Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Gillingham

[manor15]

Seems a fair point and a good point to have on board, although it could have been 3. Thoughts and ratings here please.

 

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Southend United 1, Gillingham 1

SOUTHEND United were held to a 1-1 draw by high-flying Gillingham at Roots Hall this afternoon.

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[leeblue]

Tough game. Either side could have won. Gills a good team. My only criticism is the subs. Thought it was perfect for Weston to come on and have an impact. Loza just weak so weak. Hurst played well but my MOM was coker

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Even PB in his BBC Essex interview reckons that unless we can get 6 points from our Easter games we can probably write off our playoff chances.:sad:

 

[dannypav]

Thought we bossed first half and them the second so draw was fair.
Hurst was excellent IMO.
Gone up a place and 3 points off play offs

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

That was a really good game. Good atmosphere, two good teams both fairly similar in ability. First half we were superb but they were better early in the second and we couldn't do enough. For me the stand out players were Kamara, Hurst, Wordsworth, Payne and Barrett but no one played bad. Loza and McQueen didn't do a lot though

 

[DaPopeShrimp]

Can see why brown made the changes he did but don't think they had much of an impact.
Hurst was as good as I've seen him for a long time.
Good game and a fair result.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

It looked like Gills targeted Barretts lack of pace in the second half.

Kamara, Payne, Wordsworth and Hurst had good games, but nobody had a poor game

 

[leeblue]

Forgot praise for kamara done so much good stuff from him today

 

[TTS]

First of all, what a good game I thought. Was impressed with the strength of Gillingham and I thought we also gave an excellent "grown up" performance. Some good performances, I thought Deegan played well, strong and lively. Hurst for the first half superb on the attack and start of the second he worked hard defensively as well. Thommo played well, Payne came in and out, but when he was "in" he was a thorn in their side. Barnett must also be applauded for his work rate and willingness to battle, whilst also always looking to get a shot away. This is was a game that made me realise what a better season we've had from an entertainment point of view. I really hope PB can stay and keep a large number of these players , because whilst I think the PO's maybe a step to far now, the back bone is there in this team ( add Lenny to that as well ).

UTB's

 

[Tommy2holes]

I thought there player scored but apparently it was a Barrett OG.

Good game and a very tight one between two good sides.

A draw was a fair result.

 

[Magnum PI]

Fair point all round. Cant complain about anybody (although have to say I thought Bentley looked a little nervy commanding his box, but thats being picky - as he made some vital saves). Great to have Hurst back and like a new signing that. Felt Bolger would have dealt with Norris better today as Thomson didnt win too much in the air. Subs were ineffective. As for Jack Payne. Sign him up now!

 

[IloveShrimp]

I think that we were a trifle fortunate to get a draw and should have been 2-1 down at half time. The ref was appalling and how their no.11 wasn't sent off was beyond me.

Imo Atkinson should have replaced kamara at half time as Gills were dominating the midfield, and Weston should have come on not Loza.

Bentley - 7 - Flapped sometimes and punched instead of catching, distribution slow at times, saved us though
White - 7 - steady game but too many crosses allowed into our box from his side.
Coker - 8 - MOM - Excellent work rate and supported attack on many occasions. Was left exposed by Kamara though.
Thompson - 8 - A good steady game, some poor distribution though. Better than Bolger!
Barrett - 7 - not one of his best games tbh. Looked short on pace and was blowing very early in the game.
Kamara - 5 - Looks ok going forward sometimes but poor defensively and left Coker exposed many times.
Wordsworth - 8 - Best game I have seen him play. Had good work rate and attitude today which is unusual.
Hurst 8 - Not my favourite player this season but thought he was excellent today. Credit where credit is due.
Deegan - 7 - Went about his work well but in an anonymous way. Spent a lot of time doing the work of two players - his and kamara's.
Barnett 6 - Not his best game although could not fault his effort. No real chances created for him though
Payne - 8 - Played well and looked if we were going to score it would be by him. Dropped to midfield 2nd half which I thought was a mistake by Brown

Loza - 5 - Too lightweight for me. Wasn't impressed first time he was here and he has done nothing today to change my mind
McQueen - 5 - Did nothing noteworthy


ref 4 - appalling. One point for being appalling to both sides equally.

Brown - 7 - I thought he made the wrong subs too late.

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

When Payne jinked across the box in the second half and had that shot which nearly went in (from the East I thought it had and jumped up like a prize lemon) I was reminded of a certain Sir Freddie Eastwood.

 

[RHB]

Well, that was a game up ups and downs. In the first 10 or so minutes Gillingham were giving us a severe examination. Three chances for them one after the other required some pretty desperate defending, but we did it ok. You could be forgiven for thinking at that point that we were going to get a bit of a tanking, but to their credit the Blues played themselves into the half. Deegan looked a new player today and after a bit of a shaky start he produced one of his best performances of the season for me. Admittedly he nearly gifted Gillingham a goal worthy attack by insisting on trying to play his way out of trouble and failing, but again we survived. Jack Payne was operating on high octane for the whole of the first half and he caused chaos in the Gills defence every time he got the ball. In amongst all of this Wordsworth popped up and slotted home his goal, 1-0 to Southend. After that the half was just about Southend’s but Gillingham were always dangerous on the break. I like having Barnett as the target man up front, but today a lot of the stuff he tried didn’t quite come off. That didn’t stop him trying for the whole 90 mins.

The second half was just edged by Gillingham, and their pressure probably deserved their goal, much as it pains me to say that. That said Southend finally decided to get in their faces towards the end of the second half, and there were enough chances that we created to steal the win, but it wasn’t to be with shots going just wide. Gillingham inflicted some pretty heavy tackles during the game and I thought the ref was a bit lenient in letting them off the majority. That said we got away with some niggley stuff as well. It didn’t help that the lino in font of the West Stand did a fair impersonation of a giraffe in terms of height and therefore he missed a lot of stuff as clouds were blocking his view.

