Official Match Thread Barrow v Southend United

[The Big Dady]

The Official Match Thread brought to you by ShrimperZone.com

So here we are the twenty third and last away game of the 2020/21 season and Phil Brown’s 3rd away game since he was appointed Manager of the Mighty Shrimpers.

Our 23rd and last away match is against Barrow, this is our last away game in the English Football League for a while (Unless an unlikely miracle happens)


It is now time for ALL of us to get behind Phil and the team whether you are at the Progression Solicitors Stadium (Holker Street) in spirit, listening on the radio, or listening/watching on ifollow.

Phil Brown’s Southend United League Two Away Team against Barrow
​

Southend United Starting XI: Oxley, Bwomono, Hobson, Cordner, Egbri, Hackett-Fairchild, Halford, K. Taylor, Holmes, Hart, White (C)

Subs: Seaden, Olayinka, Dieng, Goodship, Rush, Kyprianou, Walsh

The Progression Solicitors Stadium (Holker Street) is ready for action at 15.00 hrs Saturday 1st May 2021. It looks like we will have some sunny intervals with a gentle breeze for this afternoon’s game, it will still feel cold.



The weather forecast for this afternoon at the Progression Solicitors Stadium (Holker Street).


Current League away record after 22 away games

Won 4
Drawn 9
Lost 9
Goals scored 11
Goals conceded 28

League Positions Last Season

22nd (2019/20) League One Southend United (Relegated)
1st (2019/20) National League (Promoted as Champions) Barrow

League Positions Current Season

20th (2020/21) League Two Barrow
23rd (2020/21) League Two Southend United

Recent League Positions Change



Previous Meetings

Southend United 1-0 Barrow (L2 09/01/21 Att. Covid 0)
Barrow 2-1 Southend United (D4 19/02/72 Att. 2,068)
Southend United 1-0 Barrow (D4 29/10/71 Att. 12,426)
Barrow 2-0 Southend United (D4 20/03/71 Att. 1,452)
Southend United 2-3 Barrow (D4 06/11/70 Att. 6,923)
Barrow 1-0 Southend United (D4 22/04/67 Att. 5,847)
Southend United 1-3 Barrow (D4 28/10/66 Att. 9,063)

Head to Head record

Southend United Wins: 2
Draws: 0
Barrow Wins: 5

Current Form

Barrow W L L L W
Southend United D D D L W

This is the last away game on the 2020/21 season and possibly our last in the Football League for a while (Unless an unlikely miracle happens). This after 115 years since Southend United was formed in 1906, and 101 years since being a co-founder member of the Football League’s Third Division in 1920.





Come On You Blues!​

 

[The Big Dady]

Managers Pre-match Views​

Barrow

Barrow Caretaker Manager Rob Kelly talks to their OS before the game with Southend United

Barrow Caretaker Manager Rob Kelly​

Rob Kelly has insisted that his players will be right back at it again this weekend as they look to finish the season on a high after securing their Football League status.

The Bluebirds’ 2-0 triumph at Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday evening ensured that there will be League Two football at The Progression Solicitors Stadium in 2021/22.

However, caretaker boss Kelly has challenged the squad to finish the job off professionally in their final two games, starting with Saturday’s visit from relegation-threatened Southend United.

“I am delighted for everyone that our safety has been confirmed earlier than I thought it might be,” Kelly told us.

“I never doubted that we would get out of it because I work with these players and staff every day so I know how committed they have been to making sure Barrow are in the Football League come next August.

“We still have work to do. We have six points to play for and we want to try and get as many of them as we possibly can.

“We have a job to finish off and the last time I checked the league was over 46 games not 44.

“Players can do all the training they want but the best thing is the matches so they should relish it because we’ve only got 180 more minutes to go.

“It’s our first season back in the Football League for nearly 50 years and we’re determined to finish it on a high because we have a responsibility to ourselves and our supporters.

“We are aiming to put in another committed performance, and I have no doubt that we will.”

Kelly revealed that there a couple of players nursing knocks following the midweek encounter at The New Lawn but he doesn’t expect that to stop them from facing Southend on Saturday.

James Jones remains sidelined with a hip injury and it’s been confirmed he won’t play again this season, but Kelly is crossing his fingers that Tom Davies could come into contention this weekend after the defender returned to training.

“It was tough physically and emotionally the other night, so we have picked up a few bumps and bruises,” he explained.

