LINCOLN CITY 1 SOUTHEND UNITED 1
Tuesday 10th August 2004 : Coca-Cola League Two
Reporter : ShrimperZone

IMPS HELD AT SINCIL BANK

A far more spirited display from the Shrimpers resulted in the first point of season being won up at Sincil Bank as Lincoln City were held to a 1-1 draw a result that lifts the side to 20th position in League Two. A penalty from Wayne Gray, opening his account for the Shrimpers, cancelled out an early opener from Lincoln's Gary Taylor-Fletcher and it was Southend who had much of the play as the disappointment of last Saturday's home defeat to Cheltenham Town was put behind them. By all accounts, Southend were unfortunate to come away from Sincil Bank with just a solitary point. Despite going one down after just nine minutes, a result of an opening period of sustained pressure from the home side, the Shrimpers pulled themselves back with their own exertion of pressure and it paid off when Gray was hauled down by Marriott in the City goal and the former Wimbledon striker coolly slotted home the resultant penalty to open his and Southend's account for the season. And then there was only one team playing football as Lincoln resorted to the long ball game, an encouraging sign for the months to come.

What the fan's thought ...

We need a fit and in form pair of playmakers in midfield.  Last night that should have been Maher and Gower.  Kev spent most of the match having to play far too close to our goal to contribute much in the way of attacking imagination.  Gower is clearly unfit and/or out-of-form. Fortunately Pettifer had a very good game and it was no coincidence that we saw less of the ball as he ran out of steam (I assume that his comparitive lack of match fitness is taking its toll). We can't continue to play both Spinner and the Eagle.  We need some sort of pace in defence or we're going to be hammered by any team with a pacy front man.  Play one with the other on the bench and pair them with Barrett or perhaps Hunt. Big Bart showed all the right intentions commanding his area and coming for every ball but he scared me a couple of times, most especially when he jumped and groped for a cross only to see it slip between his hands. All in all we were under a lot of pressure but held up fairly well.  We rode our luck at times and didn't actually put much together in their penalty area.

My MoM : Drewe Broughton. Drewe held the ball up well; was a constant pain in the rear for the Lincoln defenders.  He also constantly encouraged his team-mates, keeping their heads up when we were under pressure and getting stuck in at the back himself.
Suffolk Blue

Lackluster first half when we were lucky to still be level through what looked at dubious penalty.
Much better second half with Bentley and Maher giving us a much better balance in midfield than we had on Saturday. Overall a deserved point although still some concerns at the back were we became exposed a couple of times, especially in the first half, and also in the two wide positions in midfield (what is up with Mark Gower)

MotM - Drewe Broughton. Simply superb. 100% effort as always, won every header and showed an improved touch on the ground.
Tolson's Lovechild

A massive improvement from Saturday and there was a great buzz in the away section I thought last night! Haven't see the replays yet but apparently it looks like a dubious penalty but hey we have had our fair share of bad luck and refereeing crimes in the past year (LDV final comes to mind-so offside) its about time we had a little luck our way. Very good night and I was a happy man driving home! One of the highlights for me was when we put the penalty away, the amount of players who pointed to the fans giving it some COME ON action was brilliant! Obvious passion and want in them, good to see! Oh yeah, I shook Barts hand when he came over at the end.......hands like dinner plates!! Huge!!

MOTM : Mark Bentley - Class!! Took 10 mins to get into the game but after that was box to box. Looked a threat when coming forward and solid when defending! Looks stronger, fitter and faster than last season and will be a class act for us!
Dreams

Irrespective of whether it was a penalty we were well worth at least a point.  After the first 10 mins we stood up brilliantly to Lincoln's long ball physical game - there was only one team playing the football.  We just need to gel up front a bit more to get that cutting edge. Gray's penalty was coolness personified - a little stutter in his run up, John Aldridge style, keeper dives to his right and Gray rolls the ball in at snails pace to his left! Slightly dissappointed in the negative substitution of Hunt for Pettefer.  Personally I would have brought on Husbands to give their left back a roasting - he and Lincoln were there for the taking in the last 10 minutes. Really appreciated Tilly and the players coming over to the away fans at the end.  You could tell what the result meant to them - a good sign for the months ahead. Overall, very encouraging.  Lincoln are the sort of well organised, hard working team with limited footballing ability we typically loose to.  However, that's all you need to do to make the play-offs so I wouldn't be surprised to see them make the top 7 this year.

MOTM - Drewe Broughton. Drewe was awesome - held up the ball well, put himself about, looked sharp and even found time to come over and gee up the away fans in the second half.
Upminster Blue

What the manager's thought ...

STEVE TILSON (SUFC) :
“It was a totally different tempo tonight. Whether the heat got to us on Saturday, I don’t know. But everything was a lot quicker and we were certainly the better side. We should have done a little better with the goal we conceded. The striker shouldn’t not have been allowed to get there and it’s something we will be looking at on the training ground. We’ve got a point now and that was the most important thing for me. You need to draw your away games and win the home ones; now we’ve got a valuable away point. We now go to Rochdale and try to play with the same tempo and win the game.”

KEITH ALEXANDER (LCFC) :
“First half we played very well.“Some of our passing and movement was very good but the end product wasn't there. People always say what a big team we are but they don’t come bigger than [Southend]. Everybody is a six-footer and they get the ball up there quickly. But, with all due respects, they aren’t going to be there or thereabouts although they’re going to take points off other sides which will help us in the long run.”