Just Back

From a seminar in Birmingham so had to watch it on the TV.

After 5 mins I thought we where back to early season form and already ahead in the game.

We seemed to have a problem maintaining intensity and keeping the ball but a win is a welcome win after a run of defeats like we’ve had recently so we’ll done Town.

Still think Sousa needs to be on the right and Hunt further up front but pleased we won and equally pleased we ended the game with Taylor & McAtee on the pitch. Also great to see Pearson back in the starting line up.

Ryan Taylor led the line superbly

A win is a win. Thought it was a weird game as personally felt very edgy for most of it but truthfully they barely threatened. Feel for Southend and might be time to start looking for directions to Hungerford and Tonbridge for them. Thank intercourse the takeover went through or I reckon we'd be exactly where they are.

15 minutes of McAtee on the pitch.

Chasing,  harassing, scaring the defence !!

Tackling hard enough to get booked !

Welcome back !!

From the TV, as ais earlier very edgy, Taylor MOM was head and shoulders above the rest of the players, now we need an away win Tuesday to get the momentum going again.

This isn't meant as a dig at John-Lewis, but you can really tell the difference when Taylor's up top.

If Sousa could find that finishing edge, there’s a £1000000 there. But, while he hits the corner flag with a shot, he’s nowhere near that.

All the same, a quality squad performance

Utm
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Quoted from Abdul19

This isn't meant as a dig at John-Lewis, but you can really tell the difference when Taylor's up top.

He’s a class act, with go-go-gadget legs which defy science at times. He still needs the right support behind him though.

3 points
Onward and upward
UTM

The old adage, the result was better than the performance was no more apt than tonight.

Taylor head and shoulders above the rest. Clifton, Waterfall and Pearson decent. Sousa still an enigma. A win is a win.

A stop the rot performance but we were very disjointed after a bright start. Cool finish from Taylor and we just look an all round better team with him leading the line. He was the best player on the pitch by a distance. His intelligence, properly timed and weighted lay offs, coupled with him being a good finisher given the opportunities has made him a big miss of late.

McAtee came on to give the muted crowd a bit of a lift and we will need him and Taylor in this run of tough games we are about to embark on.

We looked nervy and edgy tonight and lost possession countless times. We had a few good situations but never made the most of them to get that second goal which would have made the players and fans a little more calm.

Having said that, Southend very rarely troubled our back line and you can see why they have only scored 11 goals all season.

Not much tonight to get you out of your seat, but three points and joint top, at least for tonight.

Back 4 solid although crookes looked to be caught for pace a couple of times near the end.

Clifton worked hard but not his best night, thought coke was poor. Hunt spread the play well and kept us ticking over especially in the last 15 of the first half.

Thought fox looked completely out of place trying to link up with Taylor and his first touch was poor but worked hard and clearly out of position.

Sousa looked so good and with a slightly better final ball we could have been out of sight, but if he could do that on a regular basis he wouldn’t be at our level.

Taylor by far MOM for me. Held the ball up superbly and brought others into the game.

Great to see JM back and don’t forget this was a side low on confidence after losing 4 on the trot, so I would take a scruffy 1-0 against anyone, every day of the week thank you very much.

Great to be able to look forward to the rest of the weekend with 3 points already under the belt. Enjoy your beer, wine, g&t or orange juice tonight and tomorrow, we all deserve it after the last few weeks.

UTFM

Scrappy 1-0 win will do for me! As others have said, Taylor was superb up top with little natural support around him. I say natural because Ben Fox is definitely not a number 10. Great to see Pearson back too, solid as ever at the back.

Oh and I had a prawn stuffed scotch quail egg! At a football match! Who knew that was a thing?!

Not great by any stretch but take it & move on to tuesday , positive for me both centre backs completly dominant & taylor's hold up & link play excellant , sousa good till he reaches 18 yard box then enough said

Quoted from jimgtfc

Scrappy 1-0 win will do for me! As others have said, Taylor was superb up top with little natural support around him. I say natural because Ben Fox is definitely not a number 10. Great to see Pearson back too, solid as ever at the back.

Oh and I had a prawn stuffed scotch quail egg! At a football match! Who knew that was a thing?!

