Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1, Gillingham 0

[* ORM *]

Phillips is the new Adam Barrett :)

Why ? Is he always out of position, playing forwards onside and generally at fault for many of the goals conceded ?

Can't believe Maher was in the west on the one night I couldn't go. Sob.

 

[ibwiajwa]

Why ? Is he always out of position, playing forwards onside and generally at fault for many of the goals conceded ?

Can't believe Maher was in the west on the one night I couldn't go. Sob.

I think that our team have promise - we have some highly skillful players such as Hall and Mohsni (who, for all his faults, has very good touch, is good in the air and has an eye for goal).

However..... nobody on this thread seems to be mentioning the poor defending, apart from this rather cheap pop at Barrett. Up until the sending off Grant and Ferdinand were simply not offering enough protection for the back four. I lost count of the number of times that a Gills player had the ball in loads of space just in front of the D with no one trying to close them down. If they'd a Hall or Mohsni we'd have been sunk by half time.

What Barrett and Clarke knew how to do was clear the ball in the air. Barrett's defensive headers frequently reached the half way line. By contrast, when Phillips and Barker attempt to head the ball out, it usually goes straight up in the air, causing us unending problems. Phillip's goals have been a real boon but it has to be said that both he and Barker have been very error prone at the back. If we do not improve this part of our game we will be very lucky to be promoted and will be on the end of a few hidings before the season is done.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Problem for me (apart from the ref and Mohsni's behaviour) was that there didn't seem to be any cohesion in midfield. Ferdinand and Timlin were particularly poor, Grant and Hall only seemed to take the game by the scruff after Mohsni's sending off. There were few accurate passes in the first half, they were playing sooooo deep, there seemed to be no understanding, and I'm beginning to think Kalala DOES need to come back in in place of Kane. Gilbert improved as the game went on, Clohessy was getting beaten time and time again down the wing, Barker was, I thought off his usual game as well. Phillips was ok but again improved by the sending off.

The only two who emerge with absolutely NO criticism are Morris and Blair. When you consider how recent Blair's return is, he played his heart out last night and was desperately unlucky not to score twice in the first 20 minutes or so - the first just wide from outside the box and the second which hit the woodwork. He played both intelligent and speculative balls, held the ball up well and played others in. Morris, on the other hand, had probably one of the best games for us I've seen, what was it? Half a dozen very good saves? A critic might argue there were some he should have saved rather than parried away but that would be being very picky.

Not going to comment on Mohsni, it's been said already by lots of people, will agree though that Paul Sturrock should have subbed him earlier. On the point of subs, was really surprised Prosser coming on was the only one, felt that Leonard would have been a better option for Timlin or Ferdinand, with he, Grant and whichever of the others across the middle and Hall pushed up. Kalala and Johnson were also both available and keen to impress so why were they not given the chance?

 

[Cricko]

Complete toilet again for about 80 mins worth of the game. We got lucky and Morris won us the 3 points. Bilel deserved to go i'm afraid. Blair done well. But they rolled their sleeves up and put a shift in for the last 20, which was good to see. Expecting much better on Saturday though.

What he said..and the ground looked very empty tonight in places.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I actually think that PS wouldn't have played Mohsni tonight if Dicko/Corr and Harris were fit.

PS isn't one to give people a 'guaranteed' start. He would have dropped him if he could.

Good battling performance, although not that pretty for most of it. Having said that the football we did play was quite nice although quite limited.

You can't say the commitment wasn't there.

One of my favourite goals and maybe one of my favourite wins purely because of the passion in the last 15-20 mins to battle, and the celebration for the goal.

Weird how football evens itself out as we fully deserved a win against Northampton and were quite frankly not meant to win last night! I LOVE FOOTBALL!

Morris kept us in the game. Blair was quality, and it makes me so happy that people have completely changed their view on him, shows what you can do if you keep your head down and work hard (cough cough, Harold, Paynter etc..) Standing ovation, fantastic.

Grant showed some passion with some good tackles. Hall was getting stuck in and doing a lot of running.

Everyone else battled it wasn't pretty. But it showed heart.

Referee was pathetic, whilst both bookings were so very harsh, he was acting like a bit of a fool, and it was coming, the referee couldn't get his card out fast enough, which I find VERY VERY wrong and un-professional.