So nobody had a bad one and White, Coker and Barratt held it together at the back (I think we have forgotten how much White brings to the defence).Kamara showed some very neat touches and Wordsworth had a pretty fair tackling day today as well as his goal, something I never thought I would say. A special mention for Kevan Hurst as well, a lot like the Kevan of old, although a few yards off the pace at times.

My man of the match vote goes to the Deegs. New haircut, new shorter beard, shorts more or less regulation but most importantly an important asset in the middle of the park today.

 

[geoffmundo]

Good game and fair result. Thought our midfield was overrun in the first 15-20 minutes or so, but all that changed with the goal which was well made, Barnett (who was my mom) did excellent. We lived dangerously though and it only looked to be a matter of time before the Gills scored and in fairness they could have had more. The ball was fizzing all round our box and Bentley didn't help matters by punching and flapping when it looked safer to catch. Having said that he pulled off a Gordon Bansesque save in 2nd half and Wordsworth was on hand to clear off the line.

If we had lost that would have been hard. They looked dangerous from corners i thought that they must have had at least double figures and I can't remember having one, but apparently we did (1 to 9 according to bbC).

Not sure what Mcqueen does to justify inclusion...?

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Probably a fair result in the end

I can only base it on what I have personally seen this season but I thought Gills looked a better side than Burton

It came down to the difference in quality of the final ball. For their goal they've put in an almost impossible ball for a defender to deal with and nicked a goal from it. How many times did Nelson pluck the ball out of the air with ease because our crosses were too high. Some of Coker's deliveries were absolutely woeful.

Jack Payne once again the best player on the pitch but I'm giving my MOTM to Wordsworth, not only for the well taken goal but I've never seen him work so hard and he got that one off the line towards the end although it seemed for a moment him and Deegan were both going to leave it and it was a bit after you Claude

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

As others have posted I enjoyed this game a lot more than a 1-1 draw would often suggest.
Gills went for it straight from the whistle and the ball was pinging about our pen area for most of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] ten minutes; during which our midfield was all at sea .
After weathering the pressure we got going and all started putting moves and passes together, some good shots but straight at the keeper.
WW took his goal well following some very good work by Jack out on the left.
The first half flew by and the break broke our tempo.
Gills, as in first half came out strong and deservedly got their equaliser.
From then on it was like a cup tie, end to end.
(In no particular order) I felt Payne should have had his shot on target not side netting, Ty ought to have kept his effort from Cokes cross down and sub Sam Mc should have buried his open header after he had made the space and worked the defender – 3 gilt edged chances but none worked the keeper while the shots “on target” went straight into hands of their GK.
Gills forced lots of corners and both Adams got good blocks in too, plus Dan did a good (photo shot) diving save. Great clearance by WW from what looked certain goal.
PB used his subs, again somewhat bizarre selection BUT it seemed we were more intent on getting the 3 points and making the running to the final whistle.
I liked the ref, spoke well with players, allowed advantage several times, got bookings about right and could tell one black Gills player apart from another (right full back and right winger).
Gill’s fans seemed reasonable and pleasant folk –those I saw in Vic Ave.
We, maybe, needed 3 points to give impetus to play offs BUT if we put that type of play together more often then we will get the points and also returning supporters.
I am not doing ratings as all did either good or good plus.
Several M of M contenders; Cokes or Deegs?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Would have taken a point happily at the start of the day, and wasn't at all unhappy with that as the final outcome. I have to say that I thought the West stand lino was appalling, didn't give Barnett a thing at all second half despite the fact he was getting mauled about - and bearing in mind the type of player he is, you have to realise how blatant this was. Stuff going on right in front of his face and he didn't give a thing.

Cokes much more like himself, he and White did very well. Another who though Barrett was targeted, but not really a surprise. Thought midfield looked ok for most of the time, Hurst and Wordsworth had as good a game as I've seen from either of them. Kamara looked good too but I still struggle to see anyone taking command. Gutted for Tims that he didn't get a game today, injured his knee in training yesterday so he said. Felt we could have done with his leadership out there.

Payne took a while to come into the game but when he did, he turned on the magic. Still doesn't work as well off Barnett as I hoped. He's definitely the one to make things happen at the moment.

Bentley - 6.5, don't like this punching lark
White - 7.5, solid and got some good crosses in
Thompson - 6, struggled with their physicality
Barrett - 7, battled well
Coker - 7.5, worked hard
Kamara - 7, made a nuisance of himself and spoilt a few moves
Deegan - 7, solid, looks scared to make a tackle though, seems to have lost that side for fear of bookings
Hurst - 8, really good game, some great crossing
Wordsworth - 8.5, MOTM, best game I've seen him have and scored too
Payne - 8, typical JP performance
Barnett - 7, unlucky

Subs:
Thought these were a bit odd, not what I would have chosen at all
Loza for Kamara - 5, still not doing anything for me
McQueen for Hurst - 7, how did he get that cross over so near the end?

All in all, not at all unhappy tonight. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Zeuss]

The joker with the whistle clearly saw all 3 of McGlashan's blatantly red/yellow card offences.When he did eventually manage to find one of the cards that he had lost,Edinburgh had the sense to sub him. Talking of substitutions,Kamara and Hurst had been our 2 best players but they had both started to tire.
We badly missed 3 key absentees : Leonard (think Col.U.-Gilbey-ended our promotion hopes),Worrall and our dominant defender Bolger though even he could not prevent Bentley from feebly punching all those crosses he should have no problem catching.