Post-Match Thread and Ratings Solihull Moors 0-3 Southend Utd

[CorkShrimper]

Harry Taylor is so unbelievably good. Think we saw how comfortable he makes those around him as well, Kensdale making that run for Cards goal is a prime example. He knew it was safe in behind. It's been mentioned before but his slide tackles are always perfect, he's an exceptional defender. Easily our player of the season.

Special mention to Dackers, fantastic tonight. Superb win. This is such a special team, it just needs adding to here and there.

 

[Evening Echo]

A FIRST HALF brace from Oli Coker and a goal from Harry Cardwell saw Southend United surge to a 3-0 win at Solihull Moors tonight.

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[Barling Magna]

A very enjoyable match to watch. Seemed to be a change of tactics with several direct runs at their defence which scared them rigid.

Solihull looked impressive for the first 20 minutes but seemed to lose belief when they went a goal behind. The second goal was down to Dackers' individual effort and assist for Oli Coker to slot home. After that Solihull offered little. They failed to come out of the blocks attacking us after half time. They didn't seem to like getting soaked.

Dackers MoM. Great performance.

 

[GBJ]

One thing is for sure, every side in those playoffs will be happy we have the worst owner in history. If it wasn't for him, we'd be on the playoffs now. No team would want to play us in those play offs. When we are on it, we are a top side. We've proved that.

We've understandably had off days and had bad patches. Is it any wonder with no preseason and a squad of 12 at times?! Yet, against all adversity, we've still technically achieved enough points to be in the playoffs.

Just imagine what could happen with a good pre-season, some astute signings in the summer, new training pitches to play on and hopefully new ownership!

Good post & there’s no “technically” about it. We’ve earned those 65 points this season. We are, for all intents and purposes, a playoff team.

A bull**** move by the NL is the only thing that’s stopped us being an official playoff team this season. And of course Ron is the only thing that stopped us from being a top 2 side.

The future is bright for us.

 

[solihullshrimper]

Having been close to Colin over the last couple of games he absolutely bosses that defence around which is massive as well as his shot stopping ability. The ball seemed to flow more through midfield tonight after a dodgy first 20, is that Taylor setting the tone or maybe Coker rather than Husin?

 

[leeblue]

So help me understand.
And this is in no way a criticism of what has been a miracle season.
However, we look shocking in chunks and powderpuff in attack...and it's because the lads are knackered, no pre season etc etc.
Then we do this tonight....so why didn't any of that matter tonight?
Football is ridiculous and makes no sense

 

[Leeboy]

who saw that coming? Definitely not me.

So Noor has been the problem the past few weeks

 

[getintoem]

I missed the Woking game and the post match reports on here convinced me I had dodged a bullet. I was undecided whether or not to buy a pass to stream tonight's match, but did a few minutes before kick off, and after the first 15-20 minutes of the match I was beginning to think this would be a repeat of what I had read about the Woking game. Then, with our first real attack, good work between Bridge and Fonguck resulted in Wes pulling back a cross which Oli Coker met perfectly to slot home. We seemed to suddenly believe in ourselves after that and were suddenly in the game, threatening going forward. A superb run by Marcus Dackers ended with him crossing from the left just as Wes had done earlier and Coker smashed it into the net this time. Marcus had a very good game in my opinion and not just because of that assist. He worked tirelessly and when on the ball showed what great control he has with his feet.

Solihull created a few chances themselves but didn't really trouble Collin too much and, if anything, they appeared a bit shot shy when it looked as though they could have had a go on a couple of occasions.

With our lead, in the second half we looked composed and thwarted any attacking attempts the Moors had. I thought Kensdale and Taylor were superb for us this evening. When Ollie K ran with the ball from well inside our half to the edge of the Moors' box I thought he was going to shoot but instead he played a great ball for Harry Cardwell to latch on to and Harry made no mistake in knocking it past Nick Hayes. It was clear by then that Solihull were not going to make any sort of comeback and we saw out the match for a comfortable victory.

Defenders at any level do not like players running at them with the ball and at this level I would say it is even more the case. Tonight, two goals came from players running at the opposition, something I have been crying out for us to do. I hope we see more of it in the remaining games.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I'm going to say it.

Tonight we played a goalscoring midfielder and he not only scored but it encourage the team to get forward.

If you get forward in numbers and get shots away you scored goals..

A complete contrast to the last few games.

Coker deserves a run in the side.

Dakkers has his best game for us. Such a Jekyl and hide player. Tonight showed he has the ability, it's up to him to use it.

Thought Taylor was very good as was Colin and Cards who chased everything and got a goal.

Please management. Get the team to go forward and attack. We are safe so let the brakes off.

