Official Match Thread Southend United v Wycombe Wanderers

[The Big Dady]

The Official Match Thread brought to you by ShrimperZone.com

So here we are the twenty first League One home game of the 2018/19 season and Kevin Bond’s first home game in charge as manager until the end of the season of the Mighty Shrimpers.

Our twenty first match at home is against Wycombe Wanderers




It is now time for ALL of us to get behind Kevin and the team whether you are at Roots Hall, listening on the radio, or listening/watching on ifollow, and make that famous "Roots Hall Roar"

Kevin Bond’s 1st Southend United League One Home Team of the 2018/19 season



The Roots Hall pitch looks fantastic and is ready for action at 3.00 pm Saturday 13th April 2019 against Wycombe Wanderers, It looks like we are going to have sunny intervals with a gentle breeze for today’s important game, but it is going to feel colder tonight than it has done recently so rap up warm.





The weather forecast for today at Roots Hall



Kevin Bond’s current League home record

Won 0
Drawn 0
Lost 0
Goals scored 0
Goals conceded 0

League Positions Last Season

10th (2017/18 Season) League One Southend United
3rd (2017/18 Season) League Two Wycombe Wanderers (Promoted)

League Positions Current Season

20th (2018/19 Season) League One Wycombe Wanderers
21st (2018/19 Season) League One Southend United

Recent League Position Change



Previous Five Meetings

Wycombe Wanderers 2-3 Southend United (L1 28/09/18 Att. 4,784)
Southend United 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers (POF Wembley 23/05/15 Att.38,252 Southend win on penalties 7-6)
Southend United 2-2 Wycombe Wanderers (L2 7/03/15 Att. 6,204)
Wycombe Wanderers 4-1 Southend United (L2 13/12/14 Att. 4,123)
Southend United 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers (L2 1/03/14 Att. 5,502)

Head to Head record

Southend United Wins: 5
Draws: 5
Wycombe Wanderers Wins: 7


Kevin Bond has a licence to Win!​

 

[The Big Dady]

Managers Pre-match Views​

Wycombe Wanderers


Gareth Ainsworth talks to Wycombe Wanderers OS before travelling to Roots Hall

Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth says he’s optimistic about his side’s chances of beating the drop, believing the strong recent performances of late will soon be translated into the results they need to ensure League 1 survival.

The Blues had promotion chasers Portsmouth and Charlton on the ropes at times in the past week, just being denied at least a share of the points by combinations of expert goalkeeping and misfortune in front of goal, succumbing to defeats which extend their winless run to 12 games.

Next, they head to a Southend side sitting one place and one point beneath them, on a winless streak of 13 matches themselves – but Ainsworth says there is no need for his side to feel pressure.

“People can see we’re on a slide and a bad run of losses, but some of our performances have been superb,” he said. “We’re creating chances - we out-shot Portsmouth and Charlton – and we’ve been playing some good football and pressing teams really well. We’ve been unfortunate, but we know we have more than a fighting chance of staying up, and I’m buoyed by the way we’ve been playing.

“The boys believe that if they keep playing this way, it will be enough to stay up, and I’m not going to burst their bubble because I agree. We’ve got momentum with the performances we’ve been putting in, but we just need to take every opportunity now. I’d love us to play well and deserve our victories, but equally I’d just love us to get the wins we need, however they come. You want to deserve what you get, but we haven’t been getting what we deserve.

“I don’t feel pressure, though. I’ve been through a lot tougher times in football and in life, and you only feel pressure if you cut corners or don’t do your job properly. I go to bed every night with my head held high because I know I’m giving my best, and the boys do too. If it comes up short, what more can you give? The fans have been fantastic, the board have been great in digging deep to help in any way they can, and we’re all doing the best we can for this club. I’m very proud of everyone for pushing in the same direction, and I know we will be fine.”

Southend will look forward to a first home game under new boss Kevin Bond, who oversaw an upturn in performance in the 2-2 draw at Fleetwood last Saturday, and Ainsworth knows the Shrimpers are capable of providing a stern test.

“They’ve just changed their manager and it will be an interesting game to see how they set up against us,” he said. “I was desperately disappointed to see Chris Powell lose his job there because he’s an awesome guy and a very good manager, but I know they’ve had some terrible luck with injuries which hasn’t helped them. They’ve got a good squad there and I’m sure they’ll be fighting for the three points just like we will be.”

Link to full story
https://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/news/2019/april/gareth-were-giving-our-all-and-it-will-be-enough/


Southend United


Kevin Bond talks to the OS ahead of the game with Wycombe Wanderers

Southend manager Kevin Bond sat down with the press on Thursday afternoon to discuss Saturday’s game at home to Wycombe Wanderers.

Bond saw his charges earn a point away at Fleetwood last week, and ahead of his first taste of managing at Roots Hall the Blues boss has spoken at length about what is a very important game and the role the fans can play in that.

Here’s what Bond had to say.

On the mindset to approach the game with…

We just know that it’s going to be one almighty battle. I saw Wycombe play on Tuesday night and they were tremendously committed, they gave everything they had in terms of effort and endeavour as a result of that their supporters stayed with them till the very last minute of the game.

They were undone by a little bit of quality on the night but kept going right until the very end. They do carry real threats as well but have similarly found it very difficult to win recently, but make no mistake they are a very live danger. First of all we need to match them on the basics otherwise we will come up short.