Bloody prawn stuffed scotch quail egg brigade, always leaving 5 minutes early to get there prawn stuff scotch quail eggs!

Not many complaints from me tonight.

Good points: Taylor was excellent. Sousa had their right back with twisted blood at times running at him. Defence looked very competent against an albeit limited Southend (is that the first time they’ve started together?). The rot is stopped and McAtee is back.

Bad points: Sousa’s final ball - one shot at the Pontoon seemed to defy the laws of physics. After a really bright start we failed to build on the momentum and let the rest of the first half drift away.

Hopefully we can start another run with this result and get some momentum going into Christmas. Two big games in the next week or so which are both difficult in their own way.

I don't think there is anything to be negative about tonight. The only thing that mattered was the win to stop the rot. Mission accomplished.

I thought we were OK in general and enjoyed the game more than some apparently did. Southend were odd opposition. More pacy players than us, a pretty mobile midfield with one or two tricky players who managed some nice first-time passing, but they just didn't really create anything more than one or two scrambles. No real clear-cut chances I can remember. It probably didn't help that their No. 9 was so busy trying to referee the game whilst standing offside and attempting to foul Waterfall or Pearson every time they went up for a header!

We, on the other hand, gave the ball away cheaply much too often, but still had enough good breaks to have scored one or two more goals had the final pass, ball or shot been better. Sousa really needs to start getting somewhere with his final ball or shot because he was unplayable in spells, but nothing ever came from it.

Pleased to see Pearson slot in and perform well, a bit disappointed by Hunt once again but agree that Taylor was just fantastic. Won 90% of the balls into him before playing the ball to the feet of teammates over and over again. We need to start taking advantage of that sort of service better.

Midfield needs sorting. Coke and Hunt doesn’t work, Fox needs to be back in there and not played out of position.

Well, I didn’t think it was as poor as some are saying, we played some nice stuff in fits and starts and should really have been 2 up early doors

It was quite tense as they looked like they could nick a goal, mainly by loading the box and putting balls in and around Macca from set pieces who again didn’t command his area too well at times.

Crookes was solid, and Waterfall and Pearson played well against two big physical forwards (without pace fortunately)  Efete was ok, but I feel if he doesn’t get back to supporting the attack more as he was in the early part of the season then Sears may be the better choice

In midfield, Fox was good, Hunt tried to create and always wanted the ball, and Clifton full of energy as ever.  I would love Coke to be the player he was last year but he seems well short so far, and is a bit of a passenger currently in my opinion

Ryan Taylor was MoTM for me, a leading the line performance that reminded me of Gary Jones, strong, clever, won every header, and can finish.
Sousa is an exciting enigma as commented on by many, but he is entertaining and frightens the opposition, if he was a great crosser and could shoot he’d be a Championship player so let’s just enjoy the fun bits

Great to see the cameo by McAtee, we have nothing else like him!

UTM  

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Midfield needs sorting. Coke and Hunt doesn’t work, Fox needs to be back in there and not played out of position.

Tend to agree with this and feel that we need another midfield player who can play the Coke role at a faster pace with a little more attacking intent. Fox has been played in the number ten role in the last two home games and its just not worked plus he should have put us two up early in the game.

Defensively pretty sound although a couple of quick one twos and fast breaks from Southend in the first half looked quite dangerous and the offside decision may have prevented a penalty being awarded after Macca’s challenge. Think Hunt probably needs a short rest as he seems to be either getting caught in possession or playing the ball a little too quickly and losing accuracy as a result and like Towler playing in competitive matches may just be catching up with him. He’ll be back and maybe expecting him to be on top form week in week out is a little too much.

Still think we are two or three players short of a real title push but we should be fine for the play offs and a similar result to tonight’s at Solihull would set up a great match at BP next Saturday.

Three points
Mcatee back.
Taylor superb.
Best to stop there.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Tend to agree with this and feel that we need another midfield player who can play the Coke role at a faster pace with a little more attacking intent. Fox has been played in the number ten role in the last two home games and its just not worked plus he should have put us two up early in the game.

Defensively pretty sound although a couple of quick one twos and fast breaks from Southend in the first half looked quite dangerous and the offside decision may have prevented a penalty being awarded after Macca’s challenge. Think Hunt probably needs a short rest as he seems to be either getting caught in possession or playing the ball a little too quickly and losing accuracy as a result and like Towler playing in competitive matches may just be catching up with him. He’ll be back and maybe expecting him to be on top form week in week out is a little too much.