“But we have only the two games to go and I think the lads have played through enough things now that they’re prepared to keep going, so we’ll be competitive and do everything we can to win the game.”

Link to full interview:-
Link

Southend United

Phil Brown speaks to ifollow ahead of this afternoon’s game against Barrow

Phil Brown Southend United’s Manager during his interview​

Link to full ifollow interview
Link

Phil Brown speaks to OS ahead of this afternoon’s game against Barrow

Phil Brown Southend United’s Manager​

Phil Brown’s message to his players ahead of this weekend’s game against Barrow is simple - keep the season alive.

Brown is hoping Blues can take their battle to avoid relegation into the final day of the season.

Currently six points behind Scunthorpe United, if Blues are to retain their Football League status they will have to do so in dramatic fashion by overturning an eight goal swing on the Iron.

Brown said his message ahead of the trip to Cumbria is: “Keep it alive, keep the season alive.”

“My message this morning when I looked at the league table, there’s no brackets ‘R’ next to our name. It’s not a rude-awakening, there’s no (R) next to us.

“We’re not down, we’re certainly not out and we’ll show on Saturday that we’re still fighting.

“If we can keep it going until the last game of the season, stranger things have happened.”

While that relies heavily on results elsewhere, Brown said it’s important his side show the right mentality and attitude in their own performance.

“It’s quite simple, we need to play like we did against Leyton Orient with the same attitude.

“I’ve said to the players leave your ability at home because you don’t need it. That’s a ridiculous comment to make because that is what wins you the game, but your attitude is what you need at the start of every match and your mentality has to be spot on.

“If you’ve got them two right, you’ve got half a chance of getting something from any game of football.

“What I’ve said to the players is if we maintain that level of attitude and mentality then we will give ourselves a good chance of winning two games of football.

“As a player my ability wouldn’t get me to a higher level but the reason I played over 700 games was down to my attitude and that is the same in my managerial career.

“I demand the right kind of attitude when you cross the white line and if you can play the wonderful, get on with it and I’ll pick you every week.

“We’ve got to go on that coach tomorrow and travel the length and breadth of the country to a place that isn’t going to be very welcoming, to a side that rightly so have survived by performing well on Tuesday.

“Fingers crossed they think they’ve done enough and fingers crossed I’m hoping we bring the same mentality and attitude that we did against Leyton Orient in particular.”

Full text can be found here:-
Link

Team News


Latest team news for Saturday’s game against Barrow.​

Phil Brown will be taking a 24-man squad to Barrow this weekend with Timothee Dieng, Ricky Holmes and Nathan Ferguson included in that.

Here’s the latest from the Blues boss ahead of the game against the Bluebirds.

Timothee Dieng

“Dieng has come through a lot of fitness work this week,” said Brown.

“He’s not really trained with the group but he’s on the coach travelling.”

Nathan Ferguson

“Ferguson is also on the coach [on Friday] which was a pleasant surprise.

“He felt his calf during the game [against Leyton Orient] and thought he had strained it but in hindsight it’s just an awareness of it.

“He’s been running on the training ground today, he didn’t train with the first team but Ferguson and Dieng will be on the coach.”

Ricky Holmes

“Again, he’s another that will be on the coach.

“He’s travelling and Ricky’s the type of mentality that cannot stand the physio room; nothing to do with the people working in there by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just a horrible place to be.

“Ricky’s been in there all week with a black and blue ankle and he’s absolutely desperate to play.

“It’s not a case of the club we’re playing being around the corner, it’s six and a half hours away but he’s desperate to be on that coach.

“He’s a local boy from Rochford which gives him another reason to wear the shirt with pride.

“He’s the type that you build your foundations on, not the ones who just want to play the beautiful game.”

Tom Clifford

“Tom hasn’t passed any type of fitness test, he’s still struggling with his rec fem [thigh].”

On taking a 24-man squad

“I want that togetherness, they’ve been through it all season.

“Jason Demetriou wants to be there so I’ve asked the Chairman if he can have a room which he’s agreed.

“The same with Alan McCormack so they’re two players that are travelling in the 24 who can’t play obviously.”

Full text can be found here:-
Link


Phil Brown speaks to Chris Phillips at The Echo ahead of this afternoon’s game against Barrow

Friendship put to one side as Phil Brown takes Southend United to Barrow

Going head to head - Southend United manager Phil Brown will be facing his close friend Neil McDonald in the dug-out tomorrow​

Southend United manager Phil Brown will be bidding to get the better of one of his closest friends in football this weekend.

