Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Wycombe 7-6 on Pens- Play Off Final

[Cricko]

Still exhausted this morning , but what a game! :happy:

 

[eastling]

Who isn't exhausted? I'm still buzzing though. Not a particularly great game of football. Luck initially seemed to have deserted us with Corr's disallowed goal and the penalty that should have been given. The Wycombe goal was obviously a bit fortunate

However football is a funny game and the spirit of the players helped by our support spurred them on. Weston's build up for the goal was initially laboured and he was urged to charge up the left to get a cross in. It was fortunately the best cross of the game and when the Pig received it he didn't panic and classily finished.

Thought Wycombe spirit may have been broken by that but they held up in pens to take it to sudden death. Superb save by Bentley to win it. Great pens by us too.

What a night! Congratulations to all the players and staff!

 

[eastlondonblue]

Well done boys, what an exhausting experience.... Thought the best team got promoted today, here's to next season!!

 

[geoffmundo]

This was 'Roy of the Rovers' stuff.

Having dashed our hopes in front of a massive following at a grey sodden Morecambe May day, we found ourselves in the Play Offs instead of automatic promotion. We battled past Stevenage bloody and bruised and once again in front of 20k passionate supporters we dared to hope.

I said all along, promotion through play off final at Wembley is as good as it gets, but you cannot get that guarantee beforehand. To do it the hard way, goal disallowed; penalty chance denied; give away a free kick just after having our own turned down and then concede through a rebound off the keeper! Time litterally ran out quicker than fans leaving the stadium, but with 20 seconds from defeat and League two continued obscurity, we somehow have a player with ball at his feet and cool head to finish.

I detest penalty shoot-outs, but here I was delirious with joy at the thought of them. Losing the toss and penalties being taken at the Wycombe end Coker misses and I say to my son, its never easy for a team to come back from going down in the shoot out, so we are up against it again. All the other penalties (especially the CB's!) are class and Wycombe must miss one...?

I decide not to look as Wood takes his penalty and the cheer all around me tells me he has missed. No one could have written a more perfect script.

This is for Michael Timlin and his stitches - the scars of which he will have permently

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Truely amazing with the Pig's equalizer quite possibly the greatest moment in my long long 30 years enduring the Blues - certainly the most OTT celebration I've ever had!
Barrett was awesome as was Bolger and Piggot made huge difference when he came on - why or why didn't he start?
Bentley has done his already glowing rep no harm with that save at the death in normal time as has Coker with the tackle near the end of extra time.
Sorry but I can't bring myself to feel for a team who feign injury as much as Wycombe did, it was simply unacceptable and I can understand our players not wanting to give the ball back from throw in near the end.
Will live long in the memory.

 

[mgh]

Awful first half, second half improved, though we only played for about twenty minutes, once Wycombe scored they were excellent and couldn't see us equalising. Must mention the Coker tackle 2 mins before Piggott's goal, he ran 50 yards to save us.
Pens were uniformly excellent other than Coker's, who knew Bolger would score??!! But where was BBBC or big bottler Barry Corr as he may now be known as...

Bentley 8, 2 great saves, unlucky for the OG, just could have commanded his area a bit more for me. Great decisive penalty save MOM
White 7, offered nothing going forward but solid
Bolger 7, passing woeful again but did well defensively
Barrett 8, solid and got stronger as ET went on
Coker 7 again little attacking threat from him today, but that covering tackle...
Leonard 6 passing not there today and no trademark burtsing runs
Timlin 6, looked off the pace all game
Worral 7 worked hard without any real end product
McGlaughlin 7 surprised he was subbed as thought he had some promise
Atkinson 7 worked hard as per normal
Corr 4 won nothing in the air kept falling over, no pace and no penalty either - not sure how he stayed on

Weston 6 showed he had the beating of the full back but didn't do it often enough!
Piggott 7 great goal, worked hard
Payne 5 did nothing when he came on

Crowd 10, great singing throughout from everywhere not just TBV, the scarves were a great idea.

Copied from last night's post!

 

[wakes123]

Incredible incredible day. You simply cannot write that. It was like a film.

 

[wakes123]

Awful first half, second half improved, though we only played for about twenty minutes, once Wycombe scored they were excellent and couldn't see us equalising. Must mention the Coker tackle 2 mins before Piggott's goal, he ran 50 yards to save us.
Pens were uniformly excellent other than Coker's, who knew Bolger would score??!! But where was BBBC or big bottler Barry Corr as he may now be known as...

