Match Report

[Southendsleeper]

The game with everything.

Wayne Gray is playing the best Ive seen him, his header coming off the bar for Eastwood to mop up.

The referee was a disgrace, as was the linesman.

Saying that, from miles away in the west stand, the Freddie incident wasnt clear. It looked like he raised his hands so the ref had no choice.

Where has the shorter/larger Blue Belle gone?

The bloke with one leg who did the half time challenge had some guts, and got a good reception. And he was better than the drunk port vale fan.

Goater got a HUGE reception when he came on, most people on their feet cheering. Shame he didnt have a lot to do.

Gower seems to have regained his form and is playing exceptionally, Gutteridge is starting to grow on me tackling anything that moved. Maher won man of the match with some insightful tackles.

As for the Huddersfield goal, I knew it was coming. Abbot kept going on at the ref and was booked for dissent. The Southend fans got on Abbots back booing him every time he got near the ball, which when given a clear opportunity he capitalised. After scoring he ran the length of the West stand with his hand to his ear, taunting the lot of us...and roundly got booed for the matchs duration.

We played well with 10 men, string 20 or so passes together (getting a cheer for the latter ones), only for Huddersfield to hoof it back up to our goal.

 

[neil]

The referee had no choice yet he was still a disgrace? From the West it looked as if Eastwood was kicked and then reacted. He was always going to be sent off though. Perhaps someone closer can clarify what happened?

We played very well for the first 30 minutes. We moved the ball well, Gower was threatening and Guttridge a handful. The goal was a good cross from Gower met well by Gray. Rachubka made a good save, but Eastwood smashed home after the ball hit the bar.

Huddersfield were very poor. I thought they would be a good side but they were very direct and only really threatened from set plays and on the break. Rachubka got the ball forward early a lot of the time. We started with Eastwood trying to stop him from doing that, but he didn't continue doing it for some reason. Their goal came from a quick punt from the keeper towards Abbott. He had his hands on Wilson and was looking at him rather than the ball. Personally I thought it was a foul, but the ball was in our net in two touches.

After the sending off Huddersfield only threatened rarely. They moved the ball slowly, lacked any penetration and merely relied on Abbott.

Decent result having played with 10 men and a promising performance in the first half. The likes of Guttridge and Gower finding some form is also encourgaing too.

 

[hexagon_sun]

I didn't think we played particularly well but with only 10 men for most of the second half, we did very well to get the point. Maher was immense, Guttridge just keeps improving, Flavs was solid, Gower gave glimpses of his best form for ages - all told, a good performance.

 

[Southendsleeper]

Quote[/b] (neil @ Aug. 20 2005,17:39)]The referee had no choice yet he was still a disgrace? From the West it looked as if Eastwood was kicked and then reacted. He was always going to be sent off though. Perhaps someone closer can clarify what happened?

Like I say from where I was sitting, which was miles away, there was a tackle on Freddie, a pause, and then he reacted by what appeared from that distance to raise his hands.

The ref let some nasty Huddersfield challenges go, and the linesman got ironic cheers when he got a decision right.

Im just disappointed that Freddie wont be available for Col******r

 

[The 4th man]

The ref did have the option of a yellow for both , also are refd permitted to manhandle players (which he did by pulling freddy away with both hands on shoulders ?). After he did it i think he realsied he'd propably overreacted ?

 

[Dave Smiths Love Child]

Couldn't fault any of the players to day for attitude and preformance, if I had one small fault to find ,it was in the last two minutes when we played the ball into the corner, when we should IMHO opinion crossed the ball to a waiting player, when Huddersfield did this in the last minute in resulted in three corners and panic in the defence.

Overall best all round team performance in a long while against a good strong team,seems the step up to another division isn't showing yet, however with a small squad injuries and suspensions may bite, but overall a very very good performance by all

Maher was superb and my MOTM by a long chalk

 

[Guest]

Decent performance today, a good point in the end after having played with 10 men for most of the second half - overall I thought we had more to offer though, especially as Huddersfield did nothing to try and capitalise on their one man advantage - all they did was hoof it upfield.

Very silly by Freddy. Even though from what I saw it was just handbags, you should not raise your hands to another player. Still, good to see him get on the scoresheet, disappointing that he'll miss the Col U and Southampton games - with Goater not yet fully fit I do worry a bit about the striker situation while Freddy is suspended.