Blues head to Barrow looking to keep alive their slim survival hopes.

And the clash will also see the Shrimpers boss facing his former assistant Neil McDonald for the first time in a competitive fixture.

“I know Neil very well, he’s one of my closest friends in the game and this will be the first time we’ve gone up against each other really,” said Brown.

“He was at Bolton with me, he was my assistant at Swindon and also at Hyderabad when we went out to India together.

“He was at West Ham with Sam (Allardyce) too and we did play them in a pre-season at Roots Hall at that time.

“Neil has gone in there 13 or 14 games ago so he’s certainly made a difference alongside the manager and they’ve done well.”

Barrow are now safe from relegation after their 2-0 win at Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night and Brown is now digging deep in a bid to ensure Blues can do likewise.

The odds are firmly stacked against the second from bottom Shrimpers who must win their last two games while also hoping Scunthorpe United fail to pick up another point.

Blues must also secure an eight goal swing to move above the Iron.

Full text can be found here:-
Link

The Big Preview

Barrow vs Southend United

​

Overview

Tomorrow sees Blues make their final away trip of the season and the fixture gods have saved the longest journey till last as Southend make the 640-mile round trip to take on Barrow.

The Bluebirds secured another season in League Two with their win against Forest Green on Tuesday, but Phil Brown’s side know that only a win can keep their survival hopes alive.

Results elsewhere though could still send Blues down regardless of how they get on, but all Southend can do is concentrate on themselves come kick-off at the Progression Solicitors Stadium.

Form

Last weekend’s victory against Leyton Orient was the first under Phil Brown since he returned for his second spell as Southend boss and is Blues’ only win in their last six games.

The remaining five games of that spell saw Southend pick up three draws against Morecambe, Exeter and Crawley, and suffer defeats to Carlisle and Colchester.

Barrow’s aforementioned win against Forest Green in midweek ended a run of three straight defeats for the Bluebirds. In their last six they’ve won two, drawn one and lost three.

Last League Meeting

Saturday 9th January 2021

Southend United 1-0 Barrow

Hackett-Fairchild 3’, Halford Sent Off 52’

Blues had to survive practically the whole of the second-half with 10 men to pick up a vital 1-0 win against Barrow as Reeco Hackett-Fairchild marked his birthday and debut with the winner.

The midfielder scored in just the third minute with a beautiful curling effort, but after Greg Halford saw red early in the second-half it was backs against the wall for Blues who held on for the victory.

From The Boss

“My message this morning when I looked at the league table, there’s no brackets ‘R’ next to our name. It’s not a rude awakening, there’s no (R) next to us.

“We’re not down, we’re certainly not out and we’ll show on Saturday that we’re still fighting.

“If we can keep it going until the last game of the season, stranger things have happened.”

“We’ve got to go on that coach tomorrow and travel the length and breadth of the country to a place that isn’t going to be very welcoming, to a side that rightly so have survived by performing well on Tuesday.

“Fingers crossed they think they’ve done enough and fingers crossed I’m hoping we bring the same mentality and attitude that we did against Leyton Orient in particular.”

Blues Team News

All three injury concerns from last weekend’s win against Leyton Orient will travel to Barrow tomorrow afternoon as Phil Brown looks to have as many options available as possible.

Timothee Dieng (hamstring) only lasted 26 minutes against Orient and has not been training with the group this week but he has been working on his fitness.

Nathan Ferguson (calf) is another facing a race to be fit for the weekend having limped off in the second-half on Saturday, while Ricky Holmes (ankle) is rated as ‘touch-and-go’ by Brown.

Alan McCormack (calf) is a certain absentee as is Jason Demetriou who is serving the second of his three-game ban for his red card picked up against Colchester.

Barrow Dangerman

Scott Quigley is undoubtedly going to be Barrow’s biggest threat on Saturday with the 28-year-old being the driving force behind the Bluebirds getting in and staying in the Football League.

Quigley scored 20 goals in all competitions last year to fire Barrow to promotion and has followed that up with 14 this term, nine of which have come since the turn of the year.

And in that 14 have been some vital strikes of late in key games, including the late clincher against Exeter and the opening goal in their survival-clinching victory against Forest Green on Tuesday.

Ref Watch

Blues’ trip to Barrow will be officiated by Martin Coy. The Durham referee will have Steven Rushton and Ollie Williams as his assistants and Graham Salisbury as the fourth official.

