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Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-0 AFC Fylde

A comfortable win in the end. Could have and should have been more and although we didn’t score more crucially we are creating the chances. Sooner or later someone will get a spanking. However, Fylde were not great so you can only beat what’s in front of you and but we were still thankful to Harness at 0-0 and 1-0 who made crucial saves. Credit to Kev again for sticking with the 3-4-3 formation and the first 20-25 we tore them a new one. 3 pts from the play offs with some very winnable games coming up. Our home form in particular is going to be crucial in our attempts to make the play offs. Still in the cup and we should progress Saturday and then only 2 games from Wembley. See that the slough lad wasn’t in their squad tonight so that looks like happening. Nice to see proper competition for places now off the bench.

Harness 8- looked solid and after not being certain after Barnet he has now had two solid games. Made crucial saves at crucial times
Gus 7- solid performance and missed a glaring chance first half
Bridge 7- better performance tonight and more direct
Taylor 8 - solid as always on his 100th appearance
Golding 8- again another who has been solid after not being his best against vs Barnet
Ralph- 8 solid as always and put a couple of great crosses in
Husin 8- excellent from him tonight and way more effective than he has been at times. Wonder if playing alongside Morton helped
Morton 8.5 - mom again for me, so slick and silky on the ball, always looking to spread the play and keep the ball moving. Did give the ball away a bit but don’t mind that if he is trying to get things moving quickly
Kendall 7.5 - worked his socks off and ran the channels well. Missed a sitter but the goals will come if he keeps getting in the right places
Bonne 7.5 - considering he wasn’t well he put a shift in first half. Another to miss a good chance but looking better with each game
Walker 8- looks so much better in a front 3 and took his goal well after missing a good chance

Hopper 7- looked fit and sharp and won plenty of headers and out the lad under pressure who scored the own goal
Keenan 7- worked hard after coming on and another who wasted a good chance
Wind - not on long enough to make an impact. Shame he didn’t get longer. Would expect him to start Saturday
Goodliffe- no time of note on the pitch
Coker- again not on long but again another who wasted a great chance in the end

Ref - shocking especially second half and how he booked Walker for a dive instead of nit giving a penalty is beyond belief

Crowd- again very flat for most of the game but still 5500 plus not a bad effort
 
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Walker played really well and had his best game for me, in a blue shirt.

Bridge looked better for having a foil to work with. Walker looked much more threatening that Fonguck, so hopefully we can put that subject to bed on here now.

All the back three looked comfortable, although Fylde did work Harness and he stood up well to everything they asked of him.

Second half, we dropped the pace a little, not surprisingly. But still had the lions share of the play, without opening Fylde up as much and needed the OG to breakthrough. BUT as on Saturday, we got the second just at the right time and gave ourselves the breathing space we needed.

I thought we got a little sloppy, KAF in particular, when he had easier passes and better weight to apply to balls, let himself down and gave easy ball away. He should look at the video and learn to become a little more decisive imho, with the ball at his feet.

Noor was Much better. Won the ball back plenty of times. I'd have been raging at times if I'd have been in his boots watching the ball just given away after he put so much work in, but that's just me.

Slough fans saying Parillon is a done deal, so we have another option coming in it would seem.

Buck Taylor celebrated his 100th appearance with a yellow for the team and such a solid performance.
Golding again looked at ease at the back.

How Kendall never got anything on that ball across the face of goal in the 1st half I'll never know. I'm beginning to think he is a great presence up front, but he's not a hungry natural finisher and I think, even with Hopper added to the squad, that's what we need in the future a natural finisher, but they are hard to find, and our front line is going to ask questions of our opponents with this sort of set up.

My MOM goes to Walker, Morton a close second, but Walker did at least force a save from Winterbottom in the first half, took responsibility and it paid off for his goal, was a great aid to Bridge down the left, and but for a strange decision from the ref, would have won a penalty and showed good upper body strength in defending the ball and laying off, keeping the ball moving and attacks flowing.

Harness did all that was asked of him and was so much better than on his debut. Gus played his part, but needs to focus more, especially when clearing the ball to release us from pressure at the back.

Morton put some lovely balls into the box and also looks to have taken corners over, which had many more getting over the first man at last. Ran out of steam and earnt his early night.