Still think we are two or three players short of a real title push but we should be fine for the play offs and a similar result to tonight’s at Solihull would set up a great match at BP next Saturday.

I struggling to point the finger at Hunt. He seems to want to play at pace and Coke just goes sideways. I’d love to see us go genuine 433 with Hunt, Fox and Harry then Sousa, McAtee and Taylor.

Think most players were ok tonight .Taylor up top very good .Waterfall and Pearson won everything at the back .Sousa some good runs without end product .Couldn't believe he took hunt off and left coke on .Who in my opinion was very poor

I'll take the 3 points, but we need to be better.
Pearson and Waterfall played well together, which surprised me as it's their first game together.
Crookes is such an underrated player, so steady and never gets flustered.
Taylor, well what can you say, immense tonight
Funnily enough Fox had a poor game up until the substitution, once Macatee came on(who doesn't love to see that) and he sat further back he looked so much better.
My MOM was Waterfall, it's like night and day comparing him to last season, he's been outstanding in every game and is becoming undroppable.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I struggling to point the finger at Hunt. He seems to want to play at pace and Coke just goes sideways. I’d love to see us go genuine 433 with Hunt, Fox and Harry then Sousa, McAtee and Taylor.

I'd like to see McAtee a bit deeper in front of Clifton and Hunt in the Alan Pouton role, hopefully without the excessive bookings and sendings off. Taylor, Sousa in a free role and the new no 9...

Gotta say that Pearson and Taylor were imense tonight and won the game for us at opposite ends of the field. However im a huge fan of crooksey and him back in the side for Revan repelled any aerial threat they had down the left. To me hes the most solid LB weve had since Danny Andrew and so important to the team.
Great to see Mcatee back, with better end product Sousa is a world above this level and think we limited Southend to 1 deflected shot on target all game.
Only 1 game but a step in the right direction ahead of a tough run of games.
Utm

We needed Bapaga on the left, Sousa on the right, Clifton central midfield as he wasn’t great tonight on the wing. Coke wasn’t effective either tonight but it was a great 3 points, played better and lost, so I’m happy tonight.

First half especially the ground was so quiet, you could hear the players talking on the pitch.

I worried that we would rue hitting the side netting a few times but what a save from McKeown first half. The Southend 17 was a constant threat first half but fortunately I didn't really notice him second half.

Great performance from Taylor leading the line. The arrival of McAtee really lifted the atmosphere and he showed for the ball immediately. It's great to have him back.

Taylor is a classy player and was by far the best player on the pitch.

I struggle to see what Coke brings. Slows us down, more often than not isn't an option to receive the ball from the defenders and his passing is slow, ponderous and invariably sideways. I don't think he's a good foil for Hunt either.

Quoted from mariner91

Taylor is a classy player and was by far the best player on the pitch.

I struggle to see what Coke brings. Slows us down, more often than not isn't an option to receive the ball from the defenders and his passing is slow, ponderous and invariably sideways. I don't think he's a good foil for Hunt either.

Hate to say it but I agree.
For me if Mcatee is fit you have to drop Fox back next to hunt with Mactee in the 10 with Sousa/bapaga and Clifton either side.
UTM

3 points from a scruffy attacking, but solid defensive performance...
Let's see how the rest react tomorrow,  we have bagged our points, can they bag theirs?

UTM

Quoted from Norseman

Think most players were ok tonight .Taylor up top very good .Waterfall and Pearson won everything at the back .Sousa some good runs without end product .Couldn't believe he took hunt off and left coke on .Who in my opinion was very poor

Agree entirely. Maybe Hunt was tiring after doing a lot of Coke's work who nowadays looks bemused from the start -just aimless wanderings in no-mans land

Firstly, a win is a win.

Defensively we were solid. Waterfall outstanding aerially.

Taylor held the ball up well and is a good national league striker to lead the line.

Sousa was the most dangerous player on the pitch and if he could complete better with a final ball  - will he wouldn’t be playing non league I guess then!

