Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-0 Newport County

Where the hell did that performance come from! Fast paced, closing down quickly, accurate passing. And Cassidy nearly managed to score. That was a playoff winners display tonight - the first I've seen from us this season. It gives us real hope that we can win at wembley. No fear football will win you the day.

Cannot believe Wycombe scored 12 minutes into injury time, and not even from open play. Never have I let so many expletives go while walking up Victoria Avenue.

Looking at the table now quite fancy us staying in fifth, with Stevenage in sixth. Think we'd have the best chance of getting to Wembley that way.

How are we looking in the form table at the moment? The blues are on fire!

Gutted that Wycombe won after 12 mins of added time, but we can only do our job and hope things fall into place. Best I have seen us play this season. Rode our luck a little at the end, mind.

Bentley 7.5 One moment when he panicked and came and punched, but in the main looked tidy. Some of his throw outs into midfield were brilliant
White 7 Solid (as usual)
Coker 8 Much better tonight. Got forward well and kept breaking up their attacks
Bolger 8.5 (My MOTOM) Awesome in the air at the back and scored with a bullet header just before HT. Building up a good partnership with AB
Barrett 7 Solid. Stayed back, mainly. Used his experience
Atkinson 7 Industrious. In good form
Deegan 7.5 Few wayward passes, but bossed the midfield with his presence. Lovely pass leading to the 2nd goal
Timlin 7.5 Usual hardworking display. One poor crossfield pass that could have been costly, but did well overall
McLaughlin 8 (1st Half=9, 2nd Half=7). Was unplayable at the start. Whipped balls in quickly, and used his pace to good effect. Faded a little in the 2nd as we sat on the lead, but took his goal well
Pigott 7 Hustled and bustled. Think Corr would have won more headers, but he lead the line well
Cassidy 7 Game passed him by a bit. Put in a huge amount of work up front, though.
Subs: Worrall 6.5 Didn't quite get into it, but always puts a good shift in
Leonard 6.5 as above
JBW 6.5 Looked a bit awkward at RB on his left foot.

Bkdside said:

Thought Brown had a very good game tactically tonight. Clever sub towards the end to bring on Williams. Their left back had some real pace and had started giving White some trouble which Williams mopped up with his pace. Leonard looked a shade of his usual self and with Deegans second half performance he will be keeping his shirt. Felt resting Corr was a good move and we managed to score 2 goals.

Worrall looked eger once he came on but can't see the side changing much for the Exeter, perhaps CORR for Cassidy.

Happy days.

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cant agree with that, I am in W so BW was playing right in front of me. I thought we were brilliant tonight across the park with the exceptions of BW and Bentley (I know that wont be popular but that's how I saw it-he was average tonight where as the rest were well above average ) . Every single time without exception when BW touched the ball in a defensive position he made an error- and I do mean every time - however a couple of times when he had the ball in their hald he looked quality .

Everyone else brilliant, special mention to Atkinsons performance in the first half which was truly excellent . First half was the best football I have seen played under Brown, can not believe how good we were, how many men we committed, how fast we broke. Was that really Phil Browns southend playing tonight ?tr

The first 75 minutes were the best we have played under PB since the Millwall cup win; how we weren't 3 nil up after ten minutes and 6 nil up after the first half is hard to understand.
The starting 11 was fine; all keen and knew their tasks/rolls.
Dan 7, not much to do, did some dives but NC huffed and puffed and put their best efforts wide or high. I don't think the face mask is helping and I hope he is fully fit soon.
JW, 7 usual reliable, unlucky with shot off post, went off thigh strain. (sub Benny Williams)
Cokes, 7, better and back to his old self.
Adam, 7,directing, passing, rolling back the years, intelligent feedback to the youngsters around him.
CB, 8 towering headers, some crunch tackles, GOAL!
Mac, 7, better, tracked back more too, proper team role, GOAL.(subbed for Wozza)
Willo 7, better, worked and worked. (subbed for Lenny)
Tims 7, all action, fast challenging, ran and ran.
Deegs, 8, fearsome with some good and 1 great pass - he wants to keep his place!
Cass, 7, SO needs the goal, great team work.
Pig, 7, very close to scoring, involved and 100% effort, must watch the offsides though.

Subs; all 6; none impacted greatly and last 20 mins we lost shape and threat.

Ref; vying for rep of Saturday's plonker; allowed loads of time wasting and NC's best player at breaking up play.
PB;- I understand the subs BUT they didn't understand their roles and Phil was silent on advice when we got pushed back for last 20 minutes when he ought to have been directing how to keep the ball rather than just getting deeper and deeper so we were playing 8 1 1 formation;- maybe I am being harsh on him but a little exaggeration makes the point.

The other results were a real bummer!