So many times we were taken out on the half way line the referee gave NO bookings. We went in for 50 / 50 tackles and got booked. He was a disaster!

Great win!

UP THE BLUES!

 

[eastling]

By contrast, when Phillips and Barker attempt to head the ball out, it usually goes straight up in the air, causing us unending problems.

That's a very good point. The only time in the game where their headers went back up the pitch rather than looping back into our penalty area was right at the end of the game when we were 1-0 up. I'm not sure Barker is playing as well now he has the captain's armband.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Thought it was a pretty poor performance but as others have said, the result matters most.
Thought our midfield shape was poor all game, would bring JPK in for Kane on saturday, much more disciplined in protecting the back 4. Timlin looked wasted out on the left, still think we shouldve got a striker in instead of another sideways passing midfielder. Without Hall we look bereft of creativity. He was excellent in 2nd half and once again, keeping him fit will be key to how we do tyhis season. Delivery for the goal was top notch.


We couldve easily been whalloped tonight, not many teams will have 12 shots on target and walk away with nothing but fair play to Morris who had a blinder and we threw bodies about at the end. Have to say though Barker had a shocker I thought, too many headers backwards or straight up in the air, and outmuscled on more than one occasion. ditto Phillips, both looking shaky. Cant see that back 4 keeping too many clean sheets, would like to see Mohsni at the back for his aerial presence. I know he let himself down last night but at the back I think he would be better behaved and able to handle the bigger strikers who Phillips and Barker seem to have struggled against- Akinfenwa, and Oli last night when he came on.

Still, missing our 3 main strikers, have to be pleaed with the effort and result last night. Really need Sawyer and Corr back though if we are going to make a sustained challenge as I still see this team as a 'win one lose one' type of team.

 

[Smiffy]

Thought it was a pretty poor performance but as others have said, the result matters most.
Thought our midfield shape was poor all game, would bring JPK in for Kane on saturday, much more disciplined in protecting the back 4. Timlin looked wasted out on the left, still think we shouldve got a striker in instead of another sideways passing midfielder. Without Hall we look bereft of creativity. He was excellent in 2nd half and once again, keeping him fit will be key to how we do tyhis season. Delivery for the goal was top notch.


We couldve easily been whalloped tonight, not many teams will have 12 shots on target and walk away with nothing but fair play to Morris who had a blinder and we threw bodies about at the end. Have to say though Barker had a shocker I thought, too many headers backwards or straight up in the air, and outmuscled on more than one occasion. ditto Phillips, both looking shaky. Cant see that back 4 keeping too many clean sheets, would like to see Mohsni at the back for his aerial presence. I know he let himself down last night but at the back I think he would be better behaved and able to handle the bigger strikers who Phillips and Barker seem to have struggled against- Akinfenwa, and Oli last night when he came on.

Still, missing our 3 main strikers, have to be pleaed with the effort and result last night. Really need Sawyer and Corr back though if we are going to make a sustained challenge as I still see this team as a 'win one lose one' type of team.

Spot on. Hall is our only creative outlet at the moment. As soon as he is doubled up on and marked out the game, we are donald ducked.

Spot on again. I don't like Barker at centre half. I don't think he has the height or muscle to contain the bigger front men this league has. Which as you say has been evident a few times this season already. I would rather have Prosser or Bilel in there partnering the bigger and stronger Phillips, with Barker moving back to his original left back slot. Where I thought he was superb when he first arrived. Quite why he was moved to centre half I don't know. He's not tall enough or fast enough for that role in my opinion.

We badly need the foursome of Corr, Harris, Dicko and Sawyer back. They will bring the threat we have been lacking. Without them, we will continue to rely on Hall. Who will undoubtedly be marked out the game for the foreseeable, if the opposition manager has done his homework.

And as you say, results will continue to be up and down until we can get a settled side.

I suppose you have to give them a bit of credit though. Only a point (2 really when you look at our poor GD) off 3rd spot. And we have pretty much had a weak A or B side out for most games this season. Just shows how pony this league is doesn't it. We can get out of here easy. We just need the key men back....

 

[EastStandBlue]

Not a great performance by any stretch of the imagination, more professional than proficient (apart from Mohsni, of course), but an extremely valuable and hard-fought three points against opposition that came with the view of battling hard.

