Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 3-0 AFC Wimbledon

[Angell Delight]

That was fun, wasn't it? For the second home game running I am disappointed we only managed three!!! What a fantastic display by Fortune. I've said we'd be wetting our pants about him if we hadn't got Ranger, and today we were.

So what has changed since October. Ferdinand, 4-4-2, a fit Wordsworth, Nile Ranger..... all of them help. But, its the whole mindset. We aren't letting teams play. The amount of work our front two do to limit options for their defenders is incredible. And then we have a midfield that win tackles. We attack with a bit of pace. - something we failed to do for most of the first couple of months of the season - and we have options. We played some really good stuff first half and 2-0 flattered them.

Quite of lot of Phil Brown's reign has been turgid, clean mentality football. Not nice to watch. But this current run of form is worth £20 of anyone's money. Proper team. Proper entertainment. No complaints :)

Exactly right. I always thought Brown was too negative at home but over the past few months he has been positive in team selection and it is paying dividends. You have to let the likes of Cox, Ranger (Fortune today), Wordsworth and McLaughlin express themselves and Brown is allowing them to do that. Ferdinand has been colossal in the back four and we are reaping the rewards from front to back. Brown has done a magnificent job recently and credit to Ron for sticking with him while many (me included) were calling for his sacking. An awful lot has changed and that new-found positivity in team selection and formation has undoubtedly saved Brown's job. Looking good for the play-offs if we can keep key players fit. :thumbsup:

 

[rigsby]

I was told Wimbledon would be a tough game as they are quite big and physical and like to be direct. They had scored more goals than us and had won 4-0 in their last game and have a reputation of being better going forward than perhaps defending.

So if we are going to threaten the play-offs, today was the test for our defence as perhaps they were about to work for their money a little harder than they did against Cov or Oldham. Well we passed the test with flying colours so well done to all the boys. For those of you who like to book a holiday just after Christmas don't do anything daft like book a cheap early season deal say at the end of May. You may find your heading to North West London instead.

Special mention to Ted and Fortune, who says we don't have strength in depth. Young Ted made a match changing save at 0-0. As you all saw how Wimbledon could be. Can you imagine what they would have been like had they been 1-0 up and we had to chase the game.

The rest of Ted's game was good all round. He had to deal with areal horror back pass and could have easily been tempted to chest it onto his stronger left foot and ended up in real trouble. By going to his weaker but safer right foot at least he put it in row Z and nobody has ever scored from there.

Not a lot I need to say about Fortune. If you can't see his worth after that performance then there's no hope for you. It now helps that he is not having to prove himself so he looks up earlier and plays the ball to others rather than take another early season touch. Anyway you can see why I made him my MOM for his 55 minutes at Oldham. The lovely question for you all now.....Would you play Ranger if he is fit for the visit of Charlton.

Another good game from that squad player filling in at left back, Timlin. Some real committed and ferocious tackles meant he won his important personal battle against the 33. If Taylor can't get a cross in, then they can't be a danger in the air.
Anton and Thommo had great games and dealt with most of it without fuss.


Going forward we know have areal cutting edge. If you remember a couple of seasons back we had a 0-0 with Dagenham at this time of year. But here's the thing we had more shots on target in that game than we did today. I can now relax when we have to soak up some pressure as I'm convinced we will score on the break. Two good finishes from Cox and Will with yet another cool slot in to the North bank net.

Yes we had more than a few teething problems at the start of the season and lots of reasons why. But it proves if you pay for quality it will shine through in the end. So well done Ron for finding the extra cash to up our maximum wage. Now lets show the club some support and make sure your available for the next 4 Saturdays as we have some real great games coming up. Lets face it in years to come you won't want your grandchildren saying " Where were you in January 2017"

Hope you all had good Christmas but lets all have an even better New Year.:thumbsup:

 

[Ricey]

Quality game today really enjoyed it! Was packed full of drama and entertainment. From Ardley being sent off to Fortune wanting to kill their player (did anyone see what actually happened)?

Everyone played really well today, I was a bit disappointed with Wordsworth thought he wasn't half as good as when I saw him against MK Dons.

