Pre-Match Thread Southend United v Oldham Athletic, Saturday 29th March, 1730 k.o.

[Evening Echo]

JAMES Morton wants Southend United’s midweek disappointment to further fuel their fire in the fight for the play-offs.

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[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher expects an intense battle with Oldham Athletic at Roots Hall tomorrow.

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Looking forward - Southend United boss Kevin Maher (Image: FOCUS IMAGES)


By Chris Phillips. Chief sports reporter.

SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher expects an intense battle with Oldham Athletic at Roots Hall tomorrow.

A crowd of more than 8,000 is expected for the game between two of the biggest clubs in the National League.

And Maher is relishing the contest against the fourth placed Latics.

“It’s two big clubs at this level,” said Maher.

“They’re both well supported and there will be a big crowd in so you have to look forward to these games.

“We will need the fans behind us and lets see what these last seven games bring.

“Right now our full focus is on Saturday and I’m sure Oldham will bring a good crowd too.

“The atmosphere will be very good and it’s two good teams going at it.

“It will be a real proper, intense game with two teams who will want to go out and win it.”

The Shrimpers go into the clash sitting ninth in the standings, just a point outside the play-offs positions.

And Maher insists Blues will be raring to go despite their 3-0 defeat at Boston United on Tuesday.

“You don’t get too carried away when you’re doing well and you don’t got too far the other way when you’re not,” said Maher.

“We knew things would go against us at some point and my job is to look at the overall performance but also the bits that were very, very good like the control we had in the first half and the chances.

“There are moments in games, we didn’t get ours right and they did so it’s gone the other way.

“That’s football but you have to move on quickly and be ready for the next one which we will be.”

However, Maher knows the Shrimpers are in for another stern test.

“They have real know-how around their team,” said Maher.

“There’s a lot of experience and good footballers around the team too.

“The manager knows the level ever so well and knows football inside out too.

“Watching them they’re really hard working and efficient.

“It will be a physical one and an intense one too.”

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

ECHOSPORT talks to Oldham Athletic fan Kieran Chambers ahead of Saturday's game with Southend United.

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In charge - Oldham Athletic manager Mickey Mellon (Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)

By Chris Phillips. Chief sports reporter.

ECHOSPORT talks to Oldham Athletic fan Kieran Chambers ahead of Saturday's game with Southend United.

Oldham are currently fourth in the table so what are your views on the season so far?

"I think if you asked different people, you’d get vastly different answers.

"The more optimistic fans like myself would point to our stronger home form, and the fact that we’ve gone from a side that was challenging for the bottom end of the play-offs, to one that is currently well-set in fourth, with a chance of third.

"The more negatively minded would say that since the turn of the year, we have fallen away from what could have been a closer title challenge, and that the football on show has rarely been pretty, often finding goals and creativity hard to come by at times."

How confident are you of promotion this season?

"I think I’d be able to give you a better answer in a month’s time when we’ve played our league games away at York and Forest Green, when we’ll probably know if we can climb into third place for a home semi-final.

"Regardless, I do fancy our chances in the cut and thrust environment of a play-off campaign, particularly as we do boast an enormous amount of promotion experience in our squad.

"In particular, having the quartet of James Norwood, Manny Monthè and Jake Caprice, alongside manager Micky Mellon, who all won back to back playoff campaigns from the National League to League One with Tranmere Rovers."

How do you view the game with Southend and how important is it for your season or is it all about the play-offs now?

"If we are going to have any ambitions of climbing into third place, then we’ve got to keep up the pressure on Forest Green with a win.

"With our game being an evening kick off, and the Forest Green game being an early kick off, there’s every chance that we could kick off knowing that a win would take us within three points of Forest Green, with a game against them still to come on the penultimate weekend.

"From a selfish point of view, I think Southend would be one of the trickier opponents for us in the play-offs, so I’d quite like us to just keep our distance from yourselves with a win on Saturday."

Who have been the stand out players this season and who is the dangerman?

"In terms of standout players, we can’t look past Mike Fondop.

"Known as ‘God’s Number Nine’, he’s contributed 18 goals in all competitions (16 in the league), and those goals have yielded well over a third of our entire points tally.

"Tom Conlon has also been a standout performer in the midfield, after being handed the captain’s armband at the start of the season.

"He often goes unnoticed, but the drop off in the team’s performance when he doesn’t play is stark, as he not just brings energy and tenacity in both defence and attack, but also brings invaluable leadership skills to the team."

What's the team news?

"I think the team news will be pretty simple for us.

"We don’t look like we’ve got any new injuries, and the fact that we’ve had a run of a couple of weeks with no midweek games, means that we can start the same 11 that saw off FC Halifax Town pretty easily last week.

"Shaun Hobson should keep his place in the team off the back of his best performance of the season so far, alongside the continued absence of Reagan Ogle.

"I think our starting XI will be as follows GK: Tom Donaghy RWB: Jake Caprice RCB: Shaun Hobson CB: Charlie Raglan LCB: Jake Leake LWB: Mark Kitching CM: Jordan Rossiter CM: Tom Pett CM: Tom Conlon ST: Kian Harratt ST: James Norwood."

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

JAMES Morton wants Southend United’s midweek disappointment to further fuel their fire in the fight for the play-offs.

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Fired up - Southend United midfielder James Morton (Image: Lucy Copsey)

By Chris Phillips. Chief sports reporter.

JAMES Morton wants Southend United’s midweek disappointment to further fuel their fire in the fight for the play-offs.

The Shrimpers saw their nine match unbeaten run ended by a 3-0 defeat at Boston United on Tuesday night.

But Morton does not want to dwell on the setback and is instead firmly focused on bouncing back against fourth placed Oldham Athletic at Roots Hall tomorrow.

“We’ve had our chats and meetings and Tuesday is behind us now,” said Morton.

“The worst thing would be to dwell on it.

“We were on a good run before and it’s good we have a game again so quickly so we can put it right.”

“We’ve recovered well and we’re really focused on Saturday.”

The Shrimpers go into the game sitting ninth in the standings, just a point outside the play-off positions.

And Morton remains confident Blues will be tough to beat.

“We’ve had some good results against good teams who are in and around us in the play-offs,” said the midfielder.

“All season we’ve been a team the big guys are scared of and we’re still full of confidence.

“We’re in a good mindset to get three points.

“Oldham will have to be at their best to beat us and being at home will help us.”

The Latics head into the game with their own promotion aspirations.

And Morton is fully aware how important Saturday’s game could prove to be.

“It’s big to be fair,” said the 25-year-old.

“We lost at Boston on Tuesday and if we lose again it’s not season over but if we get a point or a win, which we’re chasing, it gives us more confidence to push on again.

“I know the teams above us will be looking at us a bit worried and we need to keep chasing them.

“Three points on Saturday and results going our way elsewhere again would see us in the play-offs and that’s where we want to be.”

 

[Scapegoat]

Another Latics fan here that will be taking the game in on DAZN rather than Roots Hall (due to family life commitments).

The Latics fan interviewed in the article has it pretty much spot on.

We are not a great watch under Micky Mellon, but we are often effective. Millington. (Halifax manager) summed us up last week:

"Oldham played the way Oldham play....they make it about direct play, first contacts, transitions and then try and settle in the oppositions half".

Generally we have a decent backline and often look defensively strong. We lost a key player to injury (Monthe) at the time we started to wobble, but over recent weeks we seem to have recovered stability.

Our midfield and wide players (wing-backs) are all good footballers - but our style doesn't often use them to build from the back. However, if we can get the ball in control in the opposition half we do have quality that can cause problems - and have earlier in the season controlled games well.

Up front is a bit of a mixed bag.

Norwood is clearly a talent at this level but only completed his first 90 minutes last week for what feels like an age and he seems to be better with a partnership. Harrat is new and got a goal in history first start last week and looked like he might be the partner that Norwood needs.

Fondop aka 'Gods Number 9' is our top goal scorer but splits the fan base slightly - he scores goals, but arguably isn't as talented as the others. For a good period he was on his own up front and played 90 minutes in about 7 back to back games and was knackered - always capable of a goal though, especially in the air.


It's a key game for both sides - Southend pushing for7th and I can see why you think this is a 'must win'. However I think Gateshead are in free-fall and you might not be out of it with less than a win. For us, there is an outside chance of 3rd, and the fact that we would want a home QF if not - therefore a win would be helpful, but a draw wouldn't be a bad result.

More importantly for us, is that after a run of average results and poor performances, the last 3 games have started to see a bit of a return to the pre-Christmas. We have a new forward, a few players coming back from injury - and the focus is getting theta to gel and improve the performances.

 

[Scapegoat]

How has Southend's season gone this year? Last year you finished like a train - and without the points deduction would have made the play-offs.

From the outside I expected Southend to be a real force this season based on that - and its surprising to see you only now starting to flirt with the top 7.

 

[Leeboy]

From the outside I expected Southend to be a real force this season based on that - and its surprising to see you only now starting to flirt with the top 7.

You and 6000 + others mate

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Hopper offers nothing whilst Bonne works hard all game and makes space for others. Bonne for me

As the man do say, he is one of the few who gets a head to a ball defending set pieces.
He doesn't score many, but at least he prevents more goals than we might concede.

 

[OldBlueLady]

This is probably more appropriate on here than on the Gus's goals thread

There's a pretty simple solution if Golding isn't fit. Drop Good-Life, play Hopper at the back, put Gus up front alongside Bonne and bring in Wind

And if Ralph's still unfit maybe slot Miley in there

Yeah, I can see this happening if Ralphy's not back as well.

I'd forgotten just how much fun our last game against Oldham at the Hall was. Red card for them, 4 goals for us, including a Weetabix goal (our second) for those old enough to remember. Add to that a great defensive tackle from Gus that set Mooney up for his cracker and the world was good. More of the same on Saturday please Blues. If any Oldham fans are viewing this obviously isn't meant to upset you.

Mooney was still relatively happy here then, and they were all performing well despite the off pitch stuff.

 

[Smiffy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1905562311311368350

 

[Scapegoat]

You and 6000 + others mate

So what has gone wrong?

Maher looks like he is Southend through and through (450+ appearances as a player; 180 as manager). Finished 13th in his first season as manager, 8th the next season (with financial issues and embargoes); 9th last season despite a -10 points deduction.

 

[Blue Yonder]

How has Southend's season gone this year? Last year you finished like a train - and without the points deduction would have made the play-offs.

From the outside I expected Southend to be a real force this season based on that - and its surprising to see you only now starting to flirt with the top 7.

Then early doors we lost our star CF to FGR, our star CM to injury and our star CB to…. well that’s a whole other story. We’ve also now lost our star GK to long term injury. We’ve recruited now but we’re still not the team we were on that run in last year.

 

[hlane17]

I'd forgotten just how much fun our last game against Oldham at the Hall was. Red card for them, 4 goals for us, including a Weetabix goal (our second) for those old enough to remember. Add to that a great defensive tackle from Gus that set Mooney up for his cracker and the world was good. More of the same on Saturday please Blues. If any Oldham fans are viewing this obviously isn't meant to upset you.

Just look at the fire in the team after the red card challenge. Nowadays we hardly even react to getting lumped. Gotta stick up for each other more

 

[Scapegoat]

Yeah, I can see this happening if Ralphy's not back as well.


Mooney was still relatively happy here then, and they were all performing well despite the off pitch stuff.

One of those "have all the pre-season optimism kicked-out of you by 5pm" starts to the season.

Helpfully we can be competitive tomorrow and we both put on a good game for the 4 neutrals that will be watching on DAZN (and only because they have lost their remote controls).

What are the viewing figures for DAZN National League? Must be awful outside of the fans of the teams playing that cannot make it.

 

[Barling Magna]

How has Southend's season gone this year? Last year you finished like a train - and without the points deduction would have made the play-offs.

From the outside I expected Southend to be a real force this season based on that - and its surprising to see you only now starting to flirt with the top 7.

In brief it's been a frustrating season. Our best XI are capable of beating anyone but we're rarely able to assemble them or our tactics and formation are wrong. Our squad as a whole is bang average.

We suffered body blows in quick succession at the start of the season when firstly Forest Green Rovers poached our top scoring striker Harry Cardwell and then our best defender Kensdale left. We haven't been able to adequately replace either of them.

We have an annoying habit of drawing games we should win. Our forwards don't lack effort but they miss chance after chance. We have been fortunate that we have a wing back who has scored 17 goals.

We've been unlucky with injuries including to our excellent young goalkeeper Collin N'deng Ndi and we haven't kept a clean sheet for ages in his absence.

Our manager is a club legend and has worked wonders but our formation and tactics have drawn a lot of criticism. He appears inflexible and formulaic at times, at other times, although less often, he can go to the other extreme. Several times we have dominated the first 45 minutes of games, perhaps scoring a goal or two but missing half a dozen more, only to be overrun in the second half by changed tactics of our opponents and coming away with a draw or defeat when we should have wrapped up the game by half time. Our players and manager seem lost on such occasions.

So....... we're consistently inconsistent, often frustrating to watch, occasionaly brilliant and..... we love 'em. We are Southend United.

 

[Leeboy]

So what has gone wrong?

Maher looks like he is Southend through and through (450+ appearances as a player; 180 as manager). Finished 13th in his first season as manager, 8th the next season (with financial issues and embargoes); 9th last season despite a -10 points deduction.

see post 55 above

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

Considering its live on TV on a Saturday so far a crowd of over 7000 with over 250 travelling Oldham fans just proves what these two fan base are.Most likely more will be in attendance at kick off let's hope we all see a decent game referee in the correct manner

 

[Ritchierich]

Loving the live ticket counter thingy but it’s messing with my OCD…can someone please buy that 1 remaining seat in your East Stand? It’s been there for days now

 

[Shr1mperBlue]

Does anyone know what time hospitality opens tomorrow? Will it be the usual 2 hours before k.o? So 3.30pm??

Thanks!

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

In brief it's been a frustrating season. Our best XI are capable of beating anyone but we're rarely able to assemble them or our tactics and formation are wrong. Our squad as a whole is bang average.

We suffered body blows in quick succession at the start of the season when firstly Forest Green Rovers poached our top scoring striker Harry Cardwell and then our best defender Kensdale left. We haven't been able to adequately replace either of them.

We have an annoying habit of drawing games we should win. Our forwards don't lack effort but they miss chance after chance. We have been fortunate that we have a wing back who has scored 17 goals.

We've been unlucky with injuries including to our excellent young goalkeeper Collin N'deng Ndi and we haven't kept a clean sheet for ages in his absence.

Our manager is a club legend and has worked wonders but our formation and tactics have drawn a lot of criticism. He appears inflexible and formulaic at times, at other times, although less often, he can go to the other extreme. Several times we have dominated the first 45 minutes of games, perhaps scoring a goal or two but missing half a dozen more, only to be overrun in the second half by changed tactics of our opponents and coming away with a draw or defeat when we should have wrapped up the game by half time. Our players and manager seem lost on such occasions.

So....... we're consistently inconsistent, often frustrating to watch, occasionaly brilliant and..... we love 'em. We are Southend United.

Tell me something i dont know