On to Exeter and a BBBC hat trick:thumbsup:

yogi bear up the cagire said:

Looks as though it will be another 80+ points a season with the reward being the lottery of the play-offs. For those who were there..............If that was the best home performance of the season, WHY have we never played like that before?

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I think Newport played their part tonight. Didn't come and sit back, also had two strikers - they needed a win too. It allowed us more space to play and we created a lot of chances tonight. Good performance, arguably the best at home all season.

So Wycombe need to get six points from their last three games, versus Morecambe, Northampton and Wimbledon while we need to get all twelve from our last four games versus Exeter, Bury, Luton and Morecambe (unless we score a hatful of goals and overtake Wycombe's goal difference, in which case Wycombe would need 7 points).

On our outstanding performance tonight I reckon we can beat anyone, but realistically we should beat Exeter, and Bury. Not so sure about Luton though and really worried about our bogey team, Morecambe. So we could end up with the seven points taking us to 82 and Wycombe would need only two points from their three matches. Play offs it is.

Only my 2nd game this season, and I think that's the best I've seen us play for several years. Dominated the game, created chances, even when we made the subs and Newport came into it more we still looked like we could score more.

Bentley 8 - One ropey kick, but made some good saves and made history.
White 7 - Solid.
Coker 8 - Played well, got forward well.
Bolger 8 - Generally solid, couple of dodgy moments but didn't fall apart and scored a cracking header.
Barrett 8 - Strong, made up for lack of pace with his experience, great to see him take the captain's armband when White went off.
Deegan 9 MOTM - Average first half, superb 2nd half, great pass for the goal and some fantastic tackles.
Timlin 7 - All action but his passing was wayward at times.
Atkinson 8 - 1st half was the best I've seen him play, faded 2nd half.
McLaughlin 8 - Pace & strength and took his goal well but wasn't always in the game enough.
Pigott 7 - Got bullied a bit and was on the deck a lot, but was a thorn in Newport's side and got in good places.
Cassidy 7 - Strong in the air, held it up well, worked hard but didn't really get in dangerous positions.

Subs.
Leonard 6 - Not at his best but had some good touches.
Worrall 5 - I like Worrall but he was poor, lost the ball a lot and couldn't get in the game.
Binnom-Williams 5 - Pacey but combined with Worrall made the right side weak.

The Blue Voice 10 - great noise and atmosphere throughout, well done chaps.

Really good performance and game. Newport didn't just sit back and were unlucky not to score, hitting the cross bar and post second half. Both our goals were very well taken for difference reasons. But, still a concern over not killing these teams off. Hatful of chances yet only two goals at home. Hope this doesn't happen in the playoffs if we need a few more! Well done though, can't do anymore than we have in the last few weeks. Shame we have left it too late for automatic promo.

Full football league program tonight and no Football League Show on BBC? Bloody useless.

Deegan was my man of the match. Fabulous performance tonight, brilliant effort by all. Nuff said for now!

How about Bolger. Apart from the goal it always gives me pleasure when someone with potential (rather than an obvious donkey) silences the boo boys. Class act ?

Brown 10
MrsBlue 0

:hilarious::clap::happy::smiles:

Best display for a long time.

Pace, movement and a real urgency to get forward and score goals.

Plenty of early balls into the box with purpose and lots of pots on goal, including White's thunderbolt against the post!

Everyone had a great night, especially Deegan, McLaughlin, Bolger and I thought the :pig: lead the line superbly.

Not sure I would have taken McLaughlin off and I would say there was no need to change anything at all during the game. Think it knocked us off our stride as we were rampant up to that point.

Great night and reminded me of some of the best nights down the Hall!

Great performance. That's what home games used to feel like!!

The most I've been entertained in 2 and a half years.

Delighted for Bolger, absolute bullet header for the goal and rock solid defensively again. I don't think it's a coincidence he's looked A LOT more comfortable and composed alongside Adam Barrett.

WESTY_SUFC said:

Brown 10
MrsBlue 0

:hilarious::clap::happy::smiles:

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Darryl -5
Wiggy -10

Barling Magna said:

So Wycombe need to get six points from their last three games, versus Morecambe, Northampton and Wimbledon while we need to get all twelve from our last four games versus Exeter, Bury, Luton and Morecambe (unless we score a hatful of goals and overtake Wycombe's goal difference, in which case Wycombe would need 7 points).

On our outstanding performance tonight I reckon we can beat anyone, but realistically we should beat Exeter, and Bury. Not so sure about Luton though and really worried about our bogey team, Morecambe. So we could end up with the seven points taking us to 82 and Wycombe would need only two points from their three matches. Play offs it is.