Timlin was excellent in the first half he won everything and got stuck in! Fortune was class for 35 he didn't half show he has an engine. Atkinson was brilliant and Cox was exceptional his 2nd goal was outstanding.

A really great game and now bring on Swindon (my next game).

 

[wakes123]

I just love going to games at the moment :smile:

Quick thought, will Ranger get back in the team after Fortune and Cox performances? I thought they were both outstanding.

 

[leeblue]

I just love going to games at the moment :smile:

Quick thought, will Ranger get back in the team after Fortune and Cox performances? I thought they were both outstanding.

The real bonus is we do not have to rush ranger back at all.

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

Any news why Hines wasn't on the bench as I thought he would have taken useless Kings place as we had O'Neill and Bridge on there for midfield cover and how Oxley got his elbow injury? :unsure:

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

The real bonus is we do not have to rush Ranger back at all.

That was exactly my thought. :thumbsup:

 

[TTS]

Took my daughter today, her first game. She's 4 and I managed to keep her in the ground till the 85th minute. In those 85 minutes I witnessed another superb performance from a team so assured of themselves. The general work rate again, second to none. What we are seeing is, if a mistake is made, eaxhbpkayer works their socks off to atone. Timlin made a couple of errors, both passing and positional , but head didn't drop, he just worked harder to cover back. This was everywhere. What we do have is winners and game changers all over the pitch, Lenny, Wilko, McLaughlin, MAF, Cox .. even Ferdinand at the back ...

Marks im not sure really, but top marks for Cox for his finishes, that 3rd goal oozed class, the finish was sublime !

At the moment we are simply too hot to handle, the quicker the games come the better at the moment , teams will not fancy facing us at the moment, any scout reports sent back , will simply say that we are dangerous from all over the pitch !!

UTB's

 

[Leoblue]

Yes it is. It was full for most games in the Championship. 8500 today and probably 9500+ against Charlton. People will turn up regardless of how comfortable or uncomfortable they find Roots Hall if we're winning games or playing big teams which we will be in the Championship. Struggling to fill Roots Hall (which we would fill anyway) wouldn't be the problem, the problem is that it isn't big enough and doesn't make enough/any money away from the football.

Brentford's stadium isn't much better and they seem to have been doing alright in the Championship for the past few years.

You've contradicted yourself with this statement. You say it's a comfortable stadium and big enough, then say it's not big enough... More fans will turn up with a bigger stadium which is clean and tidy, which is my point.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I just love going to games at the moment :smile:

Quick thought, will Ranger get back in the team after Fortune and Cox performances? I thought they were both outstanding.

Good point re Ranger or Fortune, how about Smith and Oxley, or Timlin and Coker? Do those who wear the shirt and play well keep it?
Good problems for PB.

 

[wakes123]

Good point re Ranger or Fortune, how about Smith and Oxley, or Timlin and Coker? Do those who wear the shirt and play well keep it?
Good problems for PB.

My personal opinion would be to put Oxley and Coker back in when fit. Oxley is the more experienced keeper and had been playing well recently and Coker is the natural left back. I can see the continuity of a winning team argument as well though...we shall see.

 

[SARF]

We are ten points from the autos.. we are also ten points from 17 th. I think worries about a new ground are somewhat irrelevant. Let enjoy the roll and hopefully sneak into the play offs.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Quality game today really enjoyed it! Was packed full of drama and entertainment. From Ardley being sent off to Fortune wanting to kill their player (did anyone see what actually happened)?

Just seen the highlights and their guy uses his elbow on Fortune as he goes to go past him in the build up to Coxs second; I can only think the ref didn't see it, otherwise he would have been booked

 

[Danshrimper]

You've contradicted yourself with this statement. You say it's a comfortable stadium and big enough, then say it's not big enough... More fans will turn up with a bigger stadium which is clean and tidy, which is my point.

I think you need to read my post again, I didn't actually say Roots Hall was comfortable, I just said that we could entice new fans, regardless of the condition Roots Hall is in.