On both sides being desperate for the three points, but the emphasis also being on not to lose the game…

We definitely don’t want to lose the game, obviously. We will be going all out to try and win the game.

On the Fleetwood performance giving the players confidence…

I do think so. They were understandably disappointed at the end of the game as we had taken the lead twice and then you get a win in your sights. As we said after the game we would have taken a draw up there, and it was a really good point for us, but when you get your nose in front you obviously think after that initial disappointment and maybe a little bit of frustration after giving the lead away twice. The players looked back and reflected on it and all agreed it was a good team performance, certainly the first half and hopefully there’s a lot for us to build on. The lads have been in fine spirits since.

On the threats in the Wycombe side and Adebayo Akinfenwa in particular…

They have a lot of threats in their side, they have one or two players who can do something different, they’ve got people who are willing to run, force mistakes and close you down. They have threats from different areas, so they are not to be underestimated.

Absolutely we will not be taking them lightly. We will give them the respect they deserve but will be going flat out to win the game.

On his first game in charge at Roots Hall and the role of the fans…

The supporters can make a difference for the good and for the bad as they will be frustrated having not seen us win for a while, but that frustration can sometimes spill over and the players can feel it, which can affect confidence. Although it is not the supporters’ fault as it’s the players and teams’ job to motivate the fans.

Where I’ve been in the past, the supporters will forgive you for quite a lot if they see you running harder than the next team, making tackles, closing people down, giving their best shot and working right until the end. That we have within us to do, regardless.

We might not play well or win but we can guarantee that we will work till the very end and give our very best. Then we will have the supporters on our side, and we absolutely need them because the home games are the ones you want to win the most, so we need them cheering every tackle, every time we close someone down and they kick it out for a throw in.

We could do with them turning up on Saturday and backing the boys and the lads giving them something to cheer about.

On Stephen Humphrys’ fitness and the possibility of him starting…

I’m hoping that he will be in better shape. It was a big ask for him given his circumstances last week, but circumstances prevailed and he got on the pitch earlier than what I would ever have wanted at that stage given what he had or hadn’t done in preparation for it. He’s trained all week so we will have to assess that.

On any other injury concerns…

We have a couple of injury concerns with a couple of our players taking knocks; Harry Bunn’s taken a knock and so has Luke Hyam. Jason Demetriou has had to miss training. We’ve had one or two skirmishes this week so we will have a look at it a little bit closer to the weekend to see whose fit and who’s not before we make the final decision on the team.

Link to full story
https://www.southendunited.co.uk/news/2019/april/kevin-bonds-wycombe-preview/

Kevin Bond has a licence to Win!​

 

[The Big Dady]

Wycombe Wanderers Team news

Wycombe: Allsop, McCarthy, Harriman, El-Abd, Jombati, Gape, Thompson, Freeman, Kashket, Samuel, Akinfenwa.

Subs: Ma-Kalambay, Jacobson, Stewart, Bean, Bloomfield, Cowan-Hall, Owens.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1117049667634778112

 

[Shrimper]

Odds on Akinfenwa scoring.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Good to see Macca back, and great to see Humphrys start

 

[Ricey]

No Moore in the squad! What has he done?

Akinfenwa is going to have John White’s pants down!

 

[Ricey]

Odds on Akinfenwa scoring.

He hasn’t scored in ages too so it’s inevitable it will happen.

 

[Ricey]

Good to see Humph’s and Cox up top together, hopefully he isn’t being chucked in too early.

 

[Tampa Blue]

No Moore in the squad! What has he done?

Akinfenwa is going to have John White’s pants down!

Makes you wonder if there is some financial penalty over a certain number of games?

No knowledge on this and nothing to back it up

 

[Ricey]

Makes you wonder if there is some financial penalty over a certain number of games?

No knowledge on this and nothing to back it up

Yep, it does smell of that. Who knows, very odd indeed.

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Watch out, watch out there's a Humphry's about....

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

Watch out, watch out there's a Humphry's about....

Alright don't milk it

 

[rayleigh dan]

Dieng back in

I can't understand how he's always picked (last week was the only exception I believe), despite being average at best, and downright awful and disinterested at worst. I hope he proves me wrong... it's about time!

It's a shame Hyam's made of glass. I would have given Dru a start myself, at least he tries.

On a more positive note I'm pleased to see Macca on the bench. Perhaps risky starting Humphrys as I doubt he's fully fit, however he who dares wins, let's hope the risk pays off. UTB

 

[Sunnyshrimper]

Makes you wonder if there is some financial penalty over a certain number of games?

No knowledge on this and nothing to back it up

Something has happened regarding Taylor Moore behind the scenes, he was first name on the team sheet for majority of this season and rightly so as one of few stand out players, now he’s not even involved in squad under different team selectors.

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Alright don't milk it

Ex Unigate milkboy in my youth...couldn't miss the opportunity

 

[geoffmundo]

So both last weeks goal scorers are missing...

 

[GBJ]

Redknapp is here today. He spent a fair while outside the main stand entrance, signing autographs & taking pictures.

The plot thickens.....

 

[Harry Bullocks]

If we nominated Taylor Moore as Player of the Year, would KB , be forced to let him "wear the shirt".....

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Something has happened regarding Taylor Moore behind the scenes, he was first name on the team sheet for majority of this season and rightly so as one of few stand out players, now he’s not even involved in squad under different team selectors.

Wasn't Moore one of the few players to publicly offer his best wishes to Chris Powell after he was sacked.

 

[The Big Dady]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1117051372736790528