Fox was lost as a number 10. He is not a back to the goal player and struggled until he moved back into centre mid when they took Hunt off. He looked comfortable again immediately

My grip is Coke.

He conned his way through 90 mins with little effort, no impact and I do not see what he brings at all.

We are thin and lack depth but still up there and some reinforcements if Hursty selects well will be the difference or not in terms of staying with the top 2/3

Not a performance to make anyone sit up, but as I said, a win is a win.

Quoted from Lincspoacher

Firstly, a win is a win.

Defensively we were solid. Waterfall outstanding aerially.

Taylor held the ball up well and is a good national league striker to lead the line.

Sousa was the most dangerous player on the pitch and if he could complete better with a final ball  - will he wouldn’t be playing non league I guess then!

Fox was lost as a number 10. He is not a back to the goal player and struggled until he moved back into centre mid when they took Hunt off. He looked comfortable again immediately

My grip is Coke.

He conned his way through 90 mins with little effort, no impact and I do not see what he brings at all.

We are thin and lack depth but still up there and some reinforcements if Hursty selects well will be the difference or not in terms of staying with the top 2/3

Not a performance to make anyone sit up, but as I said, a win is a win.

We won didn't we, why there f**k does there always have to be a scapegoat of some sort?  

Really, really happy with the win and clean sheet. Don’t think we ever looked troubled, all the play was in front of us and they only managed to eke out that one chance in the first half.

Agree with the comments above, and if we can all see what the issue is then Hurst definitely can.

Was surprised at how bad our ball retention was in midfield, especially with 4 central midfielders on the pitch. Almost no interplay between those in the middle of the park, and there wasn’t the energy across the middle to support the full backs or wingers when they needed an option - everyone seemed to be 15-20 yards from each other. It was only when McAtee came on that others started to push up and give an option for a short first time pass or lay off.

Bigger tests coming up in the next few weeks. Wonder if we’ll see a return to typical Hurst-like away performances from now on, looking to be more solid & nicking one. If we could turn a few away losses into draws we’d be sitting pretty.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

We won didn't we, why there f**k does there always have to be a scapegoat of some sort?  

Ludicrous isn't it? And if people want to make points about his lack of mobility or him slowing down play then fair enough but he's a highly respected pro with an excellent reputation so stuff about conning his way through 90 minutes is balderdash.

People knocking Fox - he was filling in again last night in a position that isn’t natural to him so criticising him is harsh IMO. Don’t forget it was his endeavour that got the goal last night - chasing down the Pearson pass that looked to everyone else like it was going out of play.

When McAtee is back starting he will obviously slot straight in behind Taylor again.

Taylor - so good last night. Think everyone agrees he was MOTM.

Sousa - dangerous until the final element again. If he can somehow crack that then he will be a serious player. There can’t be many in this division that have the ability on the ball that Sousa does. He is a nightmare for defenders but needs to work on his composure in front of goal.

Defence was back to basics last night. Pearson not frightened to just get rid and did well alongside Waterfall. Harsh on Towler because I don’t think he’s been the problem but we did look more settled last night than we have for a few games. Efete the weakest of the 4 last night. I can’t remember him getting past Clifton once really all game. Maybe he wasn’t meant to, but IMO that is the strongest part of his game.

Midfield is a slight concern atm isn’t it. Hunt isn’t the same player he was a month ago and whilst he wasn’t bad at all last night, he just seems to be trying to force things a bit more than he was. Coke definitely is on the decline now which is a shame after last season.

Probably a 6 - 6.5 / 10 performance last night on the whole but a very welcome 3 points + Johnny Mac is back!

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Ludicrous isn't it? And if people want to make points about his lack of mobility or him slowing down play then fair enough but he's a highly respected pro with an excellent reputation so stuff about conning his way through 90 minutes is balderdash.

What’s ludicrous is the shutting down of people on a forum for an opinion. It may seem harsh but Coke has looked off the pace all season and I can’t understand how people can’t see that, we look a much better side without him and Hunt/Fox don’t look the same playing alongside him.

He may be a respected pro etc but we can’t afford passengers or sentiment.

Weird game last night, we weren’t particularly great but weren’t too bad either. Certainly still lacking a certain spark which I think McAtee will give us and will push Fox back into his best position.

I’d like to see more of Bapaga, he looked excellent at Alty and certainly has more end product in his locker.

