Uncle Leo
This cook is an anti-semite
A few gremlins with my PC at home means I won't be able to put last night's report on the front page. So here it is:
BATTLING BLUES DENIED BY FOREST FIRE
Southend put on their best performance for some time against Nottingham Forest at Roots Hall on Tuesday night, but it was not enough to secure all three points.
The game itself was a total contrast to last Saturdays dour affair against Luton, with SOuthend playing at a higher tempo from the start. Forests style helped as this gave Blues a little extra room and they took the game to the visitors from the off.
Robson-Kanu had his first goal attempt for the club when he hit a snap shot from the edge of the box that went high and wide. Sadly, despite Southend’s superiority, none of the goal attempts tested the keeper and most ended over the stand or well wide of the target.
In contrast, Forest should have opened the scoring with their first attack, which produced a corner. This was whipped in and aided by the wind nearly crept under Flahavans crossbar but he did well to keep it out. From the resulting corner, a free header went narrowly wide.
By and large however the first half belonged to the Blues. The deadlock was broken after 20 minutes in stunningly simple fashion. A long kick by Flahavan was headed on by Walker to Robson-Kanu, who raced through a static Forest defence to calmly slot the ball past Smith.
Within two minutes the lead was nearly doubled. In a bit of a scramble, Moussa seemed to hit the post from close range and the ball failed to run for Southend in the box as it was cleared to safety.
Chances continued to be created however and Forest were hardly in it. A fine header at the back post by Clarke was well saved and the half finished with Southend in control but only 1-0 up.
At the start of the second half Forest replaced the ineffective Holt and Agogo with Tyson and Thornhill and immediately took control of the game. Blues had to be at their best to keep them at bay and also appeared to be playing against the ref as well. He had been fairly fussy in the first half, giving Forest every free kick for the tiniest challenges but in the second he absolutely surpassed himself, letting two challenges that were almost worthy of assault charges go without blowing for a free kick but awading one to the visitors every time a Southend player got anywhere near a Forest body.
After exactly 20 minutes of the second half, the visitors equalised. For once, either Barrett or Clarke was caught out of position and Francis was left to cover. This meant he couldn’t mark the left sided winger, who got around the back, played the ball across goal and Thornhill slid in at the back post to make it 1-1.
For the next few minutes there appeared only one team that would win and a low cross shot skimmed past Flahavans left hand post.
However, Southend clawed their way back and started to gain the upper hand. Walker had a shot from a narrow angle that was pushed wide for a corner and for a while it was end to end stuff.
In the dying moments a scramble ended with the keeper making a decent save but the ball ricocheting towards goal where it was cleared off the line. Walker worked another opening on the edge of the box and unleashed an absolute piledriver that hit the side netting. Southend were in the ascendancy now but time was running out. In the very last minute Gower hit a shot from distance that bounced in front of Smith, kicked up and caught him in the arm before dipping over the top. From, the resulting corner this writer was praying that the ball would stay “live” to have one last chance. Instead, Gower and Black try a short corner routine which ends up with Gower being offside and the referee blowing for full time.
All in all, a point against Forest is not a bad result. But this game was one Southend probably deserved to win on the balance of play, and if we can’t always score when we are in control then we leave ourselves open to a sucker punch.
BATTLING BLUES DENIED BY FOREST FIRE
Southend put on their best performance for some time against Nottingham Forest at Roots Hall on Tuesday night, but it was not enough to secure all three points.
The game itself was a total contrast to last Saturdays dour affair against Luton, with SOuthend playing at a higher tempo from the start. Forests style helped as this gave Blues a little extra room and they took the game to the visitors from the off.
Robson-Kanu had his first goal attempt for the club when he hit a snap shot from the edge of the box that went high and wide. Sadly, despite Southend’s superiority, none of the goal attempts tested the keeper and most ended over the stand or well wide of the target.
In contrast, Forest should have opened the scoring with their first attack, which produced a corner. This was whipped in and aided by the wind nearly crept under Flahavans crossbar but he did well to keep it out. From the resulting corner, a free header went narrowly wide.
By and large however the first half belonged to the Blues. The deadlock was broken after 20 minutes in stunningly simple fashion. A long kick by Flahavan was headed on by Walker to Robson-Kanu, who raced through a static Forest defence to calmly slot the ball past Smith.
Within two minutes the lead was nearly doubled. In a bit of a scramble, Moussa seemed to hit the post from close range and the ball failed to run for Southend in the box as it was cleared to safety.
Chances continued to be created however and Forest were hardly in it. A fine header at the back post by Clarke was well saved and the half finished with Southend in control but only 1-0 up.
At the start of the second half Forest replaced the ineffective Holt and Agogo with Tyson and Thornhill and immediately took control of the game. Blues had to be at their best to keep them at bay and also appeared to be playing against the ref as well. He had been fairly fussy in the first half, giving Forest every free kick for the tiniest challenges but in the second he absolutely surpassed himself, letting two challenges that were almost worthy of assault charges go without blowing for a free kick but awading one to the visitors every time a Southend player got anywhere near a Forest body.
After exactly 20 minutes of the second half, the visitors equalised. For once, either Barrett or Clarke was caught out of position and Francis was left to cover. This meant he couldn’t mark the left sided winger, who got around the back, played the ball across goal and Thornhill slid in at the back post to make it 1-1.
For the next few minutes there appeared only one team that would win and a low cross shot skimmed past Flahavans left hand post.
However, Southend clawed their way back and started to gain the upper hand. Walker had a shot from a narrow angle that was pushed wide for a corner and for a while it was end to end stuff.
In the dying moments a scramble ended with the keeper making a decent save but the ball ricocheting towards goal where it was cleared off the line. Walker worked another opening on the edge of the box and unleashed an absolute piledriver that hit the side netting. Southend were in the ascendancy now but time was running out. In the very last minute Gower hit a shot from distance that bounced in front of Smith, kicked up and caught him in the arm before dipping over the top. From, the resulting corner this writer was praying that the ball would stay “live” to have one last chance. Instead, Gower and Black try a short corner routine which ends up with Gower being offside and the referee blowing for full time.
All in all, a point against Forest is not a bad result. But this game was one Southend probably deserved to win on the balance of play, and if we can’t always score when we are in control then we leave ourselves open to a sucker punch.
