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

[RHB]

Do I get a free pie and hot drink on my next trip back?

I'm sure if you ask @Cricko nicely he'll give you one, or maybe a Sir Chrissie Powell mug.

 

[Cricko]

I'm sure if you ask @Cricko nicely he'll give you one, or maybe a Sir Chrissie Powell mug.

Already have it set up mate.

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

Is that because you've got to sit in the East Stand? It can have that effect.

There is that...

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Glad someone else saw something similar to me as it seems many people on here think it was like watching the 1970's Brazil team.

I thought it was a decent 1st half but we squandered chances we have to put away to even vaguely challenge the better teams. The 2nd half was very frustraing though as Fylde were there for the taking they probably ended up with better chances than we did.

Certainy the formation change over the last couple of games is the way forward & also Bridge is getting more support from Walker & Ralph which is similar to the way Wes & Ralph helped him. But there is still virtually no end product. Innumerable times last night he got free, stopped, started, stopped again & then did little with it. Fylde surrounded him at times with 3 players, they can't have scouted him, & we had spare space all over but the ball was never played there.

I was personally dissapointed to see Husin start over Coker & listening to Kev on the way home it sounded like it was resting Cokes rather than as the tactic around Haughton that many suggest. He was better than he has been, no doubt, but that's a pretty low bar. If it was a tactcal change to nullify a player from a team in 22nd place I'd suggest should we not be asking them to nullify Coker who's attacking approach I though we missed, especially 2nd half. Why are we worrying about a single player in the opposition? Thankfully I don't think from what Kev says we were but I think we should have started the same 11 & Cokes could have a rest Saturday.

The positives were undoubtedly Morton & the Morton/Miley axis really needs binning for good, the front 3 worked well together in the 1st half so the 343 must must must stay, the back 3 had a few moments but were sound most of the night & credit to Harness who pulled of a couple of really decent saves. Given the state of the game I'd have preferred to have given Waldron a runout when Walker went off as I felt we should have kept on their jugular whereas we sat back. I'm afraid that if he can't get on in a game like that Waldron probably doesn't have a future which seems sad as he seems to have been given few chances.

But it's another win which is great, however to compare that performance to the ones against Eastleigh & Charlton is way off IMHO. But I must be wrong as most on here seem to think we were blindingly good.

Spot on imho. I particularly agree with you on Waldron. I'd love to see him play for us in a team creating the kind of chances we did for Kendall in the first half.

I hope he gets a go on Saturday at some stage and we play on the front foot with him on the pitch.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

When England play Greece, as an example, at Wembley there may well be 10,000 Greeks in the stands, supporting their national team. Nearly all of them will not have travelled from Greece, more likely hopped on the tube from their homes in south or east London.
So how do we know that the nine or ten “hardy souls” sitting in the north stand had travelled down from the Lancashire coast? Much more likely that they are Fylde supporters in exile, like ORM in Hong Kong or me in Hereford.
I suspect that we were wining and dining them for little reason.

If a pie and a hot drink is wining and dining I feel for your Mrs.

 

[Whispering Bob]

From a (fairly boring) Blackpool rag ;

Josh Walker’s strike from distance moments before the break and Emeka Obi’s unfortunate own goal consigned Fylde to defeat in Essex on Tuesday night.
The Coasters were bidding to build on Saturday’s 2-0 home victory over Wealdstone but it was the mid-table hosts who had the first opening, when James Golding headed well over from a corner.
From Fylde’s first corner by Nick Haughton, Danny Ormerod forced Shrimpers keeper Nathan Harness into a superb save.
Gus Scott-Morris sliced his effort wide for Southend, then Walker also failed to finish in a goalmouth scramble following a fine stretching save by Ben Winterbottom.
Walker made no mistake to open the scoring on 44 minutes, when he shrugged off the challenge of Ethan Mitchell just outside the centre-circle and drove to the edge of the area before firing low to Winterbottom’s right.
Early in the second 45, Haughton struck a 25-yard free-kick just over the bar following Harry Taylor’s late challenge on Tyler Roberts.
Walker appealed for a penalty when he went down just inside the area but the goalscorer was booked for simulation.
Fylde had the chance of an equaliser just past the hour, when substitute Gavin Massey’s excellent back-heel sent Joe Riley through on goal but he couldn’t beat Harness from close-range.
Southend’s lead was doubled on 66 minutes, when Obi headed Scott-Morris’ looping cross from the right past Winterbottom and into the top left corner of his own goal.
Kevin Maher’s side went close to a third when Scott-Morriss’ free-kick sailed just over, then substitute Keenan Appiah-Forson fired wide from just outside the area.
Massey almost halved the deficit entering the final 10 minutes but Harness palmed his curling effort away.
The only other opportunity also fell to Massey, a wayward effort as the game entered added-time, on a disappointing evening for Fylde.
It means the Coasters remain in the bottom three going into Saturday’s home clash with Oldham Athletic. They then visit FC Halifax Town next Tuesday.
Fylde: Winterbottom, Bardell (Hosannah 72), Obi, Stokes (Whelan 19), McFayden, Riley, Jolley, Mitchell (Hugill 72), Haughton, Roberts (O'Kane 84), Ormerod (Massey 52).

 

[Sherif H]

Given the cost price of the pies is probably less than £1 each, the coffee is a spoon of Nescafé and just one pint of milk will cover 9 people. It’s some nice publicity and we probably get change from a tenner. Who knows - maybe they would have grabbed a mars bar while they were there. Great work from whoever’s idea it was. The only cost was someone to work in the catering - and we would have had to pay for that anyway.

Let's be honest - it isn't quite the free pint for every supporter who went to Dorking, but the Club is slowly learning that these good PR stories are worth their weight in gold.

 

[Blue Yonder]

There is a point where the coach decides a player isn't up to it and at that point there doesn't seem to be much to be gained by continually giving the player the opportunity to prove the coaches right. It appears that Wood and Waldron are at that point. There's not been much of evidence the coaches have got it wrong on those two and we're starting to get such better options that they're so far down the pecking order as to be irrelevant.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

 

[ms brush]

There is a point where the coach decides a player isn't up to it and at that point there doesn't seem to be much to be gained by continually giving the player the opportunity to prove the coaches right. It appears that Wood and Waldron are at that point. There's not been much of evidence the coaches have got it wrong on those two and we're starting to get such better options that they're so far down the pecking order as to be irrelevant.

I think that might be a bit harsh. Wood is young still, and he doesnt seem to quite fit into our style of play. That doesnt make him a bad player or that the coaches dont see anything in him. My guess is that he will move on, because he is a long way off what we need now, and when he does I would be wishing him all the best for his future. He may also have a resale value, as we brought him through our now defunct academy, and there are plans in this direction for him when the right club comes along.

Waldron is a different prospect. He has come in as a professional very late (I think he is around 27), and has only been full time for less than a year. He took a big step up in terms of the football pyramid, and this has likely turned his world on its head, and sometimes that takes a while to adjust to now the reality of life as a professional athlete in a 5th tier club has sunk in. He was a big fish in a tiny pond, and is now in a much bigger professional set up, with senior, experienced professionals around him, and he arrived at a club that was in financial disarray where things are only now getting sorted out behind the scenes. Add in a disrupted pre-season and the uncertainty of whether we would still have a club, then a lengthy recovery from injury, and a team which has been underperforming across the pitch, so i think it is safe to say that he probably is lower down the pecking order right now. However, he has been on the bench a lot, which says to me he isnt "out of favour" and he has come on as a sub a number of times. He will be learning a huge amount now from players like Bonne and now Hopper, so I think it is safe to say that he is someone who will stay in the matchday sqaud. His job now is to get his head down, work hard and wait for the opportunity to arrive.

 

[Grayson]

There is a point where the coach decides a player isn't up to it and at that point there doesn't seem to be much to be gained by continually giving the player the opportunity to prove the coaches right. It appears that Wood and Waldron are at that point. There's not been much of evidence the coaches have got it wrong on those two and we're starting to get such better options that they're so far down the pecking order as to be irrelevant.

Good post, agreed. It's a shame for all parties but they have had ample opportunity being at the club. Our fans cannot want higher standards and improved calibre of players whilst at the same time wanting to hang onto those who have not worked as we hoped.

I'm sure Waldron already knows he won't be here in the summer, but it's not so easy to just move him on. For all we know, he could be interviewing for full-time 'normal' jobs again at the moment, and will move on to a part-time club once he's secured that. If we're looking after him in that way, that's a good thing. Now we're at this level, things are not as simple as we're used to.

 

[Rob Noxious]

I think that might be a bit harsh. Wood is young still, and he doesnt seem to quite fit into our style of play. That doesnt make him a bad player or that the coaches dont see anything in him. My guess is that he will move on, because he is a long way off what we need now, and when he does I would be wishing him all the best for his future. He may also have a resale value, as we brought him through our now defunct academy, and there are plans in this direction for him when the right club comes along.

Waldron is a different prospect. He has come in as a professional very late (I think he is around 27), and has only been full time for less than a year. He took a big step up in terms of the football pyramid, and this has likely turned his world on its head, and sometimes that takes a while to adjust to now the reality of life as a professional athlete in a 5th tier club has sunk in. He was a big fish in a tiny pond, and is now in a much bigger professional set up, with senior, experienced professionals around him, and he arrived at a club that was in financial disarray where things are only now getting sorted out behind the scenes. Add in a disrupted pre-season and the uncertainty of whether we would still have a club, then a lengthy recovery from injury, and a team which has been underperforming across the pitch, so i think it is safe to say that he probably is lower down the pecking order right now. However, he has been on the bench a lot, which says to me he isnt "out of favour" and he has come on as a sub a number of times. He will be learning a huge amount now from players like Bonne and now Hopper, so I think it is safe to say that he is someone who will stay in the matchday sqaud. His job now is to get his head down, work hard and wait for the opportunity to arrive.

I'm usually with all you say, Ms B, but I believe we signed JW from King's Langley (?) three years ago to the day nearly.

 

[palexander]

I'm usually with all you say, Ms B, but I believe we signed JW from King's Langley (?) three years ago to the day nearly.

Wasnt it weirdly announced at the time that he was bought "for the future" and basically bought for the youth team?

 

[Rob Noxious]

Wasnt it weirdly announced at the time that he was bought "for the future" and basically bought for the youth team?

I recall something along those lines.

 

[Jai]

Glad someone else saw something similar to me as it seems many people on here think it was like watching the 1970's Brazil team.

I thought it was a decent 1st half but we squandered chances we have to put away to even vaguely challenge the better teams. The 2nd half was very frustrating though as Fylde were there for the taking they probably ended up with better chances than we did.

Certainly the formation change over the last couple of games is the way forward & also Bridge is getting more support from Walker & Ralph which is similar to the way Wes & Ralph helped him. But there is still virtually no end product. Innumerable times last night he got free, stopped, started, stopped again & then did little with it. Fylde surrounded him at times with 3 players, they can't have scouted him, & we had spare space all over but the ball was never played there.

I was personally disappointed to see Husin start over Coker & listening to Kev on the way home it sounded like it was resting Cokes rather than as the tactic around Haughton that many suggest. He was better than he has been, no doubt, but that's a pretty low bar. If it was a tactcal change to nullify a player from a team in 22nd place I'd suggest should we not be asking them to nullify Coker who's attacking approach I though we missed, especially 2nd half. Why are we worrying about a single player in the opposition? Thankfully I don't think from what Kev says we were but I think we should have started the same 11 & Cokes could have a rest Saturday.

The positives were undoubtedly Morton & the Morton/Miley axis really needs binning for good, the front 3 worked well together in the 1st half so the 343 must must must stay, the back 3 had a few moments but were sound most of the night & credit to Harness who pulled of a couple of really decent saves. Given the state of the game I'd have preferred to have given Waldron a runout when Walker went off as I felt we should have kept on their jugular whereas we sat back. I'm afraid that if he can't get on in a game like that Waldron probably doesn't have a future which seems sad as he seems to have been given few chances.

But it's another win which is great, however to compare that performance to the ones against Eastleigh & Charlton is way off IMHO. But I must be wrong as most on here seem to think we were blindingly good.

I can see your point but Haughton is one of the best players in this league and absolutely runs the show for them. They are as close as anyone will get to a one man team and we have already been burnt by giving him too much space once already this season.

We definitely should have that mindset of other teams worrying about us, particularly at home, but to completely ignore the fact we were going into a game against arguably the division's best attacking midfielder with only two in the middle ourselves would have been neglect. It was a tweak that IMO served its purpose.

 

[Hooly]

My word, from the South Upper, I hadn't realised quite how poor our attempts at finishing were in that 1st half. You can obviously see the chances we created from up there, from one perspective, but sodding hell we have to do better with those irrespective of whether we are playing a team at the top or in the basement.

 

[Hooly]

It was a tweak that IMO served its purpose.

Although unintentionally as Kev said after the game he just rested Coker & it wasn't part of a cunning plan it seems.

 

[Barling Magna]

I suspect that we were wining and dining them for little reason.

..... other than being pleasant. Where's the harm in that?

 

[Jai]

Although unintentionally as Kev said after the game he just rested Coker & it wasn't part of a cunning plan it seems.

He did say that, true. Although I suspect it was a factor in his thinking

 

[Swiss Tony]

It would have been much nicer if we had read their names out individually. Thousands of us cheering each name.

It was the first time ever I had seen the entire away end empty at H/T for a brew.