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

Football is a strange game to predict after the complete dross from Saturday tonight we put in that performance.Clearly at times we lack confidence but once we get it we are a good competitive side.Its consistency we need to establish

 

[Taters123]

Think this demonstrated the importance of having players willing to drive at the other team (excluding Bridge) which gave us more threat and created space from other parts of the pitch. We desperately need an attacking mid or forward that can do that in addition to bridge.

 

[HertfordshireBlue]

That was a joy to watch (well mostly watch in that hurricane the poor national league commentary crew were put through).

But it really does show that when we’re not too busy playing crab football and directly running at teams we create clear cut chances. I’m not Dackers’ biggest advocate but he was probably my MOTM tonight and did everything mentioned above perfectly. It really does go to show if we can find a player to collect the ball and begin running at defenders with every opportunity we will double our chances created. Dackers did this twice and Kensdale for Cardwell’s third. It does go to show what a bit of confidence does to this team.

Oh and 11 games unbeaten by the way..

 

[andykn]

Harry Taylor is so unbelievably good. Think we saw how comfortable he makes those around him as well, Kensdale making that run for Cards goal is a prime example. He knew it was safe in behind. It's been mentioned before but his slide tackles are always perfect, he's an exceptional defender. Easily our player of the season.

Special mention to Dackers, fantastic tonight. Superb win. This is such a special team, it just needs adding to here and there.

I wish the defenders and central midfield would make more runs like that, there's lots of times they're sitting with the ball and no-one in front of them - surely it must be safer than knocking it about at the back until we lose it and concede. The others can see them go and slip in to cover, can't they?

 

[Jai]

Dackers 9
Wes 8
Coker 8
Rest 7.5

Why was this style of enthusiasm and play not engaged 6 games ago?

Unbeaten in 11 isn't it?

 

[Jai]

I'm going to say it.

Tonight we played a goalscoring midfielder and he not only scored but it encourage the team to get forward.

If you get forward in numbers and get shots away you scored goals..

A complete contrast to the last few games.

Coker deserves a run in the side.

Dakkers has his best game for us. Such a Jekyl and hide player. Tonight showed he has the ability, it's up to him to use it.

Thought Taylor was very good as was Colin and Cards who chased everything and got a goal.

Please management. Get the team to go forward and attack. We are safe so let the brakes off.

Funny how people see things. I thought before we scored we were struggling to get out of our own half. We scored on the counter attack, rather than attacking from the off. After that, we grew in confidence and looked dangerous going forward.

Confidence is a huge part of effectiveness in attack. We definitely do not try and be defensive or safe. We try and attack every game we play - which is one of the main reasons we have gone a goal down early in a lot of games recently, taking too many risks early in the game.

It does seem that Maher has stopped that but in doing so, we've sacrificed a little going forward in the last few games (which has seen us pick up 5 points from three games).

It's a really tricky balance to get right, but we're 11 games unbeaten now, so we can't be doing that much wrong...

 

[wiggy]

Unbeaten in 11 isn't it?

How many draws…..not good enough now its 3 points for a win

 

[* ORM *]

How many draws…..not good enough now its 3 points for a win

Mine’s half full

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Away due to work, stuck up in Warrington, but at tonight's dinner a joy to see the updates pinned to my phone.

Great reading the threads too.

Result I wasn't expecting, bring on Friday!

UTB

 

[Medway Blue]

Excellent result and performance.

I didn't think we were awful first 20 mins, but Solihull were quick out of the blocks as the home team and high pressed us pretty relentlessly. It seemed to me like we were struggling to get out of our own half at times. But we rode it out. Solihull were unlikely to be able to keep up the high press and once we scored with a quick counter attack, the pendulum swung and there was no looking back.

Lots of comments like "why haven't we been doing that the last 6 games?" and "this is what happens when we actually attack". Tonight showed the importance of confidence in attacking football - we have been lacking it, but it began to flow once the first goal went in. It also shows how important it is to be adaptable - the way that Solihull set up played into our hands a bit tonight. We don't come up against teams that give us that much space every week, and we might not always be able to find a way through. That's football. Be patient.

Excellent performances from Coker and Fonguck in the middle. Fonguck's movement caused them real issues, and Coker ran things - also nice to see a midfielder arriving late in the box and getting on the end of a cut back. Crowther was unfortunate to miss out after what I felt was his first poor performance since signing at the weekend, but Harry Taylor really showed 1) how much we've missed him, and 2) why he's the frontrunner for POTS so far.

Special mention to Marcus Dackers who gave his best performance yet. Was a real nuisance to Solihull's defence - winning balls in the air and showing some great footwork at times when holding the ball up and when running at the opposition.

Collin 7
Taylor 8
Kensdale 7
Ralph 7
GSM 7
Bridge 7
Miley 7
Coker 9 MOM
Fonguck 7
Cardwell 7
Dackers 8

Subs:
Morton 6
Sandat 6
Wood n/a

 

[Jai]

How many draws…..not good enough now its 3 points for a win

We should just win every game, I think.