Starting from the back, Morris had a spectacular game. There were a few calling for him to be dropped when he was spilling free-kicks earlier on in the season, when he was playing despite still suffering with a bout of flu, and that performance was the just redemption. His distribution left a lot to be desired (although Mohsni hardly made much of an effort to move for the ball unless Richards was about to get it), but his handling, reflexes and shot-stopping was superb. One particular save in the dying embers of the game, when the ball took a last-second deflection, was brilliant and it’s hard to remember a game when we’ve been kept in the game by a ‘keeper’s performance as much as last night… perhaps Flahavan against United?

Central defence looked fairly capable. Barker got far better as the game went on and, if you ask me, I think he might still be struggling with the knock he picked up earlier on in the season and is playing through the pain barrier, with Mohsni banished to the forward line. Some of his headers were mistimed and went sideways rather than out, and this caused more pressure to mount on the full-backs.

Typical Gilbert performance, really. Solid enough at the back against a very tricky opponent in Whelpdale, but his distribution is still very poor. I can understand picking a more natural full-back against an established winger, but Gilbert’s passes were more often than not a simple long-ball into space that was sent right back. Clohessy at the moment is the ying to Gilbert’s yang, however, with him possessing far more of a threat going forward and costing us at the back. It might be slightly understandable with Hall playing on the right-hand side, he offers very little defensively and with him being left-footed, he always shows the winger onto the flank. I’d like to see Leonard given a run-out in his natural position on Saturday, purely to see if he shores up what still is a leaky defence.

The midfield is where the majority of our problems arose. Although the game didn’t really allow our midfield to dictate tempo, what with the majority of it played over their heads, all three genuine midfielders really struggled to impact on the game until the closing stages. This was largely attributable to Gillingham’s plan of closing them down (they basically played a full-court press for the first half), a pretty confusing shape and a poor performance from Ferdinand, which was probably due to Gillingham’s game plan.

As soon as the ball reached Hall, he’d be surrounded and either hounded out of possession, or forced to play the pass inside to Grant. The three-man midfield we started with were overawed by this, particularly Ferdinand who I don’t think has suffered from this kind of treatment before, and Sturrock was forced to avert to a more traditional 4-4-2 in the hope of regaining the midfield. This led to Hall switching over to the left and Timlin being thrust over onto the right, which perhaps wasn’t the best move. It was a very tough call to make, because Grant’s more naturally suited to the right-hand side, but his bite was needed in the centre of the park. Ferdinand had a brief spell shunted onto the right hand side, and that proved to be even worse.

Recently, Ferdinand’s been used in a far more advanced position than we saw him take last season and he’s revelled in it. He’s progressed from being used as a defensive midfielder to more of a fulcrum, the midfielder others will look to launch an attack from the midfield and that was fairly evident against Northampton. We looked to do the same in the early stages, but Ferdinand had a much tougher time out there and really struggled. I would’ve probably taken him off and replaced him with Kalala, with Grant hanging on the right when we had the ball and shuffling back inside when we didn’t, but I can understand Sturrock not wanting to change much if it had been working all night.

Then we get to the forwards. Even from the handshakes, it was clear Mohsni was in for a rough night. Richards tugged his hand a little, and that what was to be expected all night as the pair got involved in fracas after fracas, with a fair few crafty digs and knocks occurring between the pair and although Bilel appeared to handle it well enough early on, it soon got to him and not only did he go looking for scraps, he tried to wind Richards up too. It didn’t work, as the referee had patently had enough of his bullcrap, and he was belatedly sent off for a nothing offence. For what it’s worth, the refereeing performance was ineptitude personified, but Bilel deserved to go. If not for the free-kick incident, then for the five or six times prior to that that he was waving his arms in the air.

I’ve said this before, but some of our support need to consider their role in how Mohsni is. He’s rightfully praised for his ubiquitous nature on the field, but then you see swathes of the crowd chanting his name when he’s lunging in on players and people posting on his Facebook wall saying stuff like “well in” and “shouldn’t have been sent off”. You don’t educate a child between right and wrong that way, and for all intents and purposes Mohsni’s manner on the pitch last night resembled a child… temper tantrums for not getting his own way and the inevitable lashing out when it got to him. He’s a cult hero, that’s for sure, but I noticed last night that a far greater proportion of the crowd are beginning to lose patience with him so I can only wonder what the players are thinking. He’s quickly becoming more and more of a liability, and you can’t expect to build performances around liabilities.

Oh, and more one thing, just because you scored a belter last time at home Bilel, doesn’t mean you’re going to again. So stop begging for the ball in the centre circle and move to where you’re supposed to be – carrying the forward line. When you’re out of position to such an extent, Gillingham can afford to press higher and throttle our play. This lead to far too much pressure on an already stretched midfield and if you’re carrying the line higher, we’ll have more space to operate.

Blair, in contrast, was excellent. Someone mentioned earlier about him getting into the Barca team on last night’s performance, which is more a rip of the imagination than a stretch, but his style of play really did resemble that of a forward who knew exactly what was required for the night. He countered Gillingham’s pressing game with that of his own, hurried defenders into making awkward passes and managed to maintain possession when we needed it most. That’s what we need from a forward player, not the ***** and giggles we get from Bilel.


One player who did impress me last night though was Danny Kedwell. Something of a non-league journeyman prior to this season, he played with intelligence, desire and craft last night and was, in reality, the only player who caused our defence much of a problem. He’s a size and in one particular move, he dispatched of Phillips as if he wasn’t there before turning and arrowing a shot on goal, but fortunately for us Morris was equal to it.

 

[chris wood]

What really made me mad about last nights game was how we started with only 1 up top and then constantly play aimless balls up to him. The ball then just keeps coming back and we are under pressure again.
I thought apart from Morris every one else were poor. Look Gillingham were a poor side and we are at home playing 1 up front against them madness!
The goal gave us a much needed but undeserved win and hopefully more importantly a bonding point ,unity through the sheer hard work that was on show a base to move forward.
As Sturrock said afterwards in his interview 'it could just be a turning point'.
Please play 442 on saturday and if we have to play long balls then direct them to a blues player! We need more forward thinking players on the pitch Timlin was poor Sawyer to replace him and for me Kalala has been more hardworking than Kane. A good call when back from suspension would be to play Barker left back and Moshini at center half if he can keep his head!

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

Please play 442 on saturday and if we have to play long balls then direct them to a blues player! We need more forward thinking players on the pitch Timlin was poor Sawyer to replace him and for me Kalala has been more hardworking than Kane. A good call when back from suspension would be to play Barker left back and Moshini at center half if he can keep his head!

From where i was sitting, we started off playing 4-4-2 last night, and those tactics failed miserably. Moshni and Sturrock had little support from the midfield and too many balls were played long, or over the top for them to run onto which isn't their game. We also had 3 CM's playing in the midfield four which was telling.

Personally, i would have opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with the midfield onwards being:

Ferdinand Grant

Sturrock Timlin Hall

Moshni

With Sturrock and Hall getting up and around the front player whos job is to bring them into play.

 

[Angell Delight]

What really made me mad about last nights game was how we started with only 1 up top and then constantly play aimless balls up to him. The ball then just keeps coming back and we are under pressure again.
I thought apart from Morris every one else were poor. Look Gillingham were a poor side and we are at home playing 1 up front against them madness!
The goal gave us a much needed but undeserved win and hopefully more importantly a bonding point ,unity through the sheer hard work that was on show a base to move forward.
As Sturrock said afterwards in his interview 'it could just be a turning point'.
Please play 442 on saturday and if we have to play long balls then direct them to a blues player! We need more forward thinking players on the pitch Timlin was poor Sawyer to replace him and for me Kalala has been more hardworking than Kane. A good call when back from suspension would be to play Barker left back and Moshini at center half if he can keep his head!

Timlin didn't have a particularly good game but he was never played in position from what I saw, he simply isn't a wide midfielder.

P.S. On another note, Gillingham had without doubt the shortest midfield I've ever seen! They wouldn't have looked out of place in an U13's game! :smile:

 

[leeblue]

part of our problem last night was the p*** poor movement off the ball, grant and ferdinand offered no forward momentum from the middle of the park, ok from one of them being more holding but not both, when do we see a CM breaking beyond the front men to threaten??? never really. Even the gills had that dwarf number 18 joining in and buzzing round the front two for them, we simply dont have that. The sooner sawyer gets back the better as he is always on the move wanting the ball looking to drive forward. We also desperately need dickinson back, alongside corr would be ideal imo. Although I will give credit to the team for excellent effort and determination last night, great result which will be really evident if we beat plymouth on saturday and really pushing the top spots. I will always take a result over a performance any time bring on saturday

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

If you win ugly then you still win. Awful performance and Gills deserved the points and would have taken them if it wasn't for Morris - weren't some saying he was rubbish on here not so long ago?
Blair Sturrock played well again and I expect him to keep his place in the side despite others coming back from injury etc.
Ferdinand was very poor and I wonder if the powers that be might be starting to regret not taking the Posh money now. On last nights showing he ain't worth £300 let alone £300k. Mohsni - drop him - sorry but he's a liability and not helping anyone.

 

[SUFCNATHAN96]

boring game but we showed fight and that showed to goal!
Good goal though.

 

[Pak Power]

Not much to add to what has already been said. I thought Gillingham (and typically Andy Hessenthaler managed) were in your face for the first 30 mins of each half, but couldn't keep it up understandably. The short guys in midfield were very dogged, and looked threatening, without ever actually threatening.
Mohnsi-disaster waiting to happen. I said to Bolton Shrimper (thanks for making the journey on a Tue night) that Bilel wouldn't stay on the field for the ninety mins. (But I like others have said thought PS should have subbed him before, maybe for JJ and kept the ball on the ground because the swirling wind was causing all sorts of problems)
MOM Morris , that mentioned deflected save, off one of our defenders late on superb.
Blair Sturrock. Good game worth a mention, thought he looked better when Bilel was sent off. Was then target man, and coped well I thought.
Overall lucky three points (you need them sometimes) but you can see why Gills don't score many from open play.

 

[ibwiajwa]

Not a great performance by any stretch of the imagination, more professional than proficient (apart from Mohsni, of course), but an extremely valuable and hard-fought three points against opposition that came with the view of battling hard.

Starting from the back, Morris had a spectacular game. There were a few calling for him to be dropped when he was spilling free-kicks earlier on in the season, when he was playing despite still suffering with a bout of flu, and that performance was the just redemption. His distribution left a lot to be desired (although Mohsni hardly made much of an effort to move for the ball unless Richards was about to get it), but his handling, reflexes and shot-stopping was superb. One particular save in the dying embers of the game, when the ball took a last-second deflection, was brilliant and it’s hard to remember a game when we’ve been kept in the game by a ‘keeper’s performance as much as last night… perhaps Flahavan against United?

Central defence looked fairly capable. Barker got far better as the game went on and, if you ask me, I think he might still be struggling with the knock he picked up earlier on in the season and is playing through the pain barrier, with Mohsni banished to the forward line. Some of his headers were mistimed and went sideways rather than out, and this caused more pressure to mount on the full-backs.

Typical Gilbert performance, really. Solid enough at the back against a very tricky opponent in Whelpdale, but his distribution is still very poor. I can understand picking a more natural full-back against an established winger, but Gilbert’s passes were more often than not a simple long-ball into space that was sent right back. Clohessy at the moment is the ying to Gilbert’s yang, however, with him possessing far more of a threat going forward and costing us at the back. It might be slightly understandable with Hall playing on the right-hand side, he offers very little defensively and with him being left-footed, he always shows the winger onto the flank. I’d like to see Leonard given a run-out in his natural position on Saturday, purely to see if he shores up what still is a leaky defence.

The midfield is where the majority of our problems arose. Although the game didn’t really allow our midfield to dictate tempo, what with the majority of it played over their heads, all three genuine midfielders really struggled to impact on the game until the closing stages. This was largely attributable to Gillingham’s plan of closing them down (they basically played a full-court press for the first half), a pretty confusing shape and a poor performance from Ferdinand, which was probably due to Gillingham’s game plan.

As soon as the ball reached Hall, he’d be surrounded and either hounded out of possession, or forced to play the pass inside to Grant. The three-man midfield we started with were overawed by this, particularly Ferdinand who I don’t think has suffered from this kind of treatment before, and Sturrock was forced to avert to a more traditional 4-4-2 in the hope of regaining the midfield. This led to Hall switching over to the left and Timlin being thrust over onto the right, which perhaps wasn’t the best move. It was a very tough call to make, because Grant’s more naturally suited to the right-hand side, but his bite was needed in the centre of the park. Ferdinand had a brief spell shunted onto the right hand side, and that proved to be even worse.

