Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 4-0 Ebbsfleet

[blues exile]

To all those that were banging on about us losing in the Pre Match Thread - I hope you now feel very stupid for pre-empting in that way.

They say you can only beat what is put in front of you, well, that is what we did, 4-0. I'll waffle some more later on about some of our players, but for tonight I'll just enjoy a well deserved win from the lads with Bim getting better every game.

Don't recall anyone saying we were going to lose. There were however many posts pointing out that a win was expected against the division's worst side and it would not make any difference in the context of a poor season. However I suppose the Maherites need some crumbs of comfort and this will sustain them until the next setback. Some bright spots obviously. We will miss Pepple if Luton recall him and Golding was impressive but no one should get carried away with this result and performance, entertaining though it was.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Anyone noticed that was our first Boxing Day win for 4 years?

Opposition, poorest we have faced all season.

Miley was a little better, but disappointed with Husin still. A lot broke down at worse or lost momentum when he was involved.

Against the stronger teams Husin is not good enough still and his place in midfield is the one up for grabs still for me.

Bim proved his worth, and Kendall's movement and pressing helps take the pressure off.

Bridge was better too, but still cant or refuses to put any cross past the six yard line.

Coker chipped in with another quality finish. Golding is a definite improvement at the back. You can tell he has also played in midfield.

They are the players who stood out either way for me today.

A welcome win, that needs to be built on now.

 

[Kenny]

A good result against the bottom team, I'll remain cautious, every time we've won this season, and it seems like we've lit the fire and turned the corner, it goes back to sideways no spark the next game.

 

[Sussexshrimper]

I think golding was terrific ....so assured ...

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

Another weird atmosphere on Boxing Day, wasn’t it? I put it down to a collective Christmas hangover, a very disappointing opposition and splitting the singing lot between the West and North Stands. I’m sure once everyone gets used to their new surroundings, the noise level will go up.

First and foremost, the moan. Now I’m in the West Stand and have used the new Food Truck in the NW area twice. Love it. So was very disappointed to see the gate closed so I couldn’t frequent it. That’s more discretionary spend lost. FFS. Will this now be the norm as I can’t see the owners particularly pleased with their takings going down!

To the match - great to see four well taken goals. Others above have gone through the many good performances but I’d like to point out Charley Kendall. Never stopped running, never stopped tracking back and deserved a goal himself. Good partnership with the future Canada Number Nine developing and both HAVE to start next week against Braintree. Would have personally played Morton but I suppose Kev had to do something after the York debacle - I really wonder if Golding has already agreed to sign permanently and Oxford are simply letting us “try before we buy”? A lot better in the middle of the back three than Crowther who is back up now IMHO.

We go again.

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

A game we should and did win comfortably so a banana skin event avoided.
Golding and Charley K were outstanding something that has been missing for a long time.Pim really a fans favourite.Whats the chance of signing Pim and Golding permanently would be nice

 

[overseas shrimper]

A must win game against the worst side in the league.
Good to see some goals, but we have to take this result and build on it against a Braintree team who had a good win themselves today.

Lots of people said these two games, today and Braintree were both must wins - they are, and anything but a win on Monday would be a disappointment.

Don't go to Braintree on Monday... we don't play them until Wednesday.

 

[Leeboy]

not much more to add to this thread other than Ebbsfleet were on a par with my Sunday Vets team

Golding quality, Miley looked like his old self, Bim awesome but my MotM was Kendall - his pace, movement, trickery and closing down was just the breath of fresh air we needed. Must start v Braintree

 

[Sherif H]

Handful of observations.

Golding is mustard - I never want to see Crowther start again as long as this lad is with us. Looked like he could be a like for like replacement for Kensdale, but with a bit of Adam Barrett thrown in.

That front two looked better than anything we have seen this season. Must start on NYD.

We could and should have scored another couple of goals to really boost confidence, but predictably, Kev instead chose to down tools and shut up shop with twenty minutes still to play. Bringing on Bonne and Walker is an admission to the opposition that we are done for the day.

I will never see Pepple regularly get 90 mins under this management. The boy was on a hat trick FFS.

That was encouraging, but please let's not get carried away. I've seen quite a bit of Isthmian Prem this year and Ebbsfleet were worse than most of the teams I've seen at that level.