Ralphy was his normal self and also benefitted in attack from Walker's contribution.

So we hit 11th place and three points off of the play off, but don't forget the games in hand will play a part, starting on Saturday, when, hopefully we will make another step towards Wembley, as long as we stay focused and hopefully improve our finishing from within the six yard box.

But it is onwards and upwards.....at long last,

UTB
Onwards and upwards instead of sideways and backwards…. at long last 😄
 
Yeah I guess you’re right it would’ve got very toxic had we lost but Maher & the team shifted up a gear & changed course .. and we luckily didn’t get to see what would’ve happened. I think these two wins have eased the pressure on Kev for now.
The only pressure on Kev was from social media. Certainly not from the squad, COSU or the rest of the management team. A long way to go yet but I’m pretty sure we can dispel any NLS worries. 2 defeats in 12, two incoming with potentially one or two more. I think play offs may be a stretch but they are certainly possible. Must be the boring crab Maher tactics.
 
The only pressure on Kev was from social media. Certainly not from the squad, COSU or the rest of the management team. A long way to go yet but I’m pretty sure we can dispel any NLS worries. 2 defeats in 12, two incoming with potentially one or two more. I think play offs may be a stretch but they are certainly possible. Must be the boring crab Maher tactics.
Again, if you were at the Barnet match you’d have seen/heard the level of toxicity present in the stands at RH. It wasn’t just a few people on social media. There was a real feeling of anger and frustration, Kev definitely heard it/felt it.

I don’t think anyone really thought we’d be relegated but there was a feeling this group of players could do better and growing doubts about Maher, even from those previously very supportive.

The players have been better in these last 2 matches, helped maybe by a few new faces and a switch in tactics. Maybe Dagenham was a turning point, for quite a few .. it certainly felt like one. A rekindling of last year’s spirit almost.
Bonne even scored!!
The atmosphere in the West last night was much more positive.
 
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Again, if you were at the Barnet match you’d have seen/heard the level of toxicity present in the stands at RH. It wasn’t just a few people on social media. There was a real feeling of anger and frustration, Kev definitely heard it/felt it.

I don’t think anyone really thought we’d be relegated but there was a feeling this group of players could do better and growing doubts about Maher, even from those previously very supportive.

The players have been better in these last 2 matches, helped maybe by a few new faces and a switch in tactics. Maybe Dagenham was a turning point, for quite a few .. it certainly felt like one. A rekindling of last year’s spirit almost.
Bonne even scored!!
The atmosphere in the West last night was much more positive.
Fair enough on the pressure. On the league situation Barnet aside the last 12 games is firmly play off form. I still think that’s a stretch as we will no doubt have another short blip.
 
Fair enough on the pressure. On the league situation Barnet aside the last 12 games is firmly play off form. I still think that’s a stretch as we will no doubt have another short blip.
It’s the perfect time to get some new signings in and inject some extra enthusiasm.
Kev has several options now to switch things up and hopefully those options will increase further 🤞🏻
 
A good win. Sure, we should have scored more but a win is a win. I want to see clinical finishing in a hard fought future away game when we don't concede and have but three chances.
I have only seen Diversity's highlights and Bridge caught my eye as he seemed more confident and purposeful than of late but obviously those who were there and saw the game will have a better idea of whether that was the case. I hope it was as if he can now find his best form it makes a late a run for play off place (and more?) a realistic expectation.
Happy days!
Maher In!
 
Very pleasing to see big improvements with the ball going forward, think our wide forwards work rate and movement is really good

Observation not a complaint after a win but we will still have issues with our back 5 against teams that play high wingers (tough for the wingbacks to join the press or stay deep with the man and leave our midfield a little open) and we will need a solution (have a back 4 in the locker when needed imo I know it’s not trained and all) to contend with the top teams in the league as they’ll be more clinical than fylde were last night
 
Really enjoyable game tonight and all of a sudden things are beginning to look so much better as we climb our way up the league table.
I actually thought Fylde looked quite a dangerous proposition in the opening 10 minutes abd we looked a man light in central midfield. They had some excellent ball carriers and their pace and movement caused us a few problems. Nick Haughton is some player although I thought he faded in the second half and we suffocated him as soon as he picked up the ball.
As others have said, we should have scored 4 or 5 in the first half but somehow we had to settle for Walker's solitary strike...and what a strike it was from 20-25 yards out after a powerful run from the halfway line.
We were getting so many balls (and blue shirts for a change!) into the box that it was inevitable we would get our rewards.
I thought we missed Bonne's all action style in the second half and Hopper had a quiet second debut. Kendall looked like he had run his race after 60 minutes tonight so was surprised to see Josh Walker withdrawn for Appiah-Forson.

