a good performance
Ferdinand 4 - was he playing? Caught in possession too often. Made poor decisions. Not at the races.
Tomlin 8 mom. Held up well. Good pace. Great commitment. Could be our best signing. V impressed.
Assombalonga 6. Some decent touches. Felt he did more in 2nd half

Cresswell 7. Strange decision playing him up front but actually led line well. Didn't miss a header
Spicer 7. Looked composed. Won a cracking tackle towards end of game. Should have been on from start. Smart signing.
Harris 6. Midfield? Did more than Ferdinand but was playing against tired Accrington players.

Sturrock 4 Left substitutions too long. Not his finest hour
Ref 2. Shocking performance. Looked out of his league - wish he was out of this league and back in Ryman Premier or Garforth under 11s if this is where he came from.
 
Last edited:
Positives among negatives.

Again we shouldn't have lost to Stanley, didn't we throw points away at home v them last season?
Leonard on the wing just doesn't bring anything to the team, just fills the right mid position and provides long throws which are ineffective normally.

Just so frustrating when we lose to a team who have one shot, and we miss plenty. Well played to their keeper though, played up to the taunting we gave him with 3 top quality saves among other difficult crosses.

Belford - 6 good kicking, shame he couldn't claw the ball out.

Clohessy - 7 Got forward as well as ever, mr consistent
Barker - 6 Just average now days, give the ball to someone who can do something with it for god sake!
Phillips - 7 Done well
Prosser - 6 Hoofed a lot, done well defensively though.

Leonard - 5 Get him out of midfield for home games asap.
Timlin - 7 Good engine, good passing and unlucky not to score with a good strike.
Ferdinand - 5 He did try and get into the game, but just couldn't, sometimes wanted too much time on the ball, which isn't given in this league.
Hall - 7 Only attacking threat, some awful attempted finishing on show though.

Tomlin - 7 Did okay in spells.
Britt - 7 Won things and looked to get us going forward

Spicer - 7 I reckon we may have solved the midfield problem, with Timlin he could form a good partnership.
Cresswell - 7 Did well upfront, won most headers, maybe should have done better from one corner.
Harris - 5 nothing of note.

Sturrock - 5 He put out a team who could compete, but not sure with some starters, again I think it is going to take him a while to figure out his best team. I don't know how he can pick Leonard over Hurst. What about straker too?

We had plenty of opportunities from crosses, we should have done better with some.
 
Barker was embarrassingly bad he couldn't judge where the ball was going, he kept letting the ball bounce over his head and his distribution was very poor. The sooner Cresswell is completely fit and partnering Phillips the better.
Straker should be starting instead of Prosser as he didn't perform well today.
Tomlin looks very lively and dangerous as does Assonbalonga.
Timlin was MOM for me today he was very impressive with his passing and movement and had a good couple of shots as well and considering he has been injured for all this time he looked one of the fitter players on the pitch and probably our most committed player today.
 
Belford 6 Had an easy afternoon
Clohessy 7 Usual Sean
Phillips 6.5 Solid
Barker 6.5 I thought he looked ok, but getting slower. Perhaps he should be shifted to LB?
Prosser 6.5 Did ok, but gave Barker a hospital pass
Leonard 6.5 Won plenty of headers. Never really in it
Hall 6.5 Always a threat, but it didn't quite come off today
Timlin 7 Worked his buns off
Ferdinand 5 Was he playing ?
Tomlin 7.5 My MOTM. Worked hard. Held the ball up. Just needed to take his chances to round of the performance
Assombalonga 6.5 Looked lively

Cresswell 7 Won a lot of headers
Spicer 7 Not on long. A couple of nice runs
Harris 6 Wasn't on long

TBV. Thought we did well to keep the "Blue Army" chant going for so long, in the hope it picked the lads up. Such a shame the other stands don't join in.
 
Belford 5
Clohessy 5
Phillips 5
Barker 4
Prosser 4
Leonard 5
Hall 5
Timlin 6
Ferdinand 4
Tomlin 6
Assombalonga 5

Cresswell 6
Spicer - not enough minutes
Harris - not enough minutes
 
Barker needs to retire
Ferdinand needs to be shot

Loved the "IF HE WAS A DONKEY HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT ALREADY". Had me in stitches. Also, another laugh was when the announcer said the dancers were getting wet. God I have a childs sense of humour :hilarious:
 
The good news was that we created a few chances, the bad news was that we wasted the majority of them by not even hitting the target. Ferdinand may well as not bothered to turn up, Barker looked slow and seemed to struggle throughout the 2nd half.

if serious about going up, we should not be dropping points
against teams like Accrington.


 
Disappointed because we lost to an, at best, average Accrington side. Most have covered the points, we created chances that we either blew or their keeper made good stops. I think we also need to consider that the eleven who started today would not have done so if we were injury free; and at least one of those starters only turned up the club today.

The bright bits, Tomlin. Looked okay and settled in well. Good on the ball; but a poor, poor miss at the end. At least make the keeper work. Spicer. agree with others, want to see more. Clohessy. Always looked dangerous when getting crosses in. Cresswell. Surprised to see him up front a la Mohsni, but won everything. Looks like a tank, and is going to be fan favourite very quickly methinks. And consider who didn't start today... Eastwood, Cresswell, Hurst, Harris, Corr, Benyon, Straker - plenty of options there as the season moves on.

The not so bright bits. Barker. Sadly now looks a shadow of the Player of the Year 2011. Maybe it is time to move on. Hope I am proved wrong. Prosser. same old, same old. Aimless hoofs up the field to no one. The general atmosphere was dead for most of the game.

Two tricky away games coming up, and we need to get a confidence boosting win from one of them I think. And Wycombe will be no push over when we return to Roots Hall in September.
 

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