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Blue tinted optimist⭐🦐
EAGLES GRAB AN IFILL IN SMASH AND GRAB RAID
Southend suffered a home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace tonight - but it was a performance that deserved much more.
The South Londoners were there for the taking in the first half but Southend failed to make their superiority tell. New sharp shooter Kevin Maher saw an early effort curl fractionally wide of Kiraly's left hand post, and Gower, Maher and Eastwood all had efforts from distance that went wide. Bradbury headed wide from 8 yards when he should have at least hit the target, and Richie Foran, making his full debut, had two headers saved by the impressive visiting custodian.
Blues pinged the ball about and the link up play between Eastwood and Foran was at times delightful, while Palace looked sluggish and struggled to contain the home side. The large visiting crowd were silent for almost the entire first half but despite the home sides dominance it was still all square at the break.
Foran had been a revelation in the first half and had completely dominated his marker. However, Peter Taylor made a half time substitution by replacing Butterfield with Freedman and immediately this changed Palace's shape. They were slightly more menacing but Southend were still in overall control, and pressed forward at every opportunity. Maher hit a free kick which was saved without too much trouble from Kiraly, whose command of his area was absolutely first class. Freddy headed wide when he should have done better and Gower had a shot which again was kept out by the Hungarian keeper.
Then, on 65 minutes, Palace literally mugged Southend. A cross cum shot rebounded to the previously uninterested Paul Ifill, who screwed a shot into the far corner.
At that moment the players and crowd seemed to lose their belief and Palace were a different side. Kennedy nearly made it 2 a minute or so later and Blues were all at sea. But slowly Blues tried to claw themselves back in the game and Gower had a long range effort that was deflected three times before Kiraly gratefully fell on the ball 3 yards out. Campbell-Ryce hit a dipping shot just over and Bradbury had an effort blocked as Blues went in search of the equaliser. On 79 minutes Tilly changed the formation to 3-4-3 by replacing Wilson with Harrold but this seemed to confuse the players who by now had resorted to long range efforts in an attempt to beat the Palace keeper and their Man of the Match.
A now resurgent Palace seemed to find the extra ounce of energy and yard of pace as they pressed in all areas of the pitch and it was clear it was not to be Southends day. The game petered out as the Eagles held on for the win to leave Southend very much in the mire.
This now makes Blues next game at Hillsborough on Saturday absolutely crucial. This is a game where they must avoid getting beaten as 3 defeats on the trot at this stage of the season would be disastrous. But all is not yet lost; Foran showed tonight that he could be a very worthwhile addition to the squad and the performances of Peter Clarke and Kevin Maher were top quality. But the dreaded squad size problem is now looking as though it could hurt us, and unless either McCormack or Hammell regain fitness before Saturday then we will be faced with only 14 fit players to make the trip to Sheffield Wednesday, who haven't won a game in 2007 and must now surely be licking their lips at the prospect of entertaining the smallest squad in the league.
In hindsight, I think the very worst thing that could have happened was for us to demolish QPR in the last 20 minutes 2 Fridays ago. That gave the impression that we were a much better side than we actually are. If we had scra.ped that game 1-0 then the false hopes and beliefs would not have surfaced afterwards. As I said in my QPR report, that result was more down to how bad they were rather than our brilliance. Look at the difference in keeper for a start; Royce had an absolute nightmare whereas Kiraly was inspired. Our football for the first hour against Palace was much better than the first hour against Rangers, yet we were not ahead by a lucky goal. When Palace scored, they grew in confidence and locked us out yet QPR just folded like a deck of cards once our second went in.
Seven wins from 12 games sounds a tall order but that is what we need. Unless McCormack comes back pretty quick, I'm not as optimistic as I was 10 days ago.
RATINGS:
Flahavan - 8 - Powerless to stop goal, did all that was asked of him.
Hunt - 6 - It's a shame that Francis has not settled better as I really think we miss his athleticism. Hunt does a job and not much more; he certainly struggled tonight in the second half defensively.
Wilson - 5 - Probably not match fit and unsettled. Was shown up for pace in the latter stages before being subbed and didn't really contribute anything going forward.
Sodje - 6 - An uncharacteristically dodgy game from him. He was up against quality strikers, but made several basic errors and misjudgements. May not be fully fit.
Clarke - 8 - The pick of the back four and has really silenced his critics. He is now beginning to look Premiership quality.
JCR - 6 - I would guess he was suffering from his injury on Saturday. Struggled to get the better of Borrowdale all night but went close with two efforts and showed some nice touches.
Gower - 7 - Vastly improved performance from him albeit in an unfamiliar central role. Wasn't quite as creative as I hoped he might be playing in that position but did much better than he has of late on the wing.
Maher - 8.5 - MOM - A real captains performance and led by example. Was unlucky not to get yet another goal early on but his distribution was excellent this evening.
Foran - 8 - A great full debut and he obviously tired late on. Is excellent in the air and showed enough quality to demonstrate he will be another Tilly master signing.
Bradbury - 6.5 - Should have done better in front of goal on at least two occasions but his lay offs and hold up play is fantastic.
Eastwood - 6.5 - Struggled all game to make space and failed to hit target when he worked an opening late on, but never stopped working and linked up well with Foran.
Subs -
Harrold - 6 - Won a few balls in the air but otherwise struggled to make an impact
Francis - 5 - On for JCR and looked completely out of place
The ref - Mr Probert - 8 - No cards, let the game flow, nothing controversial. Exactly as the game should be reffed.