Recently, Ferdinand’s been used in a far more advanced position than we saw him take last season and he’s revelled in it. He’s progressed from being used as a defensive midfielder to more of a fulcrum, the midfielder others will look to launch an attack from the midfield and that was fairly evident against Northampton. We looked to do the same in the early stages, but Ferdinand had a much tougher time out there and really struggled. I would’ve probably taken him off and replaced him with Kalala, with Grant hanging on the right when we had the ball and shuffling back inside when we didn’t, but I can understand Sturrock not wanting to change much if it had been working all night.

Then we get to the forwards. Even from the handshakes, it was clear Mohsni was in for a rough night. Richards tugged his hand a little, and that what was to be expected all night as the pair got involved in fracas after fracas, with a fair few crafty digs and knocks occurring between the pair and although Bilel appeared to handle it well enough early on, it soon got to him and not only did he go looking for scraps, he tried to wind Richards up too. It didn’t work, as the referee had patently had enough of his bullcrap, and he was belatedly sent off for a nothing offence. For what it’s worth, the refereeing performance was ineptitude personified, but Bilel deserved to go. If not for the free-kick incident, then for the five or six times prior to that that he was waving his arms in the air.

I’ve said this before, but some of our support need to consider their role in how Mohsni is. He’s rightfully praised for his ubiquitous nature on the field, but then you see swathes of the crowd chanting his name when he’s lunging in on players and people posting on his Facebook wall saying stuff like “well in” and “shouldn’t have been sent off”. You don’t educate a child between right and wrong that way, and for all intents and purposes Mohsni’s manner on the pitch last night resembled a child… temper tantrums for not getting his own way and the inevitable lashing out when it got to him. He’s a cult hero, that’s for sure, but I noticed last night that a far greater proportion of the crowd are beginning to lose patience with him so I can only wonder what the players are thinking. He’s quickly becoming more and more of a liability, and you can’t expect to build performances around liabilities.

Oh, and more one thing, just because you scored a belter last time at home Bilel, doesn’t mean you’re going to again. So stop begging for the ball in the centre circle and move to where you’re supposed to be – carrying the forward line. When you’re out of position to such an extent, Gillingham can afford to press higher and throttle our play. This lead to far too much pressure on an already stretched midfield and if you’re carrying the line higher, we’ll have more space to operate.

Blair, in contrast, was excellent. Someone mentioned earlier about him getting into the Barca team on last night’s performance, which is more a rip of the imagination than a stretch, but his style of play really did resemble that of a forward who knew exactly what was required for the night. He countered Gillingham’s pressing game with that of his own, hurried defenders into making awkward passes and managed to maintain possession when we needed it most. That’s what we need from a forward player, not the ***** and giggles we get from Bilel.


One player who did impress me last night though was Danny Kedwell. Something of a non-league journeyman prior to this season, he played with intelligence, desire and craft last night and was, in reality, the only player who caused our defence much of a problem. He’s a size and in one particular move, he dispatched of Phillips as if he wasn’t there before turning and arrowing a shot on goal, but fortunately for us Morris was equal to it.

Pretty good analysis of the game on the whole but I can't agree with you about our centre backs. They inspire very little confidence in me as a pairing and that isn't simply to do with the lack of midfield cover (although it is a factor). If you look at the goals we have conceded so far this season it is amazing how many times they are in poor positions or unaware of what is going on around them. I hope that they improve quickly or we will struggle.

 

[1966 and all that]

OK, Moshni was bound to be sent off for a second yellow (or even straight red) at some point, but I believe the Gills defender was culpable. He had absolutely no intention of passing to an opponent; only in whacking the ball straight at our guy. And the ref bought it.

 

[OldBlueLady]

OK, Moshni was bound to be sent off for a second yellow (or even straight red) at some point, but I believe the Gills defender was culpable. He had absolutely no intention of passing to an opponent; only in whacking the ball straight at our guy. And the ref bought it.

Typical Garry Richards then.

 

[Fish]

OK, Moshni was bound to be sent off for a second yellow (or even straight red) at some point, but I believe the Gills defender was culpable. He had absolutely no intention of passing to an opponent; only in whacking the ball straight at our guy. And the ref bought it.

So don't give Richards the opportunity to do it. Get up, get out of the way, get on with it. I've never played professional football and even I know that. Mohsni needs to break out of this seige mentality and just accept that sometimes he's going to be up against it but, likewise, other players have their struggles too.