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Blue tinted optimist⭐🦐
HULL HUMBLE HOSTS IN HALLOWEEN HORROR
Southend hit rock bottom as they yet again conceded three goals at home to gift fellow strugglers Hull the points on a chilly Halloween evening.
In a poor encounter, it was obvious that both sides lacked quality and confidence as the opening exchanges saw the teams take turns in misplacing passes. The odd moment of quality shone through and, in fairness, it was usually Southend that looked to be playing the better football.
After 15 minutes however, Hull settled and tested Flahavan on 2 or 3 occasions. A free header from a corner went narrowly wide as Blues defensive shortcomings were again highlighted.
As the half hour mark approached, Southend took the lead. Gower broke down the left and squared the ball to Harrold, who got a little lucky with a deflection and the ball trickled over the line.
Boaz Myhill, the Hull keeper, was having a 'mare and collided with his own player to drop the ball at the feet of Francis but his shot from the angle of the box towards an unguarded net went out of play for a throw in.
Blues only held the lead for 5 minutes or so and a poor Hunt clearance let in Fagan, who laid the ball back to an unmarked Parkin who easily shot past Flahavan.
Fortunately we avoided the almost obligatory goals just before and just after half time and then bucked the trend by taking the lead again. Sodje strode forward unchallenged and had loads of time to thread a perfect ball to Freddy, whose quick feet took him clear and he finished comfortably.
At 2-1 up Blues should have really built on the lead but once again a cruel piece of luck let Hull back into the game. Parkin won a debatable free kick 30 yards out and Elliot's shot went through the wall, deflecting past Flahavan on the way.
Hull seemed to give Southend a real chance when Ashby needlessly kicked Harrold in the back with his studs and was shown a straight red. Parkin should have gone almost immediately afterwards, but the ref missed his kick at Sodje and wasn't even cautioned. With Hull down to 10 men, surely they would put everyone behind the ball and protect the draw. Well, lets give credit where it's due; they didn't, and after 65 minutes a sweet one-two between Fagan and Elliott saw the former Col******r man stroke the ball past Flahavan to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
At that moment the belief drained visibly out of the players and audibly out of the 10,000-plus crowd. There were a few vain attempts to get some singing going but in short there was no spark, no atmosphere and no passion. The players tried hard enough but Hull had the defensive measure of everything Southend threw at them. There was, however, one great chance with 10 minutes left. Freddy hit a trademark thunderbolt that Myhill could only parry out and the ball flew very quickly to a diving Harrold who nodded it past the grounded keeper but wide of the empty net. That was that and why we didn't make all three substitutions to try and change the game I just don't know.
It is very difficult to see how we can possibly turn this around. When our players play to their best, then we are good enough to survive but at the moment we have too many players off the boil. At least we can't get any lower!
Loan players may be the answer but we need pace, strength, stature and quality in order to mix it and our squad is significantly lacking in all those areas.
Pace - our quickest player (Cole) is on loan at Northampton and our 2nd quickest (JCR) is on the bench.
Strength - Paynter - obvious physical strength but out for 6 weeks and I don't think he was ever fully fit I'm also not convinded as to his ability. Prior - injured. Sodje - has been injured. Bradbury - injured. Clarke - currently being played out of position.
Stature - Prior, Paynter and Sodje - see above. Ricketts - has gone. Collis - on bench.
Quality - who, in our side, has genuine Championshiop quality? Francis, Paynter and Hammell have all come fom this standard or higher but are all still settling and Paynter's injured anyway. Clarke was tipped for great things. Bradbury and Prior are injured and Sodje has only just come back. Maher and Freddy are the only ones in the team who look to have the quality necessary. JCR is unproven at this level and people like Cole and Hooper have come from Conference clubs, whilst Collis and Harrold have come from league one Yeovil and weren't even first choice players there!
Ricketts was our big name player but he wasn't interested, obviously. Flahavan, Wilson, Hunt, Barrett, Gower, Guttridge, Maher, Eastwood, Lawson and Smith were all with the club in league 2. We just do not have enough Championship quality in this squad - it's as simple as that.
At least we now know what we need to do but I can't help feeling that our best chance of survival would be to sell Freddy in January and invest in 3 or 4 decent players to strengthen the squad overall.
Ratings -
Flahavan - 6 - Didn't get near any of the goals but questions need to be asked about whether a change is needed.
Hunt - 6 - Made an error for their first and didn't look comfortable all evening.
Barrett - 7 - Struggled against Parkin but gave 100%.
Sodje - 8 - MOM- Good to see him back and the defence looked more solid as a result.
Hammell - 6 - Had a quiet game and too many corners failed to beat the first man.
Francis - 6 - Was subbed on 76 minutes and looked ineffective.
Maher - 5 - Worst game I have seen him play for some time. Far too many misplaced passes.
Clarke - 6 - Added height and a touch of strength to the otherwise lightweight midfield
Gower - 7 - Alays wanted the ball but final pass sometimes lacking.
Eastwood - 7 - A decent game, well taken goal and can feel aggrieved at the lack of service.
Harrold - 7 - Did well with what little service he recieved.
Subs -
Guttridge - 6 - on for Clarke but hardly noticed
Hooper - 6 - On for Francis but couldn't get into the game
Ref - Mr Joslin - 7 - Played good advantage, which I like. One of the better ones.
