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SOUTHEND
UNITED 0 MILLWALL 2 |
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The box was ideally placed, just above the East Greens, so we could spot Chris Phillips and Dave Scriven writing furiously away in the press box, while we were drinking cool pints of lager. Cool, thank God, because the boxes were absolutely stiflingly hot and we only had one fan. Southend- sort it out! The team sheet was passed around; interestingly, it looked like the strongest team Tilly could have picked, based on injuries/insurance issues. Yes, insurance issues meant Spinner couldn’t play, but a little birdie tells me he was thrashing out terms with Ron last night. Injuries meant Jay and Bents had to model the new home and away kit; look out for the photos on the official site, although it looked like Jay didn’t want anyone to think he wasn’t all man; an arm round the shoulder from Bents was shrugged off vehemently. So, the first half eleven was: Bart, Jupp, Eagle, Barrett, Nicky, Gower, Maher, Corbett, Husbands, Gray and Bramble. Not a bad line-up but I do hope some of our injured players get fit/better soon; Jimmy is not a first-choice centre-mid player. After only two minutes, Maher got all in a pickle and a loose back-pass gave Ifill the chance to capitalise and he slotted it past Bart. One nil, and so early on; what will this do to our performance? Not a lot, it seems. Passes went astray, tackles were missed. Overall, the defence looked solid, I thought, but the midfield never got hold of the ball, and when they did, Millwall had the nous to cover well. Husbands, despite his pace was well guarded every time he threatened, and Gower just seemed disinterested. Obviously, it doesn’t help when we play two matches in three days, but there didn’t seem much of a spark about the game. Until, that is, Husbands got all upset and took it out on Dichio. A pure handbags moment, and the second one in three days. Surely this will fire the players up? Erm, no, not really. The minutes went by till the end of the first half and I was pretty bored, I must admit. We had a few corners, and a few stray shots over the bar, oh and a Maher freekick which the keeper tipped over, but we never really looked like scoring. The second half saw a few changes- Flahavan came on for Bart, Wilson, Hunt and Kights came on for Gray, Maher and Bramble. Wilson went centre-midfield with Hunt and Corbett went up front with Husbands with Kightly moving to Husband’s position. We looked a bit more solid and more attacking and I think Wilson played well and kept it simple. Corbett clearly has a bit of weight to lose before he’s properly match-fit, hence why he’s played 180 minutes in 3 days. Kightly was always wanting the ball, which was good. Flahavan in goal, to our collective amazement, came out and claimed crosses and made a good save. He had no chance with Millwall’s second, taken after good play by Sweeney (I think). The ineffective Gower was taken off with about twenty minutes left and replaced with Dudfield. Suddenly we looked sharper up front and the possibility of scoring increased dramatically. Alas, it was not to be. I know it's only a friendly and we lost 2-0 to a team two divisions higher. But some questions remain. If we can look at criticising performances, one has to ask: why play two games in three days with such a small squad? How will that help? Are Gray and Bramble the first-choice attack pairing? I hope not as they seem too similar in style of play and Dudfield looks sharper. If Prior signs then who will he replace? Both Eagle and Barret have played well in all three games. Is Flahavan learning from the Bartman? We can only hope such questions are answered soon. |
The date was a warm Wednesday evening in the middle of
July and our third pre-season friendly. Millwall,
though, came with a reputation of good football,
somewhat proved by their FA Cup run last season. But
the other reputation they have lies with their fans. I
wasn’t particularly surprised to see a Met Police
officer at Southend Central station, and I was less
surprised to hear that there had already been a bit of
trouble at Southend Victoria. When I got to the
executive box — shared with my team-mates and sponsors
of Shrimperzone FC — I heard that 15 Millwall fans were
arrested after turning over Saks. Alas, I can’t prove
any of these, just hearsay, but nonetheless, not the
sort of thing you want to hear before a pre-season
so-called friendly.