 

[Smiffy]

Re: North Bank. Why are the club charging people to move season cards there? Ridiculous and would have put a lot off transferring over. Hence why it was full of mainly floating fans.

It should be free to move over and tickets need to go on sale much further in advance. Not being able to roam between West and North is a killer as well.

Needs a rethink, as the idea is to create an atmosphere, not house a load of daytrippers and a handful of loyals.

 

[wiggy]

To all those that were banging on about us losing in the Pre Match Thread - I hope you now feel very stupid for pre-empting in that way.

They say you can only beat what is put in front of you, well, that is what we did, 4-0. I'll waffle some more later on about some of our players, but for tonight I'll just enjoy a well deserved win from the lads with Bim getting better every game and Charley Kendall and Golding looking real prospects.

Ebbsfleet were the worst team I have seen at Roots Hall for years!
Only thing that the pre match thread got wrong was that Miley was superb all game.
Maher also lost it again with the East Green crowd, not sure why? Think they had the audacity to shout shoot…he needs to calm down before he has a Connery?

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Handful of observations.

Golding is mustard - I never want to see Crowther start again as long as this lad is with us. Looked like he could be a like for like replacement for Kensdale, but with a bit of Adam Barrett thrown in.

That front two looked better than anything we have seen this season. Must start on NYD.

We could and should have scored another couple of goals to really boost confidence, but predictably, Kev instead chose to down tools and shut up shop with twenty minutes still to play. Bringing on Bonne and Walker is an admission to the opposition that we are done for the day.

I will never see Pepple regularly get 90 mins under this management. The boy was on a hat trick FFS.

That was encouraging, but please let's not get carried away. I've seen quite a bit of Isthmian Prem this year and Ebbsfleet were worse than most of the teams I've seen at that level.

I wonder if KM thought here was a chance for Bonne to finally score and boost Walker's confidence while at it?
The trouble was they came on to join a tired team with the hard yards already behind them.
I think KAF's cross was about the only real Bonne chance.

 

[Banksy]

We bloody should be beating ebbsfleet 4-0 at home so this isn't a big surprise at all

You are spot on. We are just not clinical enough which illustrates that we are not a good side by any means.

 

[RHB]

Don't recall anyone saying we were going to lose. There were however many posts pointing out that a win was expected against the division's worst side and it would not make any difference in the context of a poor season. However I suppose the Maherites need some crumbs of comfort and this will sustain them until the next setback. Some bright spots obviously. We will miss Pepple if Luton recall him and Golding was impressive but no one should get carried away with this result and performance, entertaining though it was.

See post #80 on the pre match thread along with the 9 votes for a loss in the Pre Match thread Poll.

 

[Sherif H]

I wonder if KM thought here was a chance for Bonne to finally score and boost Walker's confidence while at it?
The trouble was they came on to join a tired team with the hard yards already behind them.
I think KAF's cross was about the only real Bonne chance.

Sorry....the idea of Bonne scoring made me almost literally **** myself

 

[Shrimper]

See post #80 on the pre match thread along with the 9 votes for a loss in the Pre Match thread Poll.

9 people out of 77 voting that we'd lose is hardly worth getting annoyed by

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Surprised to hear people didn’t like this team selection. It looked nicely balanced to me (unlike the midfield of Morton, Coker and KAF some were wanting) and with a good splattering of youth (Golding, Coker, Pepple, Kendall) to provide that youthful exuberance but with plenty of energy throughout.

I’ve been banging on for months about how we lost our spine when we lost Kensdale, Miley and Cardwell, and how we press from the front and play out from the back and the full debuts of Golding and Kendall illustrates exactly what we’ve been missing.

Golding stepped forward with the ball a few times - most notably when he played in Kendall - and generally looked comfortable in possession. He also looks less of a liability from the ball over the top. His willingness to step up with the ball changes the angles and opens up different passes and that helps get our play flowing.

Up front Kendall was a pain. I can’t believe it’s taken me three games to notice but he’s a non-league Lee Barnard - the blonde hair, the socks pulled up high, but above all it’s the closing down and getting in the way. He provided an injection of pace and energy. If I had to describe him in one word it would be spiky. He’s exactly what we’ve been missing up front.

Some mocked Maher’s importance on pressing but I think Kendall showed how it’s the pressing game that gets us playing on the front foot. His assist for Bim’s second was superb (Danny Waldron had a similar assist last season). We lost some energy after he went off.