Coy has taken charge of 29 games so far this season and has shown a total of 74 yellow cards and five reds, with his last outing being the 1-0 win for Bolton at home to Carlisle.

Tomorrow will be Coy’s first trip to Barrow since March 2017 and will be his first Southend game since the 0-0 draw away at Bury in February 2018.

Social Media Boycott and iFollow Blues

Southend United will be joining the rest of the EFL and the Premier League, as well as The FA, Women’s Super League, Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and the FSA in a social media boycott this weekend, starting from today (Friday 30th April) at 3pm.

The boycott is to emphasise that social media companies need to do more to combat and eradicate all forms of online hate, and to highlight the need for education in the fight against discrimination, with the boycott not ending until 23:59 on Monday 3rd May.

As a result, there will be no updates from the club’s official Twitter, Facebook or Instagram accounts of tomorrow’s clash with Barrow, meaning the best way to follow the action is by picking up a Match Pass for iFollow Blues for £10.

Overseas supporters can pick up a pass for just £7 with the pass allowing you to catch the game on your laptop, computer, tablet or mobile device.

For more information on how you can get your Match Pass for iFollow Blues and ensure you miss none of the action at the Progression Solicitors Stadium, click here.

We will continue to update the website as normal, with the team line-up announcement revealed here on www.southendunited.co.uk at 2pm on Saturday, the match report to follow at full-time as usual along with reaction to the 90 minutes against the Bluebirds from Phil Brown.

Full text can be found here:-
Link

Come On You Blues!​

 

[The Big Dady]

Barrow Team

Barrow: Dixon, Brown, Thomas, Platt, Ntlhe, J Taylor, Beadling, Devitt, Kay, James, Quigley.

Subs: Moloney, Brough, C Taylor, Banks, Sea, Andrew.

 

[Andy_S]

So is Akinola injured or has he been banished with ANG?

 

[SUBBlue]

Brown really doesn’t like much ANG does he..?

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

F@#king RHF again!!!! Why?!!!!

 

[Shrimper]

So is Akinola injured or has he been banished with ANG?

Yeah, something not right there

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I'm guessing Cordner playing the holding midfielder role again

 

[Flinty]

Comments will be interesting....if MM selected this with 6 defenders starting including 4 centre half’s !!

 

[Ricey]

Unless it’s a money incentivised reason for him not playing them? Maybe if they play another game they get more money? **** knows, just a guess.

 

[Blueeyedboy]

Who’s playing? ??

 

[Shrimper44]

Who’s playing? ??

Starting XI: Oxley, Bwomono, Hobson, Cordner, Egbri, Hackett-Fairchild, Halford, K. Taylor, Holmes, Hart, White (C)

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

Akinola must have upset PB if Goodship gets ahead of him

 

[Cricko]

Comments will be interesting....if MM selected this with 6 defenders starting including 4 centre half’s !!

Yep, he would of only picked 5..#clueless.?

 

[kentblues]

Comments will be interesting....if MM selected this with 6 defenders starting including 4 centre half’s !!

I think we can remember as far back as MM playing 4 at the back, a RB in CM and a CB up front all on his own.

At least we have two up top.

In the end though it’s attitude, intent and tactics as well of course. Same notes, a different tune as it were.

Also as we know Barrow are a pretty physical outfit so I suspect those who PB regards as shrinking violets might have dropped down the pecking order (there are a few of them regrettably)

Anyway let’s see

 

[brigg blue]

Maybe Akinola and ANG are the ones being referred to when PB mentioned certain players hiding in the treatment room

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Ox,
Elvis, JW, Hobson, Hart,
Eggers, Cordner, Holmes, Taylor RHF
Halford

Is that the line up?

Hard to see much more than Nil ?

 

[Chalky]

That view behind Barrows main stand is nice, if the football gets bad I will just look at that.

 

[Whispering Bob]

If that is a 3-5-2 then I'm slightly puzzled, because wouldn't Elvis and Egbri and Hart and RHF be occupying the same part of the pitch? Very interested to see how we shape up.

 

[Kris]

I know Akinola got a lot of stick for THAT penalty but I'd rather have him on the bench than Goodship. Regarding ANG, he has largely flattered to deceive but just prior to him being dumped he actually started to look more of a threat and made better decisions on the ball. I'd rather him than Dieng on the bench because Dieng is clearly not fully fit. I'm not convinced Olayinka is fit either.