The crowd - 6 - I detected a real sense of resignation after their goal and it was a very nervous crowd tonight.
Southend suffered a home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace tonight - but it was a performance that deserved much more.
The South Londoners were there for the taking in the first half but Southend failed to make their superiority tell. New sharp shooter Kevin Maher saw an early effort curl fractionally wide of Kiraly's left hand post, and Gower, Maher and Eastwood all had efforts from distance that went wide. Bradbury headed wide from 8 yards when he should have at least hit the target, and Richie Foran, making his full debut, had two headers saved by the impressive visiting custodian.
Blues pinged the ball about and the link up play between Eastwood and Foran was at times delightful, while Palace looked sluggish and struggled to contain the home side. The large visiting crowd were silent for almost the entire first half but despite the home sides dominance it was still all square at the break.
Foran had been a revelation in the first half and had completely dominated his marker. However, Peter Taylor made a half time substitution by replacing Butterfield with Freedman and immediately this changed Palace's shape. They were slightly more menacing but Southend were still in overall control, and pressed forward at every opportunity. Maher hit a free kick which was saved without too much trouble from Kiraly, whose command of his area was absolutely first class. Freddy headed wide when he should have done better and Gower had a shot which again was kept out by the Hungarian keeper.
Then, on 65 minutes, Palace literally mugged Southend. A cross cum shot rebounded to the previously uninterested Paul Ifill, who screwed a shot into the far corner.
At that moment the players and crowd seemed to lose their belief and Palace were a different side. Kennedy nearly made it 2 a minute or so later and Blues were all at sea. But slowly Blues tried to claw themselves back in the game and Gower had a long range effort that was deflected three times before Kiraly gratefully fell on the ball 3 yards out. Campbell-Ryce hit a dipping shot just over and Bradbury had an effort blocked as Blues went in search of the equaliser. On 79 minutes Tilly changed the formation to 3-4-3 by replacing Wilson with Harrold but this seemed to confuse the players who by now had resorted to long range efforts in an attempt to beat the Palace keeper and their Man of the Match.
A now resurgent Palace seemed to find the extra ounce of energy and yard of pace as they pressed in all areas of the pitch and it was clear it was not to be Southends day. The game petered out as the Eagles held on for the win to leave Southend very much in the mire.
This now makes Blues next game at Hillsborough on Saturday absolutely crucial. This is a game where they must avoid getting beaten as 3 defeats on the trot at this stage of the season would be disastrous. But all is not yet lost; Foran showed tonight that he could be a very worthwhile addition to the squad and the performances of Peter Clarke and Kevin Maher were top quality. But the dreaded squad size problem is now looking as though it could hurt us, and unless either McCormack or Hammell regain fitness before Saturday then we will be faced with only 14 fit players to make the trip to Sheffield Wednesday, who haven't won a game in 2007 and must now surely be licking their lips at the prospect of entertaining the smallest squad in the league.
In hindsight, I think the very worst thing that could have happened was for us to demolish QPR in the last 20 minutes 2 Fridays ago. That gave the impression that we were a much better side than we actually are. If we had scra.ped that game 1-0 then the false hopes and beliefs would not have surfaced afterwards. As I said in my QPR report, that result was more down to how bad they were rather than our brilliance. Look at the difference in keeper for a start; Royce had an absolute nightmare whereas Kiraly was inspired. Our football for the first hour against Palace was much better than the first hour against Rangers, yet we were not ahead by a lucky goal. When Palace scored, they grew in confidence and locked us out yet QPR just folded like a deck of cards once our second went in.
Seven wins from 12 games sounds a tall order but that is what we need. Unless McCormack comes back pretty quick, I'm not as optimistic as I was 10 days ago.
RATINGS:
Flahavan - 8 - Powerless to stop goal, did all that was asked of him.
Hunt - 6 - It's a shame that Francis has not settled better as I really think we miss his athleticism. Hunt does a job and not much more; he certainly struggled tonight in the second half defensively.
Wilson - 5 - Probably not match fit and unsettled. Was shown up for pace in the latter stages before being subbed and didn't really contribute anything going forward.
Sodje - 6 - An uncharacteristically dodgy game from him. He was up against quality strikers, but made several basic errors and misjudgements. May not be fully fit.
Clarke - 8 - The pick of the back four and has really silenced his critics. He is now beginning to look Premiership quality.
JCR - 6 - I would guess he was suffering from his injury on Saturday. Struggled to get the better of Borrowdale all night but went close with two efforts and showed some nice touches.
Gower - 7 - Vastly improved performance from him albeit in an unfamiliar central role. Wasn't quite as creative as I hoped he might be playing in that position but did much better than he has of late on the wing.
Maher - 8.5 - MOM - A real captains performance and led by example. Was unlucky not to get yet another goal early on but his distribution was excellent this evening.
Foran - 8 - A great full debut and he obviously tired late on. Is excellent in the air and showed enough quality to demonstrate he will be another Tilly master signing.
Bradbury - 6.5 - Should have done better in front of goal on at least two occasions but his lay offs and hold up play is fantastic.
Eastwood - 6.5 - Struggled all game to make space and failed to hit target when he worked an opening late on, but never stopped working and linked up well with Foran.
Subs -
Harrold - 6 - Won a few balls in the air but otherwise struggled to make an impact
Francis - 5 - On for JCR and looked completely out of place
The ref - Mr Probert - 8 - No cards, let the game flow, nothing controversial. Exactly as the game should be reffed.
The crowd - 6 - I detected a real sense of resignation after their goal and it was a very nervous crowd tonight.
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