Quoted from pontoonlew

What’s ludicrous is the shutting down of people on a forum for an opinion. It may seem harsh but Coke has looked off the pace all season and I can’t understand how people can’t see that, we look a much better side without him and Hunt/Fox don’t look the same playing alongside him.

He may be a respected pro etc but we can’t afford passengers or sentiment.

Try reading what I actually wrote.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Try reading what I actually wrote.

It wasn’t aimed at your particular comment, it was aimed at the ‘needing a scapegoat’ comment which is total rubbish imo.

I thought Coke improved as the game went on. But with a below par Hunt alongside we didnt control the game in the middle.

Couldn’t make last night
Followed on humberside and Twitter as don’t have BTSport
A win is a win so well done to the team, and as someone has said let’s see how others fare today
But we will need to up our game next 4 games as we might find ourselves back in the pack
Results in Next 4 games could shape the Rest of the season
Come on Town!!

Before last night's game, I desperately wanted to see Shaun Pearson back in the side, but not necessarily at the expense of Riley Towler.  I felt we were in dire need of a bit of proper leadership on the pitch, a real team player with a bit of added grit and someone who's never been afraid to face up to whatever the opposition dishes out.  Pearson does it for me, he did it for Wrexham, and I wanted to see him do it for this team when we needed it most.  Great to see him back and very happy that we managed to keep a clean sheet (which wasn't all down to Pearson, but you know what I mean).  

I still thought it was a struggle last night, but the three points came to us in the end, which was a massive relief.

Been bottling up my thoughts over the last few defeats and still have lots of questions.  I think I remember Paul Hurst mentioning early on that we would have a longer pre-season than most other clubs in this league (as we finished last season earlier than them) and it might give us an advantage with our fitness.  Is that what we were seeing early on, and have the rest caught up with us now?  Or did our style of play take everyone by surprise in the early games, and now everybody's had a chance to assess us, are they becoming more effective at stifling us and shutting us down?  (I do like Paul Hurst's pre-match evasiveness regarding the team - he's being very careful about what he says in interviews.)  Finally, I don't really like thinking about this, but does the whole success / failure thing depend on one player - the wonderful John McAtee?

Anyway, back to last night:  As expected, McAtee's return lifted the whole place, team and fans.  He's just so dynamic, and it seems to rub off on everyone else.  Love it.  Taylor was brilliant and thank goodness for that all-important goal.  Efete gave me a proper scare when he lay flat on his back, motionless, towards the end, as if he'd been hit by a sniper in the crowd - I was dreading it being yet another injury - thank goodness it just turned out to be cramp.  I think he's a good player, but maybe needs a solid run of games before we see him steaming forward and scoring goals like he did early on.  The Hunt-Waterfall corner combination still isn't really clicking like it used to.  Still finding it difficult to choose an MoM - the obvious choice would be Taylor, I'd have loved to have given it to Shaun Pearson, but in the end (and I've even surprised myself here) I'm going to save it for his partner in crime, Luke Waterfall.

Quoted from pontoonlew

What’s ludicrous is the shutting down of people on a forum for an opinion. It may seem harsh but Coke has looked off the pace all season and I can’t understand how people can’t see that, we look a much better side without him and Hunt/Fox don’t look the same playing alongside him.

He may be a respected pro etc but we can’t afford passengers or sentiment.

I don’t disagree that now the side is better than last season Coke doesn’t look as influential my point was more about the habit of always trying to find a scapegoat for some negativity which seems to run through the DNA of this board and probably the board at every other club.

What worries me is that other than Taylor's hold up play and Sousa's pace I doubt any of our next few opponents will have seen anything to worry about from last night.

Too much is invested in McAtee plus he's only just back from injury.

I just hope we re-discover our passion, energy and early season form.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Ludicrous isn't it? And if people want to make points about his lack of mobility or him slowing down play then fair enough but he's a highly respected pro with an excellent reputation so stuff about conning his way through 90 minutes is balderdash.

I'm not sure it is ludicrous to question why we laboured to a win at home against one of the worst teams in the league. I wouldn't say he conned his way through the game, the effort is there but his lack of mobility, his poor link up with the other midfielders and his slowing down of the game, often needlessly, makes us a far less impressive outfit.

Quoted from mariner91

I'm not sure it is ludicrous to question why we laboured to a win at home against one of the worst teams in the league. I wouldn't say he conned his way through the game, the effort is there but his lack of mobility, his poor link up with the other midfielders and his slowing down of the game, often needlessly, makes us a far less impressive outfit.

The overall performance level would suggest that he wasn’t the only one who had a mixed evening.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

The overall performance level would suggest that he wasn’t the only one who had a mixed evening.

As I said in a previous post Hunt was certainly not at his best and both Fox and Clifton seemed to be playing in roles that didn’t suit their particular strengths. I feel the comments on Coke are probably reflecting the fact that since he started playing more regularly we have been losing matches and when like last night we did win our play lacked that early season spark and pace. There will be a number of reasons for this including McAtee’s absence, teams sussing us out and a dip in form but it is pretty evident that Coke’s performances are also a factor hence why I recommended last night we try and recruit a younger version of him.

Quoted from mariner91

I'm not sure it is ludicrous to question why we laboured to a win at home against one of the worst teams in the league. I wouldn't say he conned his way through the game, the effort is there but his lack of mobility, his poor link up with the other midfielders and his slowing down of the game, often needlessly, makes us a far less impressive outfit.

It is ludicrous to talk about him conning his way through the game or to blame all that was poor last night on him. And it's unfair and unnecessarily disrespectful. Hunt gave the ball away more and in dangerous positions a couple of times. When everyone is fit Coke wouldn't be in my team. I completely agree that sometimes he slows play down and his age is showing. I also agree with Herts that this board does tend to have one or two under 'focus' at any given time and every error and mistake they make is then picked up and highlighted so it starts to feel like they're playing far worse than in reality they are.

Coke Played at Home to Barnet, Wrexham, Torquay- so it isnt fair to say he played no part in the winning run btw

I think coke was very poor last night. Seemed to wonder around not particularly marking anyone and not really doing anything with the ball. Game was played around him.
Not making him a scapegoat at all by I am going to question whether his legs have gone.
Hunt needs someone a bit more dominant next to him so he can concentrate on creating.

Poor game, town had a key chance and took it…I’ll take it to stop the rot.

We won’t be happy with our performance but in truth, in the second half, on balance we probably should’ve had a couple more.

For me, when Mcatee is fully fit, Coke is the one sacrificed. I’m the short time Fox dropped back in to midfield when Mcatee came in he looked 100% better.

Interesting that on occasions folk around me moaned when it appeared Hunt gave the ball away when in truth the issue was fine; the players just didn’t read it…

Last night had the hallmarks of a side desperate for a win to stop the rot…

Coke’s passing is largely sideways and very safe, Hunt attempts to move the ball quickly and more progressively. I know which I prefer.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

As I said in a previous post Hunt was certainly not at his best and both Fox and Clifton seemed to be playing in roles that didn’t suit their particular strengths. I feel the comments on Coke are probably reflecting the fact that since he started playing more regularly we have been losing matches and when like last night we did win our play lacked that early season spark and pace. There will be a number of reasons for this including McAtee’s absence, teams sussing us out and a dip in form but it is pretty evident that Coke’s performances are also a factor hence why I recommended last night we try and recruit a younger version of him.

Makes complete sense.

After a long day with a family funeral in the morning a very interesting wake at the Valiant  

A long journey home with loads of traffic problems I was happy to see us break our losing run.

Not the best game but Southend never looked like scoring.

So happy we won and hoping the result will kick us on and get us back on track.

A note on their striker who never stopped moaning to the ref all game.  

I think Southend look to be turning the corner after a bad start and looked a lot better team than their league position suggest. If we had played them earlier in the season I think we would have taken them to the cleaners. Expect them to be near the top at the end of the season. That's what makes this win more important.

Quoted from mimma

I think Southend look to be turning the corner after a bad start and looked a lot better team than their league position suggest. If we had played them earlier in the season I think we would have taken them to the cleaners. Expect them to be near the top at the end of the season. That's what makes this win more important.

I presume you mean nearer the top, rather than near the top. They'll definitely move up the table but I can't see them going near the top spots.

Once McAtee came on, the passing and one / twos suddenly started to be played and stick.

Before then, Town were slow and losing many 2nd balls.

Too many slow passes that were not be be run onto at pace.

Amazed that their forward wasn't at least booked for his persistent arguing with the ref.

A dirty 3 points gained - move on to the next and grind out more wins if need be.

3 points don't need to be pretty !!

Quoted from mimma

I think Southend look to be turning the corner after a bad start and looked a lot better team than their league position suggest. If we had played them earlier in the season I think we would have taken them to the cleaners. Expect them to be near the top at the end of the season. That's what makes this win more important.

You cant be serious? They were awful

Was delighted with the win last night and really that's all we needed after a run of poor results. I'll take that over a 3-2 entertaining game where we pick up more injuries/suspensions, especially considering our upcoming games.

For me, Shaun Pearson was MoM, what an absolute class act that man is, closely followed by Taylor. The difference between Taylor and LJL (and I am in the LJL fan category) is this... When the ball is lumped forward to LJL he wins most stuff, and puts it 'somewhere', but the ball has to be right. With Taylor, the ball can be lumped high or flat, it doesn't really matter... In the time the ball is on its way he immediately assesses the situation and his surroundings, decides what to do with it, whether that's bring it down or play it on, and does exactly that. He's a top player especially in this league.

Negative for me, and no there doesn't have to be one, but there was last night, is their number 9 (Rhys Murphy?). His atrocious language towards the officials is outdated and unacceptable. It doesn't take a professional lip-reader to see that BT sport caught his calling the linesman 'a f***ing spa**ic'. How can we hold fans to account, ejecting and banning them if the players aren't expected to show the same standard?

[quote] When the ball is lumped forward to LJL he wins most stuff, and puts it 'somewhere', but the ball has to be right. With Taylor, the ball can be lumped high or flat, it doesn't really matter... In the time the ball is on its way he immediately assesses the situation and his surroundings, decides what to do with it, whether that's bring it down or play it on, and does exactly that [quote]

100% the best comment I've seen all season on the forum.

I think we’ve done it to death on this thread, but I have to add my two penneth by agreeing that Taylor was immense. Just superb throughout.

Quoted from mariner91

Taylor is a classy player and was by far the best player on the pitch.

I struggle to see what Coke brings. Slows us down, more often than not isn't an option to receive the ball from the defenders and his passing is slow, ponderous and invariably sideways. I don't think he's a good foil for Hunt either.

Reminds me of Ray Wilkins😉

Quoted from Lincspoacher

Firstly, a win is a win.

Defensively we were solid. Waterfall outstanding aerially.

Taylor held the ball up well and is a good national league striker to lead the line.

Sousa was the most dangerous player on the pitch and if he could complete better with a final ball  - will he wouldn’t be playing non league I guess then!

Fox was lost as a number 10. He is not a back to the goal player and struggled until he moved back into centre mid when they took Hunt off. He looked comfortable again immediately

My grip is Coke.

He conned his way through 90 mins with little effort, no impact and I do not see what he brings at all.

We are thin and lack depth but still up there and some reinforcements if Hursty selects well will be the difference or not in terms of staying with the top 2/3

Not a performance to make anyone sit up, but as I said, a win is a win.

I was once told that if somebody made there job look easy then they are very professional. In 1981 I saw Trevor Brooking play against Town at BP but he hardly run during the game. He had a fantastic game and didn't break sweat. Professionals do the right thing at the right time.

Quoted from lukeo

[quote] When the ball is lumped forward to LJL he wins most stuff, and puts it 'somewhere', but the ball has to be right. With Taylor, the ball can be lumped high or flat, it doesn't really matter... In the time the ball is on its way he immediately assesses the situation and his surroundings, decides what to do with it, whether that's bring it down or play it on, and does exactly that [quote]

100% the best comment I've seen all season on the forum.

Thanks mate

I've no doubt that Coke is a good pro but the game completely passed him by last night, he can't react fast enough when teams move the ball around quickly and just like Rose from last season, he ends up lunging in late and giving away free kicks

Quoted from DB

I was once told that if somebody made there job look easy then they are very professional. In 1981 I saw Trevor Brooking play against Town at BP but he hardly run during the game. He had a fantastic game and didn't break sweat. Professionals do the right thing at the right time.

I was at that game Dave, I was stood in the pontoon, West Ham where brilliant that day.

Quoted from joe56

Reminds me of Ray Wilkins😉

Ray Wilkins, playing for QPR.....best individual display of footballing class I've seen at blundell park, closely followed by anything Garry Birtles did.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

I was at that game Dave, I was stood in the pontoon, West Ham where brilliant that day.

Nah, they were lucky, if Bobby Cumming hadn't been sent off (imagine that - he'd never normally even commit a foul) we'd have done them...

Quoted from DB

I was once told that if somebody made there job look easy then they are very professional. In 1981 I saw Trevor Brooking play against Town at BP but he hardly run during the game. He had a fantastic game and didn't break sweat. Professionals do the right thing at the right time.

I saw Brooking play against Leeds early in his career when he was virtually unknown. He was the best player on the pitch, and, as you say, he didn’t appear to break sweat. It was all vision, skill and subtlety. As I recall, however, he didn’t slow the game down, rely on the easy square ball or pass it back to a defender very often.

I personally didn't think that Coke was all that bad. He won some headers, won some tackles, didn't lose the ball much and wasn't bypassed too often. However, he is slow in possession, not positive on the ball and looks a little off the pace at the moment. I reckon players of his age need to be playing all the time to be at their best and he's not a first choice this season. A year too far for him, perhaps? As a back up on the bench probably still OK, but you wouldn't want to see him as a first choice, the way he's playing. Probably much the same as LJL in that regard at present.

I was disappointed by Hunt once again. He tried to force the play a couple of times but his passing wasn't good enough on the day and, if he's going to play, he needs to be getting on the ball more and trying to run the game. I think he'll probably play better with McAtee back in the team as the fast and close passing hopefully comes back, but longer term he needs to be able to do more if he's going to make it higher up the leagues. I'd say the lads we had on loan from Sunderland the other year were more effective in general and that was at a division higher as well.

Quoted from Phil the cod

Ray Wilkins, playing for QPR.....best individual display of footballing class I've seen at blundell park, closely followed by anything Garry Birtles did.

I wouldn’t disagree with that, but, during his spell at Manchester United, he didn’t have the nickname “Square Ball Ray” for nothing!

Can see my comments re Coke rankled with a few, but only saying what I saw.

I played 9 seasons in the conference and NPL and whilst this makes me no more of an expert than anyone else or my opinion more valued, it does mean I know when a player is not working his butt off to close down, find space and put himself in positions where he takes the ball and responsibility.

In that respect, I stand by my assessment that he coasted through the game and did the minimum - consciously.

Fox, Hunt, Sousa worked there arses off in comparison.

A big week for us with 9 points to play for. UTM

Quoted from grimsby pete

After a long day with a family funeral in the morning a very interesting wake at the Valiant  

A long journey home with loads of traffic problems I was happy to see us break our losing run.

Not the best game but Southend never looked like scoring.

So happy we won and hoping the result will kick us on and get us back on track.

A note on their striker who never stopped moaning to the ref all game.  

Murphy was a complete cheat and he kept drinking from Macca's bottle of water ,how does that fit in Covoid protocols.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Nah, they were lucky, if Bobby Cumming hadn't been sent off (imagine that - he'd never normally even commit a foul) we'd have done them...

Are we talking about the 5-0 thrashing?  If you are Cumming was injured and had to go off, we had already used our one sub,, so had to see out the game with 10 men. If my memory is not playing games with me, I seem to remember they scored 3 or 4 after he went off.

In 1981 West Ham were class at BP.   Deserved champions with a high points total.  7 or 8 players  in the team of th clear.

Town were outstanding but well beaten on the day.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

In 1981 West Ham were class at BP.   Deserved champions with a high points total.  7 or 8 players  in the team of th clear.

Town were outstanding but well beaten on the day.

It was fairly close to the end of the season and I think we'd only conceded  4 goals at home all season and they put 5 past us.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

In 1981 West Ham were class at BP.   Deserved champions with a high points total.  7 or 8 players  in the team of th clear.

Town were outstanding but well beaten on the day.

Remember the game well. Humdinger. The difference though on the day was David Cross for West Ham. Totally hard as nails. He did Cumming, which led to us being overrun.