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Blue tinted optimist⭐
BLUES SUCCUMB TO HOWARDS WAY
It was another point-less afternoon for Southend at the Hall as Derby went clear at the top of the Championship after doing the double over the bottom side.
The main difference between the teams was Rams front man and ex-Luton striker Steve Howard. He did the damage for Luton in a televised FA Cup tie two seasons ago at the Hall and notched the winning goal today.
But Southend started the brighter, with Gower getting the ball in the net after literally 20 seconds or so, but it was ruled out for offside.
Derby were sharper to the ball than their hosts though and in truth contained Southend easily.
After 5 minutes Teale should have opened the scoring for the visitors. Barrett was caught upfield out of position, and in trying to cover Clarke and Hammell got in each others way. This left Derby with a 2 v 1 situation and Howard squared the ball for Teale who was 20 yards out with only Flahavan to beat, but Darryl was equal to the ex-Wigan mans effort.
Eastwood had Southend's only effort on target in the first half after 12 minutes and then the game entered a fairly dull phase with chances for either side at a premium.
Gower shot over having been played through by McCormack and then shot wide after a mazy run from JCR took him across the goal past several Derby defenders. The diminuitive winger failed to find a shooting opportunity and the ball broke to Gower whose curling shot went wide.
Howard was a handful throughout for Derby and sandwiched between Gowers two efforts had hit a 25 yard thunderbolt against the post.
So it seemed only a matter of time before Derby scored and after 33 minutes a Teale corner was not attacked by any Southend defenders and Howard stooped to head home unchallenged from 6 yards out. It was poor defending from the set piece and yet again Southend paid the price.
Derby were unlucky not to have increased their lead by the break as Fagan prodded the ball fractionally wide and in first half injury time Darren Moore was inches away from making it 2-0.
There were too many Blues players not at the races in the first half with only Hammell, JCR and McCormack to come out with much credit.
In the second half Derby started the quicker and again seemed to contain us with ease. But Alan McCormack started to run the midfield show and the rest of the team slowly started to respond. It seemed as though Barrett, who had marked Howard for the first half (not very well either) and Clarke had swopped roles and Clarke did a much better job on the target man.
Southend began to chase the game in what was now an exciting, end to end encounter with an equaliser looking likely. The visitors continually struggled with McCormacks bursting runs from midfield and surely enough the chances began to come. McCormack himself had a long range effort which Bywater saved comfortably and JCR pinged one over the bar before Southends best chance came and went. A superb Hammell corner caused havoc in the defence and Gowers effort was only parried out to Clarke whose effort went wide from only 5 yards out. At that point there was a feeling that it was not going to be Southends day.
Undeterred however, Blues continued to press forward and Derby resorted to dirty tactics in order to cope. Eastwood had two free kicks that nearly produced a goal, one that went narrowly wide and one that the keeper saved. But inevitably as Blues pushed up they left gaps at the back and Derby had 2 or 3 gilt edged chances on counter attacks, one that Flahavan saved when Pearson had raced clear and was only 12 yards out and the others were squandered by the visitors who failed to make the most of what came their way.
With 15 minutes of normal time left, another superb Hammell corner was headed goalwards by Barrett but the ball hit a combination of post, keeper and defender and amid cries for handball the danger was cleared.
Hooper and Harrold came on for Gower and Bradbury respectively but neither player really made an impact on the game and Derby played out the remainder of the match without major incident.
So, another home defeat and the chance to get off the bottom was lost. But did we really expect to get points off the team at the top? I didn't - but am still confident that we will survive. Our fixtures in February and March will be crucial - especially the visits of Leeds, Barnsley, Luton, QPR and Palace to the Hall.
Judging by the second half performance today there isn't a lot wrong here. We just need a little bit of luck to go our way.
Ratings -
Flahavan - 7 - kept us in it with 2 saves in one-on-one situations but to be fair both finishes were poor. Kicking not up to expected standard.
Hunt - 6 - Anonymous first half, slightly better second. Any Derby fan won't have seen much to make them regret getting rid of him.
Hammell - 7 - Some excellent delivery in windy conditions but the defensive side of his game was tested and he struggled to cope with Teale's pace
Barrett - 6 - No match for Howard I'm afraid. Better second half but Clarke was marking Howard then.
Clarke - 7 - Shaky start but got better. Missed open goal to show why he is a defender. Would have liked to have seen Sodje come on for either Clarke or Barrett (probably Barrett) as we badly needed height at the back.
Gower - 6 - Always wants the ball but given little chance to shine by Derby. I'm seen him play much better.
Maher - 4 - I'm sorry but this was an uninspiring performance and Captain Kev's distribution and delivery was nothing short of woeful.
McCormack - 8.5 - MOM - Was everywhere. Really inprired people on with a monster performance. Unfortunately booked which seems more usual than not
Campbell-Ryce - 8 - Again, a monster performamce and is starting to show his real potential
Eastwood - 6.5 - Tried hard but given no space at all by Derby defence. Best efforts came from set pieces. Needs a goal
Bradbury - 5 - I'm a big fan of his but apart from one fantastic piece of play in the second half he was totally ineffective
Subs - Hooper - 6 and Harrold - 6. Didn't make much impact when they came on
The Ref - Mr Williamson - 7 - It is a fact that most fans will criticise the refs when they give decisions that go against their team. Well, apart from being perhaps a bit lenient with the cards and also one or two decisions in the second half that I feel were incorrect then I have to say I didn't think he did much wrong. In particular he let the game flow.
It was another point-less afternoon for Southend at the Hall as Derby went clear at the top of the Championship after doing the double over the bottom side.
The main difference between the teams was Rams front man and ex-Luton striker Steve Howard. He did the damage for Luton in a televised FA Cup tie two seasons ago at the Hall and notched the winning goal today.
But Southend started the brighter, with Gower getting the ball in the net after literally 20 seconds or so, but it was ruled out for offside.
Derby were sharper to the ball than their hosts though and in truth contained Southend easily.
After 5 minutes Teale should have opened the scoring for the visitors. Barrett was caught upfield out of position, and in trying to cover Clarke and Hammell got in each others way. This left Derby with a 2 v 1 situation and Howard squared the ball for Teale who was 20 yards out with only Flahavan to beat, but Darryl was equal to the ex-Wigan mans effort.
Eastwood had Southend's only effort on target in the first half after 12 minutes and then the game entered a fairly dull phase with chances for either side at a premium.
Gower shot over having been played through by McCormack and then shot wide after a mazy run from JCR took him across the goal past several Derby defenders. The diminuitive winger failed to find a shooting opportunity and the ball broke to Gower whose curling shot went wide.
Howard was a handful throughout for Derby and sandwiched between Gowers two efforts had hit a 25 yard thunderbolt against the post.
So it seemed only a matter of time before Derby scored and after 33 minutes a Teale corner was not attacked by any Southend defenders and Howard stooped to head home unchallenged from 6 yards out. It was poor defending from the set piece and yet again Southend paid the price.
Derby were unlucky not to have increased their lead by the break as Fagan prodded the ball fractionally wide and in first half injury time Darren Moore was inches away from making it 2-0.
There were too many Blues players not at the races in the first half with only Hammell, JCR and McCormack to come out with much credit.
In the second half Derby started the quicker and again seemed to contain us with ease. But Alan McCormack started to run the midfield show and the rest of the team slowly started to respond. It seemed as though Barrett, who had marked Howard for the first half (not very well either) and Clarke had swopped roles and Clarke did a much better job on the target man.
Southend began to chase the game in what was now an exciting, end to end encounter with an equaliser looking likely. The visitors continually struggled with McCormacks bursting runs from midfield and surely enough the chances began to come. McCormack himself had a long range effort which Bywater saved comfortably and JCR pinged one over the bar before Southends best chance came and went. A superb Hammell corner caused havoc in the defence and Gowers effort was only parried out to Clarke whose effort went wide from only 5 yards out. At that point there was a feeling that it was not going to be Southends day.
Undeterred however, Blues continued to press forward and Derby resorted to dirty tactics in order to cope. Eastwood had two free kicks that nearly produced a goal, one that went narrowly wide and one that the keeper saved. But inevitably as Blues pushed up they left gaps at the back and Derby had 2 or 3 gilt edged chances on counter attacks, one that Flahavan saved when Pearson had raced clear and was only 12 yards out and the others were squandered by the visitors who failed to make the most of what came their way.
With 15 minutes of normal time left, another superb Hammell corner was headed goalwards by Barrett but the ball hit a combination of post, keeper and defender and amid cries for handball the danger was cleared.
Hooper and Harrold came on for Gower and Bradbury respectively but neither player really made an impact on the game and Derby played out the remainder of the match without major incident.
So, another home defeat and the chance to get off the bottom was lost. But did we really expect to get points off the team at the top? I didn't - but am still confident that we will survive. Our fixtures in February and March will be crucial - especially the visits of Leeds, Barnsley, Luton, QPR and Palace to the Hall.
Judging by the second half performance today there isn't a lot wrong here. We just need a little bit of luck to go our way.
Ratings -
Flahavan - 7 - kept us in it with 2 saves in one-on-one situations but to be fair both finishes were poor. Kicking not up to expected standard.
Hunt - 6 - Anonymous first half, slightly better second. Any Derby fan won't have seen much to make them regret getting rid of him.
Hammell - 7 - Some excellent delivery in windy conditions but the defensive side of his game was tested and he struggled to cope with Teale's pace
Barrett - 6 - No match for Howard I'm afraid. Better second half but Clarke was marking Howard then.
Clarke - 7 - Shaky start but got better. Missed open goal to show why he is a defender. Would have liked to have seen Sodje come on for either Clarke or Barrett (probably Barrett) as we badly needed height at the back.
Gower - 6 - Always wants the ball but given little chance to shine by Derby. I'm seen him play much better.
Maher - 4 - I'm sorry but this was an uninspiring performance and Captain Kev's distribution and delivery was nothing short of woeful.
McCormack - 8.5 - MOM - Was everywhere. Really inprired people on with a monster performance. Unfortunately booked which seems more usual than not
Campbell-Ryce - 8 - Again, a monster performamce and is starting to show his real potential
Eastwood - 6.5 - Tried hard but given no space at all by Derby defence. Best efforts came from set pieces. Needs a goal
Bradbury - 5 - I'm a big fan of his but apart from one fantastic piece of play in the second half he was totally ineffective
Subs - Hooper - 6 and Harrold - 6. Didn't make much impact when they came on
The Ref - Mr Williamson - 7 - It is a fact that most fans will criticise the refs when they give decisions that go against their team. Well, apart from being perhaps a bit lenient with the cards and also one or two decisions in the second half that I feel were incorrect then I have to say I didn't think he did much wrong. In particular he let the game flow.
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