Even if i did think Roots Hall was comfortable enough, I could also think we need a bigger stadium, how is that contradicting myself?

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Okey dokey, just back (via the pub), cracking 1st half....top save Ted...2 goals, smashing.
2nd half, thought we were in "doze mode" for the 1st 20 mins and if they had scored, we might have had been writing a different scribe.
Ref, I thought, played good advantage, esp for the 3rd goal......Fortune was livid and out for payback...smart quick substition resolved the "issue".

Crowd-wise, good Shrimper attendance...7,500+.....not very noisy though :blush: even TBV.

To summarise, a cracking day out, not without a couple of "Blues moments"....and based on that, I bought 4 tickets for 31/12

 

[Tampa Blue]

Any news why Hines wasn't on the bench as I thought he would have taken useless Kings place as we had O'Neill and Bridge on there for midfield cover and how Oxley got his elbow injury? :unsure:

PB didn't say he was injured and he has played for the u21's - so very surprised by this. Perhaps there has been a hold up with the deal going through?

 

[Shrimper]

That as a superb, all round team performance. Not one player failed to put in a shift. The next two are good fixtures and we should be looking for 4 points I think. Roll on the new year and a hopeful promotion campaign! We need a few players in, but we're not far off.

 

[buffalowolf]

Great result and some top posts here, but lets not get carried away with the promotion talk,theres still along way to go this season,prefer to wait to see where we are on the table when we have played 36 matches with just 10 to go,before i get my hopes up too high.If really does appear to me that PB is the real architect of this team,he has made some very astute signings,many on here questioned whenhe signed themtoo,MAF was too old,as was Ferdinand,McL too lazy ,Wordsworth too injury prone ,Atkinson league 2 at best, even Cox and Ranger had more than their fair share of critics.But isnt it great you get to see this team play and i get to read some real positive threads ,LONG MAY IT CONTINUE, &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;UTB<br><br>

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

The performance by Wimbledon and their fans made me almost sympathetic towards Franchise FC for the first time. Unattractive hoof football supported by a poor turnout of moaning fans that blamed the ref for their own inadequacies.

I think we've all been there haven't we? :winking:

 

[OldBlueLady]

1st Boxing Day home game for a number of years, with back to back away wins at Dagenham, Wimbledon, Cambridge and, of course, Colchester, the last 4 - the previous one was the Aldershot floodlight debacle. I was a little apprehensive because of that record, the retro shirt thing and because of Wimbledon's form. Shouldn't have worried though, it was a thoroughly convincing win.

Smith - 7.5, big responsibility on young Ted's shoulders and he bore it manfully, some decent saves, dealt with a truly awful back pass from Ferdinand and generally played well
Demetriou - 7, rushing forward, he's not the player I want one on one with the opposition GK. His energy is admirable but please let's get players more likely to score in those positions
Thompson - 8, pick of the defence today and dealt with a very angry Fortune very well
Ferdinand - 7.5, pretty solid most of the time, untroubled by the big Wimbledon CFs
Timlin - 7.5, couple of misplaced passes but made up for this by wholehearted tackles and some brilliant cross pitch passing
Leonard - 7, a quiet but measured game, produces tackles which are usually perfectly timed and makes them look so easy. Scored from his long throw!
Atkinson - 7.5, thought Will was probably the best of the midfield today, great energy and good positioning
Wordsworth - 7, seemed to be more defensive today and I think we missed his runs forward at times
McLaughlin - 7, helping Tims out dealing with that idiot of theirs who got sent off, did ok
Cox - 8.5, two goals, the 2nd of which was as well taken as any we've seen at RH this season, really showing the doubters the value of having him in the team
Fortune - 8.5, MOTM...just - a fantastically influential performance, just watch the highlights to see what he brought to the game in those short snippets. Great energy from someone certain people were happy to write off as a has-been. Shame about the incident at the end that marred his performance.

Subs:
McGlashan for Fortune - not on long enough, but actually felt he should have come on a bit earlier as the Wimbledon defence didn't like being run at with pace.

Overall, a great Boxing Day out - and the record continues.