Bentley 8, 2 great saves, unlucky for the OG, just could have commanded his area a bit more for me. Great decisive penalty save MOM
White 7, offered nothing going forward but solid
Bolger 7, passing woeful again but did well defensively
Barrett 8, solid and got stronger as ET went on
Coker 7 again little attacking threat from him today, but that covering tackle...
Leonard 6 passing not there today and no trademark burtsing runs
Timlin 6, looked off the pace all game
Worral 7 worked hard without any real end product
McGlaughlin 7 surprised he was subbed as thought he had some promise
Atkinson 7 worked hard as per normal
Corr 4 won nothing in the air kept falling over, no pace and no penalty either - not sure how he stayed on

Weston 6 showed he had the beating of the full back but didn't do it often enough!
Piggott 7 great goal, worked hard
Payne 5 did nothing when he came on

Crowd 10, great singing throughout from everywhere not just TBV, the scarves were a great idea.

Copied from last night's post!

What about that tackle deep in our half with a minute left, then to set up Weston on a run?

What about scoring a penalty?

Think 5 is harsh.

 

[shrimperjon]

Great day, great support, atmosphere 100 times better than JPT, 20,000 shrimpers sung their hearts out young and old. In the end we got what our season deserved and that was league one football next season. Not a great game with neither keeper really troubled throughout. Should have had a blatant penalty and still think goal was unlucky to be disallowed. Their goal very unlucky for Dan, but he got his revenge. As for the equaliser, time and time again this team plays to the end and in the biggest of big games they did it again. Moving forward, we need to find a play maker from somewhere and at least one or two goal scorers, next season will be tough and our lack of goals will cost us if this area isn't addressed. I've supported the blues for 35 years and that is right up there if not top of the list for drama and emotion. It just doesn't get better than that last night. Well done one and all.

 

[mrsblue]

Incredible unbelievable day !

Game itself was tosh but who cares.

 

[mgh]

What about that tackle deep in our half with a minute left, then to set up Weston on a run?

What about scoring a penalty?

Think 5 is harsh.

Yeah you're probably right. I did write that late last night after a long stressful day! He didn't influence the game like he can when he came on but he certainly ran hard. I'll amend it to 6/7 then!

 

[RHB]

Do know what, I was going to do the players rating bit, and then thought **** it, I can't be bothered. We won, I, and I expect you, are now off to happy town for a well earned rest. Mrsblue and I agreed on Barrett in another thread, it doesn't get much better than that!! :happy:

 

[ms brush]

Awesome, just awesome. Exhausted as well, but what a game, what a day! It had everything yesterday, laughter, tears, huge highs, despair, pride and lots of noise... Everything that makes me love Southend so much. Not sure if my voice has survived this morning after all that shouting and singing!

not the best of games, as usual, defined by awful refereeing and Lino decisions. Would interested to see what the TV coverage had to say about the disallowed goal, the penalty that wasn't, free kicks not given, foul throws etc... And Wycombe's tactics just proved to me that they had nothing else. Thought we were vastly superior in every department, and in the end we wanted it more. It was close though...

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

thought we had a few more than 20 thousand there - if the crowd was 38 thousand then there was never 18 thousand Wycombe.

 

[mgh]

Awesome, just awesome. Exhausted as well, but what a game, what a day! It had everything yesterday, laughter, tears, huge highs, despair, pride and lots of noise... Everything that makes me love Southend so much. Not sure if my voice has survived this morning after all that shouting and singing!

not the best of games, as usual, defined by awful refereeing and Lino decisions. Would interested to see what the TV coverage had to say about the disallowed goal, the penalty that wasn't, free kicks not given, foul throws etc... And Wycombe's tactics just proved to me that they had nothing else. Thought we were vastly superior in every department, and in the end we wanted it more. It was close though...

Really? I thought Wycombe played well and looked far more dangerous than us going forward. Their keeper had nothing to do it was only set pieces we looked like scoring from.
After they scored I thought they ran the game superbly and I couldn't see us scoring. Yes they fell over and feigned injury but the Corr was also doing that a lot.

 

[* ORM *]

Bentley 8, forget the penalty saves just think back to the tip over the bar and the extra £££££ we will get on the strength of yesterday
White 7, well done skip
Bolger 8, and my MOM. remember this man was almost public enemy #1 a few months back. The Mark of a quality player providing stability in the madness around him
Barrett 7, would have been a six but for his sheer enthusiasm and drive. He was being torn apart
Coker 6, did not too much wrong but then again not too much right. Two crucial clearances earned him the six
Leonard 6, some crucial tackles but largely the game passed by him
Timlin 6, he has had several cup final over the last few games so we will give him the quiet game
Worral 7, despite close attention provided an outlet
McGlaughlin 7, glimpses of quality
Atkinson 7, wanted the ball, wanted him to do a little bit more though
Corr 7, to lead the line on his own at Wembley, but for the ref a goal disallowed. Didn't win nearly enough headers but had the cool head with 30 seconds to go. Hold your head up high Barry my son