The third player who was part of our spine was Miley. I thought Morton was extremely unfortunate to be left out but this was the type of game where we wanted Miley. He set the tone in midfield, snapping away at Ebbsfleet’s heels and when they showed the ball diving in and winning it away. He provided the platform for Noor and Coker to attack. Time after time when we lost the ball he’d be there to win it back and initiate another attack. That gave Husin and Coker the licence to push further forward. That led to us opening the scoring when Coker took up another intelligent position inside the area and the ball fell to him to open the scoring. I thought Noor was excellent today. He’s arguably both our best player technically and our hardest working player but today he was able to play with more confidence. He was looking to link up with Bridge, to make runs for him and to delay passes. He can be a frustrating player as he has so much to offer but doesn’t always deliver but having Miley behind him seemed to free him up to take more risks and not just turn backwards.

The second goal was a vindication of Maherball. People twice yelled shoot when there was no shot on, instead we moved the ball and the defence about and worked the space to get a shot in and what a beauty it was, Bim spinning and slamming the ball home like prime Tony Battersby.

Kendall’s pace made the third and Gus who should have picked out the unmarked Bim for his hattrick redeemed himself from the resulting corner for the fourth.

Ebbsfleet were poor but we’ve played some poor teams this season and lost (Maidenhead, Fylde, Sutton) and our energy and organisation at the back helped make Ebbsfleet seem poor. We’re not the finished article but we seem to be back on track with our identity restored. Now to follow up with two more wins in the next two games and really build up the momentum for when the tougher contests await.

It’s taking me longer to get back to London than it took me to get to York last weekend but it was worth it.

 

[Sunnyshrimper]

Another weird atmosphere on Boxing Day, wasn’t it? I put it down to a collective Christmas hangover, a very disappointing opposition and splitting the singing lot between the West and North Stands. I’m sure once everyone gets used to their new surroundings, the noise level will go up.

First and foremost, the moan. Now I’m in the West Stand and have used the new Food Truck in the NW area twice. Love it. So was very disappointed to see the gate closed so I couldn’t frequent it. That’s more discretionary spend lost. FFS. Will this now be the norm as I can’t see the owners particularly pleased with their takings going down!

To the match - great to see four well taken goals. Others above have gone through the many good performances but I’d like to point out Charley Kendall. Never stopped running, never stopped tracking back and deserved a goal himself. Good partnership with the future Canada Number Nine developing and both HAVE to start next week against Braintree. Would have personally played Morton but I suppose Kev had to do something after the York debacle - I really wonder if Golding has already agreed to sign permanently and Oxford are simply letting us “try before we buy”? A lot better in the middle of the back three than Crowther who is back up now IMHO.

We go again.

Golding and Pepple are both young (20 & just 22) on loans from Championship clubs. They may not be considered ready for that level, just yet, a huge gulf, but both are promising prospects. If they force their way in at Oxford and Luton I can see them getting League 1 or League 2 offers rather than dropping to join us at this point. Would love to be proved wrong!

 

[Barry.C]

I trust we are not however going to make Crowther our next scapegoat. Notched up 21appearances and done pretty well , seems 5 minutes ago we were praising him for his headed goal ?

 

[Yer Blues]

Staying undefeated for the rest of the season (maybe lose 2 or 3.

Sorry, it's probably me. Those statements are contradictory. Could you pick one please?

North bank “family stand” was a disaster.. communication was left too late about the move, the club charging £8 - £10 to change seats is criminal and the fact everyone was sat down is absolutely nothing what the north bank is about and was clearly day trippers not understanding the intention of that being the atmosphere stand.

Massive own goal by Cosu this.

Paired with the missed deadline for companies house, that's a couple of amateur mistakes in the last few days.

My tuppence worth on today's game:

For the first time in a while, credit to cav who was great.

Golding looks to be a very good player at this level. Even more surprising that he's been on the bench.

I'm a bit excited by Kendall. Runs his socks off, has a bit about him and tries to be a bit entertaining too. The Southend Garnacho.

Despite the announced attendance, I thought the hall was quiet today. At one point I could actually hear the subs conversation as they were warming up. Not something I'd noticed before which was odd.

Oh, Maher. Gesticulating wildly again. Embarrassing.

Glad we won, but Ebbsfleet are one of the worst teams I've ever seen us play.