As impressive as Morton has been in recent weeks, I thought he went up another gear tonight and put in a Stella performance. He dictated play all evening. Him and Husin looked a great combination and were playing little one twos with increasing regularity as the second half progressed.

I've got to hand it Jack Bridge too who I thought was back to his best. He seemed such more energetic and positive tonight and was absolutely everywhere. I lost count of the number of times he got chopped down. His final ball was still lacking at times, but he was a constant option and threat throughout.

Nathan Harness pulled of 3 good saves tonight and his kicking was improved which was comforting.

I'm still not quite sure what Appiah-Forson offers. I was hoping he'd come on and really showed us what he's all about. He was pretty anonymous though and he looks far too easy to push off the ball.

Referee - shocking for both teams. He missed so many things tonight, including several blatant shoves and shirt pulls.
I have no idea what constitutes a foul anymore.

Harness 8
Gus 6.5
Golding 6.5
Taylor 7
Ralph 8
Husin 8.5
Morton 9
Bridge 8
Bonne 7.5
Walker 7.5
Kendall 6

Subs
Hopper 6
Appiah-Forson 5
Coker n/a
Wind n/a
Goodliffe n/a
Would say Walker was withdrawn for his own good. He had got the point where with that referee, one foul and he could have got a 2nd yellow.
 
I watched it on tv and for the first time in a while (I wasn’t bored sh!t less or fall asleep (well, I did nod off at around the 89th minute because 9pm is my limit!)

Thought it was a pretty good game in comparison to what’s been served up of late (except the Daggers game).

Well done Kev for sticking three up front. Long may it continue if the opposition permits it.
That’s all we want…..a bit of attacking footy.
 
The only pressure on Kev was from social media. Certainly not from the squad, COSU or the rest of the management team. A long way to go yet but I’m pretty sure we can dispel any NLS worries. 2 defeats in 12, two incoming with potentially one or two more. I think play offs may be a stretch but they are certainly possible. Must be the boring crab Maher tactics.

Your little snipe at the end made me chuckle.
After beating a struggling team like Fylde at home, your saying that some of our football hasn’t been negative?
It clearly has and I hope KM sticks to last night type of attacking football. There clearly is a difference.
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the game and I think it was only the very subdued atmosphere that made it seem not as good as it actually was. We had a host of chances first half, they had a few shots too, that's what you want!

I felt Bonne played out of his skin on Saturday as he knew Hopper was coming, I did wonder if Bridgey knew that there may be competition for his spot inbound, as he played a lot better last night. He was going into spaces he never normally does. Much better from him.

We actually had runners off of the striker! Walker and Kendall stretched them tirelessly but I do worry that they work so hard, they are empty by the 70th minute. We don't have a lot on the bench to replace them with either, which means changing formation with the substitute that does come on. We tend to look weaker after that. If we are to continue 3 up top next season, a few more forwards may be needed if we want to continue the press for 90 mins.

I felt sorry for Coker being 'rotated' but Husin played better than he had done all season. His lack of progressive, forward thinking play does still worry me, but he was much improved. Morton, Rolls Royce, say no more.

Can we all just give some credit to the keeper?! He had a horror first game and just imagine how awful his confidence must of been thereafter. He then had to come on in front of 1200 away fans and then play the next home game with plenty of fans wanting to send him packing. He has showed real resilience this week and earned himself 2 clean sheets. Well played young man.

Overall, only two loses in 12 matches for a manager some fans wanted sacked isn't too shabby. I said a few games ago that we weren't far away and if we replaced Cardwell, Wes and Kensdale adequately, we will be playoff contenders. Those additions are filling those roles and we are now looking up, not down. Let's all ride this positive wave and relinquish the infighting and verbal bashing of each other. Let's stay United. Utb!
 
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