Weston 7, up against a great right back. We only needed one moment of quality and we got it
Piggott 7 for the goal, before that he was largely not at the races apart from one shot
Payne 5. The only wrong sub in the game. Crying out for Deegan. Too lightweight

Fans 11/10
Wembley 3/10 - been there enough times. Couldn't find the ticket office, couldn't find a steward that knew where the ticket office was, refreshments shut at 90 minutes FFS. 3 for the seat and the view only

 

[spoons]

Awful first half, second half improved, though we only played for about twenty minutes, once Wycombe scored they were excellent and couldn't see us equalising. Must mention the Coker tackle 2 mins before Piggott's goal, he ran 50 yards to save us.
Pens were uniformly excellent other than Coker's, who knew Bolger would score??!! But where was BBBC or big bottler Barry Corr as he may now be known as...

Bentley 8, 2 great saves, unlucky for the OG, just could have commanded his area a bit more for me. Great decisive penalty save MOM
White 7, offered nothing going forward but solid
Bolger 7, passing woeful again but did well defensively
Barrett 8, solid and got stronger as ET went on
Coker 7 again little attacking threat from him today, but that covering tackle...
Leonard 6 passing not there today and no trademark burtsing runs
Timlin 6, looked off the pace all game
Worral 7 worked hard without any real end product
McGlaughlin 7 surprised he was subbed as thought he had some promise
Atkinson 7 worked hard as per normal
Corr 4 won nothing in the air kept falling over, no pace and no penalty either - not sure how he stayed on

Weston 6 showed he had the beating of the full back but didn't do it often enough!
Piggott 7 great goal, worked hard
Payne 5 did nothing when he came on

Crowd 10, great singing throughout from everywhere not just TBV, the scarves were a great idea.

Copied from last night's post!

You sure you were at the game, Corr got MoM and I agree he wasn't but 4, behave yourself and for me they all got 10.
Young Payne steps up for a vital penalty at Wembley in a playoff final in front of braying Wycombe fans after running non stop as sub and you give him 5, were you one of the early leavers:blush:

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

So everything worked out and I got to watch the whole thing at work in my SUFC shirt. Wasn't the best we played for sure but looked on top in the 1st half. Shame Bolger pushed defender as was a great headed goal for Corr. Great reaction save from Bentley near the end of normal time, and we should have also had a penalty for a push on Corr in the box which the ref could easily see but gave a corner instead. Bentley was so unlucky for the goal but it was a nice free kick. I honestly couldn't see us getting back into it as we just seemed to misplace so many passes and were sitting so deep for most of extra time... But Then..
Weston plucked up the courage and took the ball and took on his man and got in a great cross, Corr got a beautiful knock down for the Pig, two touches and what a cool finish. Literally left every southend fan delirious. I got told off for screaming and jumping around like a mad man.
The Penalites were hard to watch but so many great finishes. As a team we looked more confident during the shoot out and Bentley produced two fine saves and we had bloody done it. We were promoted to League one.
So proud of all the squad who got us to this point and to all the management and staff. They really never know when they are beat. It really did some us up well. All the matches where we really dug in, like at Oxford and Bury and Stevenage all meant something. And to all Southend fans who have been brillant all season and were absolutely amazing at Wembley, we got what our support deserved.. Promotion. Bring on League One.
on a side note yesterday,was my late grandad's birthday. He took me to my 1st game and to nearly every game up up until I was 16. His cheer was always The old fashioned UP The Blues!! Nice one Grandad, Happy Birthday x

 

[mgh]

You sure you were at the game, Corr got MoM and I agree he wasn't but 4, behave yourself and for me they all got 10.
Young Payne steps up for a vital penalty at Wembley in a playoff final in front of braying Wycombe fans after running non step as sub and you give him 5, were you one of the early leavers:blush:

So everyone gets ten is very objective. I already said Payne should have got more than five seven at the most. Corr was dreadful as he was last Thursday

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Piggot made huge difference when he came on - why or why didn't he start?

I re-watched the Stevenage game yesterday morning and Piggot was immense and head and shoulders above Corr, so I was disappointed that he didn't start as well.

Maybe Brown wanted to play 4-3-3 (or 4-5-1 however you pitch it) to nullify Wycombe, but if so, Piggot should have been ahead of Corr. However he should have gone with 4-4-2 which worked so well against Stevenage and let Wycombe worry about us, not the other way round.

However, fortunately it worked out in the end :happy: