The Blues are going up!

[Upminster Blue]

What a stonking day at Aggbrough, it doesn't get much better. Terrific gutsy showing in the last ten minutes to finally get the win we should have sown up much earlier. But then if we had sown it up earlier we would have missed out on the fantastic ending.

We were by far the better team, despite looking very tired and lethargic all over the pitch. Kiddie were a long ball outfit which was meat and drink to Barrett and Prior. They scored with their only shot on target.

Just about deserved our lead at half time - free kick won on the edge of the box by Barrett which Eastwood rifled home with a low shot around the wall and in to the bottom corner. We sat back after the goal and soaked up what Kidderminster could throw at us, which wasn't much. Most of the team looked tired after Rushden and it was hard to retain possession on a bobly pitch.

Only downer of the first half was the injury to Bentley - took a kick to the shin after 40 minutes and was replaced by Bramble with Petts moving to central midfield.

Started the second half more positively with Bramble making a couple of storming runs and playing in Gray and Eastwood for one on ones with the keeper. Kidderminster upped their game as time wore on and had the majority of position. We struggled to keep hold of the ball. However, they didn't really look like scoring. That is, until the 78th minute when they had their first shot on target - a half cleared corner which some how found its way into the back of the net from the edge of the area. Cue nausea feelings amongst the massed ranks in the away end. We'd thrown away 2 points and Kiddie now looked the more likely winners.

However, we immediately upped our game (why didn't we do this earlier?). Dudfield (who had replaced the injured Bramble) broke down the right and put in a beautiful pulled back cross to the unmarked Nicky Nic just beyond the far post. Nicky miscontrolled the ball with his left foot and it fell to his right. The chance had gone, we thought. How wrong were we! He pulled the trigger with a thunderbolt of an angled drive over the head of the defender on the line into the top far corner. Cue mass delirium of a Col U win type with Nicky diving into the away end!

But we weren't finished. Almost straight from the kick-off we broke again with the ball eventually being crossed from the left wing to the on rushing Eastwood to bury with a classic Shearer style strikers header. Cue more delirium!

We easily saw out the last 5 minutes and the celebrations at the end were superb. Happy days.

Special mention to the away support. Must have been a good 500 there who completely out sung the home support. I was in the seats and the noise from the away end was immense.

Second special mention to the food at Aggborough - out of this world. Almost worth the trip on its own. Yeovil (in fact all clubs in the football league) take note.

For what it's worth, player ratings:

Grimienk - 7 had little to do but what few crosses he had to deal with he dealt with well. Didn't think he had much (if any) chance with the goal.
Hunt 7 - solid as a rock defensively. Very harshly booked for a great interception. Didn't offer too much going forward.
Prior 8 (MOTM) - a collusus at the back. Superb decision by Tilson to bring him back given Kiddie's long ball style - won everything in the air.
Barrett 7 - usual rock solid, take no prisoners performance.
Wilson - 7 solid game, did what he had to.
Pettefer - 7 usual terrier like performance, battled throughout and looked ok in central midfield.
Maher 6 - not one of captain marvel's better games but kept going and encouraged the team throughout. Didn't control the game as you would usually expect.
Bentley 6 - usual fully committed display covering acres of ground but didn't see enough of the ball to make an attacking impact.
Nicolou 7 - an up and down performance. Looked tired at times but playing him wide gives the team much better balance. Great goal!
Gray 6 - usual 100% effort chasing everything. Had few goal scoring chances and suffered from a lack of support and decent service for the most part.
Eastwood 7 - typical Fredy performance, struggled to get involved but still popped up with two cracking goals - comes alive when he gets a sniff of goal. Could have had a couple more with a bit of luck.

Subs:
Bramble 8 - a real threat down the right. Two inch perfect through balls almost led to goals. Hopefully wont be out for long.
Dudfield 8 - sublime run and cut back for Nicky Nic's goal. Super sub Dud's was a real threat.
Edwards 6 - was on for less than a minute (nice of Tilson to give him an appearance bonus after his last few top performances).

Roll on Boston. Things are looking good

 

[The_Showstoppa15]

Couldn't agree more with that. Away support was fantastic, apart from the fat bloke at the far end of the terracing who was probably drunk, singing completely irrelevant tunes an generally making an ar$e of himself......dread to think how embarrassed his poor girlfriend was!

First half Kidderminster were dire and again, it was a case of "should have been 3-0 up at half time". Agree that when Bentley came of it unsettled us when the 2nd half started, but I thought Tes played well. Kiddie deserved their goal, although it really was an awful one, as they had us under the cosh for just over half an hour. But it gave us a kick up the backside, and the admission price was worth it just to see our 2nd and 3rd goals....they were pure class. The build up play for both goals belonged a league or two above, and the finishing was superb. When Fredy went up for his header, you could see that he placed where he wanted to. Class.

Ratings I'd mostly agree with, apart from Barrett, who I think was on a par with Prior, and Gray. Gray chased everything, he never gave up, his passing was good (especially the one that nearly let Eastwood in during the second half), and he was holding the ball up like a 6'4" target man. I'd've given him a 7.5. Don't think Spinner was any better than Barrett as they both swept up everything, so I'd give Barrett an 8 too.

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (The_Showstoppa15 @ Jan. 03 2005,22:08)]Ratings I'd mostly agree with, apart from Barrett, who I think was on a par with Prior, and Gray.  Gray chased everything, he never gave up, his passing was good (especially the one that nearly let Eastwood in during the second half), and he was holding the ball up like a 6'4" target man.  I'd've given him a 7.5.  Don't think Spinner was any better than Barrett as they both swept up everything, so I'd give Barrett an 8 too.

Fair comments on the ratings. I just have a soft spot for Prior - prodigal son and all that jazz. Prior appeared to see more of the action as a result of marking Kiddie's target man Sturrock hence my higher mark. However, that wasn't Barrett's fault. He didn't put a foot wrong and gave the sort of rock solid centre half performance you need away from home so my 7 is perhaps a bit harsh.

As for Gray, agreed. Just wish others would give him more support to make more use of his chasing. If so, he would stand out even more. I thought the short through ball to Eastwood from the edge of the box was played by Bramble and not Gray. I'm probably wrong and if so the quality of that pass was worth an extra mark.

Can't believe someone was having a go at Bramble's performance on another thread. Thought he did well and was lively.

 

[The_Showstoppa15]

The one from the edge of the area was played by Bramble, that was excellent. But there was one from Gray where Bartman booted the ball up the field and it looked to be rolling down the the left wing and out for a throw, but Gray ran his socks off to chase after it, waited for support, and when Eastwood ran through pointing where he wanted the ball to placed, Gray played a ball into his path from the left wing, which Eastwood touched on a bit too hard, squanering another goal chance. I thought that was excellent.

Bramble was good I thought. Only slight criticism is that he can still be a tad lazy.

 

[Hawkwell Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ Jan. 03 2005,21:42)]Special mention to the away support.  Must have been a good 500 there who completely out sung the home support.  I was in the seats and the noise from the away end was immense.

The official number was 463 to be precise. Excellent support considering some people have work tomorrow and Christmas has just past so some peoples budgets are low!

But don't forget....
With Tilly & Brush
We're Going Up!

 

[Suffolk Blue]

I don't know what sort of official number 463 is because I counted nearly 150 in the away seats and there looked to be around 600 on the terrace.

 

[Barmy Army]

Gray deserves a 7 at least IMO. Kept putting pressure on the Kiddie players, showed great strength and determination to set-up the second goal.

The food was indeed quality with Chinese and Indian takeaway on offer! I went with the soup which was also very tasty.

 

[londonblue]

Quote[/b] (The_Showstoppa15 @ Jan. 03 2005,22:08)]Ratings I'd mostly agree with, apart from Barrett, who I think was on a par with Prior, and Gray.  Gray chased everything, he never gave up, his passing was good (especially the one that nearly let Eastwood in during the second half), and he was holding the ball up like a 6'4" target man.  I'd've given him a 7.5.

Don't forget also that Gray beat three men to give the ball to Petts to set up the 3rd goal. One of the defenders tried to shoulder barge gray off the ball and ended up on his ar$e himself when Gray shrugged him off.

Made me laugh.

As the guy sitting behind me pointed out, the midfield was very makeshift after Bentley went off. The only one playing in his usual position was Maher. We had Bramble wide right (who IMO did very well out there), Petts in the middle and Nicky Nic out wide left. When Bramble went off injured Gray went to right wing.

From the point of view it wasn't too much of a surprise that we struggled to hold on to the ball in the 2nd half.

 

[Smiffy]

Quote[/b] (Hawkwell Shrimper @ Jan. 03 2005,22:57)]The official number was 463 to be precise.

Cant believe less than 500 was there, the terrace holds just over 1000 and it was over half full plus as mentioned above at least 150 odd were in the seats. I'd say nearer 7-800 were there. More controversy over attendance figures!!.

 

[SUFC_Spike]

Quote[/b] (Hawkwell Shrimper @ Jan. 03 2005,22:57)]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ Jan. 03 2005,21:42)]Special mention to the away support.  Must have been a good 500 there who completely out sung the home support.  I was in the seats and the noise from the away end was immense.

The official number was 463 to be precise.

It seemed like there was loads more than that in the terraced bit alone, but I could well be very wrong.

A really good game!!

ratings:

Griemink - 7, did what he had to, dealt with the crosses into the box well.
Wilson - 7, nothing spectacular but solid nonetheless.
Barrett - 9 MOM, I thought he was superb. Let nothing past him, won next to everything in the air, used the ball well and didnt give the Kidderminster forwards a look in.
Prior - 8, Very good at the back with Barrett, won all his headers and looked solid throughout.
Hunt - 7, Like Wilson, did his job well. Got forward fairly well in the second half.
Nicolau - 7.5, Drifted a bit at times but was a threat when taking people on down the left. Added width to the side and scored the pick of the Southend goals.
Bentley - 6.5, A combative 40 minutes from Bentley. Difficult to judge due to the injury.
Pettefer - 7, A battling performance both wide right and in the middle. Great cross for Fredy's second goal.
Maher - 6.5, Struggled to get involved for a fair amount of the game. Didnt dominate but did his job well enough.
Gray - 8, Chased everything and on another day could have had a goal or two. Very strong when holding the ball up and 100% effort again, looked knackered after the game.
Eastwood - 7.5, Drifted in and out of the game. Had a few chances and could have had a hattrick. Good strike for the first and his second goal was harder than it looked.

Subs:
Bramble - 7.5, Caused the Kidderminster defenders a lot of problems down the right but seems to be lacking fitness.
Dudfield - 7.5, Full of running and contributed to Nicky's goal. Added an extra threat going forwards.
Edwards - 6, No time to impress or put a foot wrong.