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Surprised as I'd be far more worried about Bury than any of the other three, they've won 10 of their last 11 for a reason! I personally don't believe in bogey teams, Newport were said to be one before tonight.

We've almost certainly left it too late but we can go into the play-offs in good spirits and good form - not one of those sides in the top 7 will fancy playing us. The only side that worries me is Bury, but they'll be thinking exactly the same about us. If Bury manage to finish top 3 themselves then I'd feel very confident of our chances in the lottery.

Best home game of the season, no question.

At half time we could have scored 6. There was some terrific play and the goal was thoroughly deserved. Their keeper kept them in it with some brilliant saves, White hit the post with an angled drive and I was beginning to think we would never score. In fact, our opener came in the 3rd minute of injury time that was ironically added on because one of their players was taking so long to walk off the pitch after being injured... and then he came straight back on again! Football karma I think.

After the second goal - what a through ball from Deegan - I thought we would go on and get 3 or 4 but despite us threatening to run away with it, Newport made some subs and they all of a sudden got the upper hand. Bentleys goal led a charmed life for about 5 minutes just after the hour as it was all Newport as they hit the bar, had one cleared off the line and headed against the post from about a yard out when it seemed easier to score. This was in the latter part of the 66th minute and had it gone in, the clean sheet record would have remained intact by about 4 seconds but as Coker cleared the ball, the clock ticked on and Bentley now has the record for consecutive clean sheets.

Brown's retort was to bring on Worrall and Leonard for McLaughlin and Atkinson almost immediately but the pace of the game was so fast they struggled to get into it and for the last 20 minutes Newport continually threatened the goal. Fortunately their finishing was poor and their passing worse.

So the dream is still alive - just - but I suspect Wycombe's last second win v Exeter will give them the boost to get over the line and the automatics will have eluded us yet again. But certainly there can be no complaints about effort or entertainment on tonight's showing.

However, to ground things a little, our goal led a charmed life tonight. Make no mistake, we were the better side and deserved the win, but how Newport didn't get a couple of goals is beyond me. That game could have been 6-4. These clean sheets are great but if we go up they will not happen in L1 as the strikers are that little bit better.

Still, it's great to watch a really entertaining game at the Hall. I do think it's playoffs for us now, it's mathematically possible but we would need to win our next four and Wycombe could still win 2 out of 3 and pip us. If we did win the next 4, as my mate cruelly (but fairly) pointed out, it would create a club record of 8 on the trot. Is that likely? Not really.

But of the teams in the play offs, I do fancy anyone over two legs except perhaps Plymouth.

Ratings -

Bentley - 7 - Lucky to keep a clean sheet tonight, wasn't overly tested but did his job as well as could be expected.

White - 7 - Great overlaps in first half, unlucky with shot that hit the post. Shame about the injury, he is solid and a much better RB than Lenny.
Coker - 8.5 -MOM- Best game since Oxford away. Back to his old self.
Barrett - 7 - Usual good stuff but lucky on occasion tonight... not as assured as before.
Bolger - 8 - Towering and as long as he does what he is best at - clearing it - then he's fine. Please don't try and play football. Great header for the goal.
McLaughlin - 7 - Best performance so far, tidy goal.
Atkinson - 7.5 - Gritty, never give up performance, unlucky not to score with a great volley in first half.
Timlin - 8 - Some fantastic pressing, a really important player for us.
Deegan - 8 - A poor first half hour but then absolutely ran the show, great pass for the second. Wins balls he has no right to win.
Pigott - 7 - Nearly scored wonder goal with a stretched finish and did his best, some good hold up play, but Corr's recent form has been better.
Cassidy - 7 - Great effort, a real team player... but still hasn't scored and strikers need to be scoring goals or at least assisting in loads. He does neither unfortunately.

Subs -

Binnom-Williams - 6 - Asked to play out of position and it showed.
Worrall - 6 - Had great difficulty in controlling the ball at times
Leonard - 6 - Did ok and nothing more

Ayrshire Blue said:

Delighted for Bolger, absolute bullet header for the goal and rock solid defensively again. I don't think it's a coincidence he's looked A LOT more comfortable and composed alongside Adam Barrett.

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Aha, there's the answer I was looking for. He needed to mature quickly because he has to show AB what it means to be a classy CB :happy:

As pointed out , the fact Newport came looking for the win made it a very open game and a nice change. In fact I thought it was more even than others and on another day Newport could of got a point from the game. I dont think we missed any real sitters and most crosses were more hopefull type balls. A fantastic corner and header for our first goal, that was unstoppable. The fact we scored just before and just after half time was a killer for them. The header onto the post after Dan had punched the ball into the air was a bad miss and it would have got a bit squeeky had that gone in.
If it is to be the play offs dont expect another open game like that.