fbm
Blue tinted optimist⭐🦐
HATS OFF TO CURETON AS EWES THRASH SORRY SOUTHEND
At 3pm today, the Southend team were completely fired up and ready to do battle with their Essex counterparts in an absolute must win game at Roots Hall.
The only problem was that the match kicked off at 12:30.
Unfortunately Southend had simply failed to turn up for the SKY televised game. Oh, there were 11 people plus subs who were on the pitch, and each one involved at times made a passable impression of being a footballer. But for the most part this was as nervous and wretched a display as anything I have seen for some considerable time from a team that calls itself Southend United.
Parity in the match lasted only seconds before a poor Clarke header was followed by an even poorer Sodje header that gifted Cureton his first. I don't need to elaborate further as the game was unfortunately televised but to try and say that hat trick man Cureton was the difference between the sides would be totally unfair on the rest of the Colchester team.
In sport, one should be gracious in defeat and dignified in victory. No doubt after the first LDV semi-final, the following years LDV penalty shoot out victory and last seasons 6-1 aggregate double they thought they owed us one. This time there was no cheating diving players, no dodgy refereeing decisions (well, not important ones) and no disallowed goals or flukey saves. We have to say we were comfortably beaten by a side who were quicker, fitter, harder working and who had more desire and belief than we did. Today, Cureton was their jewel in the crown and I will happily admit to applauding him off when he was subbed. Is there a Southend fan who didn't privately consider where we may have been this year had we had him in our team?
Today, Southend players needed to stand up and be counted and I could not get as far as 1. Too many passes were underhit or overhit. We couldn't do the simplest things and wanted to walk the ball in. We deserved - and got - nothing.
The irony is that we will probably go to Preston and win.
Of course, we are not down yet - at least not mathematically. It would be pointless to throw in the towel as other teams can contrive to keep us up. But I feel as though that is our best chance of survival because when the pressure is on, we can't hack it. I can't see us winning 4 of the last 5 to save our own skins.
People can blame Tilly and his apparent lack of tactical knowledge. We can blame the size of our squad and our luck. We can blame the last minute penalty that never was at Hillsboro, the late equaliser for Leeds or even Freddys last second miss at Luton. But there is one set of stats that we cannot escape from and which is responsible for where we are. Quite simply, in all competitions, we have conceded 3 goals or more 15 times and have lost 20 of our 41 league matches. We cannot expect to do anything with a record like that.
Ratings
Flahavan - 6 - Couldn't be faulted for the goals.
Hunt - 5 - Never looked comfortable on the ball
Hammell - 5 - A couple of good free kicks but not a lot else
Sodje - 5 - First minute error put us on back foot. Struggled a bit.
Clarke - 6.5 - MOM as he did less wrong than anyone else.
Gower - 5 - Started ok but faded. Summed it up when he failed to keep a corner in play near the end.
Maher - 6 - Tried to get things going but had few options. Ran out of ideas.
McCormack - 6 - Showed his class in only glimpses and seemed subdued.
Foran - 4 - Very poor. Deservedly subbed at half time.
Eastwood - 5 - Spent too much time outside the box and definitely didn't have his shooting boots on
Bradbury - 5 - Held ball up well on occasions but rarely posed a threat.
Subs -
JCR - 6 - Started promisingly in second half but it didn't last long
Harrold - 5 - Came on with 15 mins left by which time it was too late
The crowd -5 Stunned by early goal, absolutely silent after the second and far too many left after the third. Poor show.
At 3pm today, the Southend team were completely fired up and ready to do battle with their Essex counterparts in an absolute must win game at Roots Hall.
The only problem was that the match kicked off at 12:30.
Unfortunately Southend had simply failed to turn up for the SKY televised game. Oh, there were 11 people plus subs who were on the pitch, and each one involved at times made a passable impression of being a footballer. But for the most part this was as nervous and wretched a display as anything I have seen for some considerable time from a team that calls itself Southend United.
Parity in the match lasted only seconds before a poor Clarke header was followed by an even poorer Sodje header that gifted Cureton his first. I don't need to elaborate further as the game was unfortunately televised but to try and say that hat trick man Cureton was the difference between the sides would be totally unfair on the rest of the Colchester team.
In sport, one should be gracious in defeat and dignified in victory. No doubt after the first LDV semi-final, the following years LDV penalty shoot out victory and last seasons 6-1 aggregate double they thought they owed us one. This time there was no cheating diving players, no dodgy refereeing decisions (well, not important ones) and no disallowed goals or flukey saves. We have to say we were comfortably beaten by a side who were quicker, fitter, harder working and who had more desire and belief than we did. Today, Cureton was their jewel in the crown and I will happily admit to applauding him off when he was subbed. Is there a Southend fan who didn't privately consider where we may have been this year had we had him in our team?
Today, Southend players needed to stand up and be counted and I could not get as far as 1. Too many passes were underhit or overhit. We couldn't do the simplest things and wanted to walk the ball in. We deserved - and got - nothing.
The irony is that we will probably go to Preston and win.
Of course, we are not down yet - at least not mathematically. It would be pointless to throw in the towel as other teams can contrive to keep us up. But I feel as though that is our best chance of survival because when the pressure is on, we can't hack it. I can't see us winning 4 of the last 5 to save our own skins.
People can blame Tilly and his apparent lack of tactical knowledge. We can blame the size of our squad and our luck. We can blame the last minute penalty that never was at Hillsboro, the late equaliser for Leeds or even Freddys last second miss at Luton. But there is one set of stats that we cannot escape from and which is responsible for where we are. Quite simply, in all competitions, we have conceded 3 goals or more 15 times and have lost 20 of our 41 league matches. We cannot expect to do anything with a record like that.
Ratings
Flahavan - 6 - Couldn't be faulted for the goals.
Hunt - 5 - Never looked comfortable on the ball
Hammell - 5 - A couple of good free kicks but not a lot else
Sodje - 5 - First minute error put us on back foot. Struggled a bit.
Clarke - 6.5 - MOM as he did less wrong than anyone else.
Gower - 5 - Started ok but faded. Summed it up when he failed to keep a corner in play near the end.
Maher - 6 - Tried to get things going but had few options. Ran out of ideas.
McCormack - 6 - Showed his class in only glimpses and seemed subdued.
Foran - 4 - Very poor. Deservedly subbed at half time.
Eastwood - 5 - Spent too much time outside the box and definitely didn't have his shooting boots on
Bradbury - 5 - Held ball up well on occasions but rarely posed a threat.
Subs -
JCR - 6 - Started promisingly in second half but it didn't last long
Harrold - 5 - Came on with 15 mins left by which time it was too late
The crowd -5 Stunned by early goal, absolutely silent after the second and far too many left after the third. Poor show.
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