Southend hit rock bottom as they yet again conceded three goals at home to gift fellow strugglers Hull the points on a chilly Halloween evening.
In a poor encounter, it was obvious that both sides lacked quality and confidence as the opening exchanges saw the teams take turns in misplacing passes. The odd moment of quality shone through and, in fairness, it was usually Southend that looked to be playing the better football.
After 15 minutes however, Hull settled and tested Flahavan on 2 or 3 occasions. A free header from a corner went narrowly wide as Blues defensive shortcomings were again highlighted.
As the half hour mark approached, Southend took the lead. Gower broke down the left and squared the ball to Harrold, who got a little lucky with a deflection and the ball trickled over the line.
Boaz Myhill, the Hull keeper, was having a 'mare and collided with his own player to drop the ball at the feet of Francis but his shot from the angle of the box towards an unguarded net went out of play for a throw in.
Blues only held the lead for 5 minutes or so and a poor Hunt clearance let in Fagan, who laid the ball back to an unmarked Parkin who easily shot past Flahavan.
Fortunately we avoided the almost obligatory goals just before and just after half time and then bucked the trend by taking the lead again. Sodje strode forward unchallenged and had loads of time to thread a perfect ball to Freddy, whose quick feet took him clear and he finished comfortably.
At 2-1 up Blues should have really built on the lead but once again a cruel piece of luck let Hull back into the game. Parkin won a debatable free kick 30 yards out and Elliot's shot went through the wall, deflecting past Flahavan on the way.
Hull seemed to give Southend a real chance when Ashby needlessly kicked Harrold in the back with his studs and was shown a straight red. Parkin should have gone almost immediately afterwards, but the ref missed his kick at Sodje and wasn't even cautioned. With Hull down to 10 men, surely they would put everyone behind the ball and protect the draw. Well, lets give credit where it's due; they didn't, and after 65 minutes a sweet one-two between Fagan and Elliott saw the former Col******r man stroke the ball past Flahavan to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
At that moment the belief drained visibly out of the players and audibly out of the 10,000-plus crowd. There were a few vain attempts to get some singing going but in short there was no spark, no atmosphere and no passion. The players tried hard enough but Hull had the defensive measure of everything Southend threw at them. There was, however, one great chance with 10 minutes left. Freddy hit a trademark thunderbolt that Myhill could only parry out and the ball flew very quickly to a diving Harrold who nodded it past the grounded keeper but wide of the empty net. That was that and why we didn't make all three substitutions to try and change the game I just don't know.
It is very difficult to see how we can possibly turn this around. When our players play to their best, then we are good enough to survive but at the moment we have too many players off the boil. At least we can't get any lower!
Loan players may be the answer but we need pace, strength, stature and quality in order to mix it and our squad is significantly lacking in all those areas.
Pace - our quickest player (Cole) is on loan at Northampton and our 2nd quickest (JCR) is on the bench.
Strength - Paynter - obvious physical strength but out for 6 weeks and I don't think he was ever fully fit I'm also not convinded as to his ability. Prior - injured. Sodje - has been injured. Bradbury - injured. Clarke - currently being played out of position.
Stature - Prior, Paynter and Sodje - see above. Ricketts - has gone. Collis - on bench.
Quality - who, in our side, has genuine Championshiop quality? Francis, Paynter and Hammell have all come fom this standard or higher but are all still settling and Paynter's injured anyway. Clarke was tipped for great things. Bradbury and Prior are injured and Sodje has only just come back. Maher and Freddy are the only ones in the team who look to have the quality necessary. JCR is unproven at this level and people like Cole and Hooper have come from Conference clubs, whilst Collis and Harrold have come from league one Yeovil and weren't even first choice players there!
Ricketts was our big name player but he wasn't interested, obviously. Flahavan, Wilson, Hunt, Barrett, Gower, Guttridge, Maher, Eastwood, Lawson and Smith were all with the club in league 2. We just do not have enough Championship quality in this squad - it's as simple as that.
At least we now know what we need to do but I can't help feeling that our best chance of survival would be to sell Freddy in January and invest in 3 or 4 decent players to strengthen the squad overall.
Ratings -
Flahavan - 6 - Didn't get near any of the goals but questions need to be asked about whether a change is needed.
Hunt - 6 - Made an error for their first and didn't look comfortable all evening.
Barrett - 7 - Struggled against Parkin but gave 100%.
Sodje - 8 - MOM- Good to see him back and the defence looked more solid as a result.
Hammell - 6 - Had a quiet game and too many corners failed to beat the first man.
Francis - 6 - Was subbed on 76 minutes and looked ineffective.
Maher - 5 - Worst game I have seen him play for some time. Far too many misplaced passes.
Clarke - 6 - Added height and a touch of strength to the otherwise lightweight midfield
Gower - 7 - Alays wanted the ball but final pass sometimes lacking.
Eastwood - 7 - A decent game, well taken goal and can feel aggrieved at the lack of service.
Harrold - 7 - Did well with what little service he recieved.
Subs -
Guttridge - 6 - on for Clarke but hardly noticed
Hooper - 6 - On for Francis but couldn't get into the game
Ref - Mr Joslin - 7 - Played good advantage, which I like. One of the better ones.