Agreed that Maher was man of the match. He was immense. Gutts impressed me today too, and Gray continued his sparkling form.

Scunthorpe will be another tough test, though...!

 

[The General]

The whole incident started with a terrible decision from the ref'. The bloke gave Freddy some stick and in true Arsene Wenger style, i actually missed the main altercation after looking the other way in disbelief at the ref's initial decision ...

 

[Lucas D]

Freddy pushed him twice, quite agressively......1 push = yellow 2 pushes = red

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (The General @ Aug. 20 2005,18:30)]The whole incident started with a terrible decision from the ref'. The bloke gave Freddy some stick and in true Arsene Wenger style, i actually missed the main altercation after looking the other way in disbelief at the ref's initial decision ...

you been listening to Eagle on BBC Essex Kev?

Ref was a disgrace.

Team played with passion and pride in the second half.

Good point

 

[The General]

Quote[/b] (Kent Shrimper @ Aug. 20 2005,18:38)]

Quote[/b] (The General @ Aug. 20 2005,18:30)]The whole incident started with a terrible decision from the ref'. The bloke gave Freddy some stick and in true Arsene Wenger style, i actually missed the main altercation after looking the other way in disbelief at the ref's initial decision ...

you been listening to Eagle on BBC Essex Kev?

Ref was a disgrace.

Team played with passion and pride in the second half.

Good point

No i haven't been but Eagle has a very good point. He was terrible for most of the game, and as i said, his initial bad decision resulted in the argument between Freddy and the No. 2 and resulted and Freddy getting a straight red.

 

[Guest]

Agreed the officials were terrible today - the worst I've seen so far this season He was letting some shocking tackles from Huddersfield go yet penalising things which were barely a foul. Awful.

 

[tomasufc 4eva]

Quote[/b] (Lucas D @ Aug. 20 2005,18:37)]Freddy pushed him twice, quite agressively......1 push = yellow 2 pushes = red

If that was the case then the ref would have had to show the yellow card twice and then the red instead of just the straight red.

 

[Andy_S]

Quote[/b] (Southendsleeper @ Aug. 20 2005,17:28)]Gutteridge is starting to grow on me

Not enough to spell his name right though?

Sorry, but this whole thing of people spelling our players names wrong really bugs me.

Flavs had a good game and came for a fair few crosses very well. Edwards was decent enough although his slow jogs back from corner kicks didn't help us at all one bit when they were counter attacking. Guttridge was tidy, as for most of the time was Gower. Petts had one of the best performances I've seen him have in the first half but seemed to wilt in the second. Gray was superb. I've been one of his biggest critics on here but he was a changed player from the Gray against Port Vale.

Oh, and Lucas D, I'm staggered that you feel Freddy pushed him 'quite aggressively'.

 

[palexander]

Yea, decent result and we have now played 3 teams that will be finishing top half (maybe all 4) and got 5 points, not too bad at all lads.

Gray, superb again. Guttridge and Gower too - wish we had a bigger squad though as we are well stretched

Ratings:

Flavs 7
Jupp 5 (Hunt 6)
Edwards 8
Barret 8 (Getting back to his best)
Wilson 6

Petts 8 (Best game for SUFC for me...?)
Maher 8 MOM
Gutts 8 (Bentley 6)
Gower 7 (Goater 6)

Eastwood 6
Gray 7

 

[* ORM *]

Freddy raised his hands at an opponent. It doesn't matter which part of the anatomy it connects with, or whether it connects at all, the referee got this decision spot on. A straight red ! If that had been the other way around you'd have all been baying for a red card for the defender. Hopefully a lesson learned for Eastwood.

It certainly wasn't incompetent refereeing which cost us the match today. Still, if we can perform as we did in the first half 20th position, or higher, looks a distinct possibility.

 

[Yellow Army]

Flavs 7 - Good display, took abuse from away supporters, just ignored them

Jupp - well by the time i got in the ground he limped off
(hunt 7) - solid display, ball winner

Wilson 6 - good display, but let regard down in 1st half injury time, which resulted in the goal.

Edwards 7 - solid in defence, prior watch out, Eagles about! 600 not out

Barrett 6 - good display and got foward alot

Gower 8 - Shown he's worthy of his 1st team place, good crosses, and determind to won the ball more. Eastwood sending off made him work harder.

(Goater 6 - not much time to feed him today - held the ball up for the point)

Maher 9 - MOM - Took stick from a blues supporter today, and got back the the huddersfield no.2 with a sneaky foul, kept the team together.

Gray 7 - He's really impressesed me this season, and was not on the floor atall today.

Petts 7 - A good game for petts today, got more involved, but didnt look as comfortable when he went on the left, when gower was subbed.

Guttridge 7 - determind, didn't give up, not afraid to put a tackle in. good distribution of the ball at times
(Bentley 6 - not really involved, but did some essential defending, could of scored if the flag stayed down.

Eastwood 6 - Good to see him score, but can't excuse the sending off, as soon as he pushed Holdsworth you knew the red was comming, he'll be gutted to miss Southampton game.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

The ref was NOT a disgrace. I agree the linesman by the West Stand in the first half was, but people are being too harsh on the referee. He rightly booked Abbott and rightly sent off Eastwood. These days you get sent off for pushes. 10 years ago you wouldnt even be booked and there'd be a 20-man scrap, but the ref was just going by the rules. I don't think he did much else wrong to be honest. He was certainly better than the one we had at Walsall.

As for the game, we did well to hang onto the point. Huddersfield dominated the 2nd half and yet again we had Flahavan to thank although I think we defended well too. Hunt did well when he came on and Barrett and Edwards were strong in the centre of defence. Che could've done better for the goal but apart from that he was good too. I thought Gower and Maher played well in midfield and Gray had another decent game although not quite as good as his performances at Bradford and Walsall. The thing that worried me was the way that, yet again, we sat back when we took the lead and invited Huddersfield to apply some pressure. We did it at Walsall too. We had 10 men so it's understandable but we did it before the sending off too.

Talking of the sending off, it was silly of Eastwood and I'm not sure what exactly provoked him. I must say I've never seen him lose his temper before he's usually a cool character. Looks like Goater will have to test his 35-year old legs for the next 3 matches now, unless Tilson goes into the transfer market which he said in his post-match comments that he will be following Jupp's injury. I'm gutted Freddy's missing Col U though.

I would have taken a point before the game, though, and with 10 men it makes it even better.

 

[Andy_S]

My Ratings:

Flahavan 7: Faultless. Swept up behind the defence well, made some fine saves and came and claimed several crosses.

Jupp 6: Could be set for a spell on the sidelines after mouthing to the bench his "hamstring had gone". It'll be interesting to see if he'll get straight back into the team now Hunt will get his chance. With this injury and Hunt being needed at right back, I wonder if there's much more of a chance of Angus signing shortly?

Edwards 7: Eagle was pretty solid and used all his experience as to when he should smack it into Row Z and unlike Spinner he doesn't take unnecessary risks on the ball.

Barrett 6.5: He still doesn't look like the same player from last season and there were another couple of heart in mouth moments from him today.

Wilson 6: Shaky at times, although he did make a couple of fine tackles/blocks. Why oh why did he duck on their goal? He seems to lose all flight of the ball and he took himself out the game.

Pettefer 7: I was thoroughly impressed by Petts in the first half, but in the Second Half when you thought he'd come into his own he seemed to waiver from the game.

Maher 8: A very good performance from Maher. All round he was very impressive although it was slightly worrying when he was charging round like the proverbial bull in a china shop after Freddy was sent off.

Guttridge 7: I'm a fan of Guttridge and again today he showed what a very neat and tidy player he is. He's got bags of ability on the ball as well and he always seems to be involved in our 'pretty football' when it's played. As time goes on I reckon he's going to prove to be a very good signing.

Gower 7: Better. There were a couple of "Oh Gower!" moments but on the whole he does seem to be recovering some of his spark back.

Eastwood 6: In the first half his ability seemed to be coming back to him, but his first touch is still uncharacteristicly off. Just as he gets the goal that could fire him back into the scoring charts he gets sent off though.

Gray 8: Very impressive. Worked hard and things actually came off for him and his header for the goal was top notch.

Subs:

Hunt 6.5: Didn't get forward an awful lot but was pretty solid at the back and now he has the chance to win his place back.

Bentley 6: Didn't really get into the game due to only having 15 minutes in a backs to the wall effort.

Goater 6: He made a couple of nice touches and looked quite sprightly.


Oh, and a big plus point to the day for me, Amy and Matty back on the Roots Hall turf in a far better rating BlueBelle selection than the Vale game.

 

[blueheaven]

We were really good until we scored and then sat back and paid the penalty. Che did not duck - he was held down.