Southend United (H) League 1 Saturday 15/8/09.

[AlexTheWalsallFan]

am gutted first time have left a match early and miss a goal

we were dreadfull today and ince needs to be dropped just lost it today we need another keeper.

parkin didnt impress me neither did mattis he cost us two points.

[matt-thesaddler]

It wasnt a penalty. Firstly it was outside the area and he dived, but thats experience.

[Banksy]

I seriously think we need another goalkeeper, Clayton is too prone to mistakes and Rene isnt good enough! Thought the second booking for Mattis was very harsh, if thats a booking you would never tackle anyone! parkin was shocking before the last minute for a big bloke won jack all in the air and is far too slow. Very impressed with Hughes and westlake.

[Neuromantic]

It wasnt a penalty. Firstly it was outside the area and he dived, but thats experience.

I will wait til I see it tonight, but I thought he just nicked it away from their defender and waited for the challenge, he knew what he was doing.

[saddlerken]

It wasnt a penalty. Firstly it was outside the area and he dived, but thats experience.

I will wait til I see it tonight, but I thought he just nicked it away from their defender and waited for the challenge, he knew what he was doing.

I agree, the best thing he did all afternoon

A mention for Westlake, Im extremely pleased that we can now get rid of weston who is one of the most self indudged pile of clunge Ive ever seen, get the young lad in and let him wear that shirt with pride

[latviancheese]

Im not inces biggest fan, and i wasnt there today, but all goalies make howlers!

[Neuromantic]

Im not inces biggest fan, and i wasnt there today, but all goalies make howlers!

You haven't seen this one pal. This will be on a comedy bloopers video and people will laugh at us tonight on the BBC. It was THAT bad - one of the worst I have ever seen.

[matt-thesaddler]

Manny Smith was the right MOTM. I think Hughes will prove to be our best signing and i think Jones will get a few goals from the wing. Parkin needs the ball fed to his feet but he did well to get the penalty. Westlake had a great game while Vincent was dodgy. Richards was quiet. Deeney and Nicholls both ran there socks off.

I didnt actually see what Ince did. All i saw was the ball flying to Barnard. My mate told me he went to throw it, desided against it but he was to late.

[latviancheese]

Im not inces biggest fan, and i wasnt there today, but all goalies make howlers!

You haven't seen this one pal. This will be on a comedy bloopers video and people will laugh at us tonight on the BBC. It was THAT bad - one of the worst I have ever seen.

May it so be, but you cant write him off, although i personally think he was poor last season.

[saddlerken]

I think Hughes will prove to be our best signing

I agree with you there Matt, him and Manny look a good team

[thickkearns]

Ince is awful , he was dodgy at Brighton and awful today hutch was too happy on Wm after the game, he's not alone !!-- poor game i thought two average teams -- westlake did well and Hughes again was outstanding at the back , he looks a good signing

[Bernie]

A mention for Westlake, Im extremely pleased that we can now get rid of weston who is one of the most self indudged pile of clunge Ive ever seen, get the young lad in and let him wear that shirt with pride

I thought that it was a very impressive debut. The lad did nothing wrong all afternoon. He already has far better distribution than Weston, can take a decent throw-in (not long but down the line to a Walsall player, which is more than most can do), and made some very brave saving tackles. Should be in the side every week from now on.

[matt-thesaddler]

I dont think Ince is awful, i think hes just getting on abit now. Hes still going to be a good shot stopper but hes not the keeper we need if we want to go up. Hughes and Smith seem to pass the ball back to Ince alot, but we all know thats a bad idea with his kicking- he proved that today.

Hughes and Smith will be like the new Dann and Gerrard, just not as good :(

[Cannock]

Disappointed with a point after the first half showing but, after Clayton's clanger and the Mattis sending off we rather got out of jail. Looking on the positive side i have to say that I was very impressed with Manny Smith at the back and young Westlake at right back. Two very promising players for the future.

[Sadders]

Well for a game with 4 goals, that was dreadful. Southend looked very poor until Mattis's in-discipline let them in. Nicholls should have been brought on much earlier, if not started. Not impressed by jones - he barely touched the ball bar a tap in. Parkin was uselesss up until about 80 minutes when he started putting some more effort in, nice penalty too but he's no jabo and definetely no ricketts. Was impressed by till, smith & in particular Hughes who looks like he can play football as well as be a centre back. Attendance was about as poor at Claytons goalkeeping, looked nothing like his normal self today. However he can still be the best goalkeeper in this league on his day - IMO he'll save us more than he'l cost us. Things need to improve on the pitch and in the stands before tuesday or else things may become VERY embarassing.

[saddlerJP]

Hughes and Smith will be like the new Dann and Gerrard, just not as good :(

anyone have any idea what he's talking about?

[saddlerken]

Hughes and Smith will be like the new Dann and Gerrard, just not as good :(

dann was and is a class above, Mannie is better than Gerrard and will prove so, mark my work and Hughes is more than capable and will not throw a wobbly at all his team mates, like a true captain

[matt-thesaddler]

Hughes and Smith will be like the new Dann and Gerrard, just not as good :(

dann was and is a class above, Mannie is better than Gerrard and will prove so, mark my work and Hughes is more than capable and will not throw a wobbly at all his team mates, like a true captain

Agreed.

[philthesaddler]

Fair result, I think.

The Mattis sending was the turning point of the game, and even though it was a harsh decision, he shouldnt have been lunging so needlessly (the foul was in their half) when he was already on a yellow card.

It was harsh though, the game is becoming more and more non-contact.

It was a real shame though because up to that point, Southend didnt really look like doing anything, but the sending off gave them the impotus.

Ince has to take a massive slice of criticism though, he may well have been tired, but thats no excuse for the most ridiculous gift Ive ever seen, to say he dropped it at Barnards feet would be inaccurate 'cos that would imply he had a chance of scrambling it back off him. Instead, Barnard was about 10 yards away and Clayton just wimpishing threw the ball about 6 yards in the direction of Barnard!

Sam Parkin was very poor, he barely won a header all afternoon, which is exactly what he's there to do, 'cos he hasn't got the pace to beat anyone. I hope he improves because today he simply didnt look good enough, but what do you expect for a player that wasn't really wanted by anyone else and spent last season in League 2?

Matt Richards looks good on the ball - hes got a good touch, nice passing, bit of skill, but can't tackle or jump or head so when we aint got possession, he offers little.

Both Jones and Till offered plenty of running and guile and Deeney worked hard.

Still a bit concerned about the (lack of) amount of chances we created, but the team needs time to gel.

Manny Smith and Mark Hughes looked solid until the sending off. Westlake looked OK, will improve with experience.

Attendance was 3,600 which is very poor, only about 3,400 Walsall fans there.

[philthesaddler]

It wasnt a penalty. Firstly it was outside the area and he dived, but thats experience.

Don't think so, Ive not seen a replay, but from memory the defenders feet were planted firmly in the penalty area.

[matt-thesaddler]

It wasnt a penalty. Firstly it was outside the area and he dived, but thats experience.

Don't think so, Ive not seen a replay, but from memory the defenders feet were planted firmly in the penalty area.

I think he was a good yard outside the area but thats just my opinion.

[Deano_Saddler]

Just got back. Ince was an absolute joke, either a new goalkeeper has to come in or we have to put our faith in Gilmartin for a while because right now i'd take Gilmartin before Ince quite easily.
Parkin was absolutely rubbish, didn't offer us anything all game and i think he won 1 header all game, took his penalty well though.
Before the season started i was more worried about the defence more than anything but now that's the least of my worries because i though Smith & Hughes were solid all game and a special mention to Westlake, thought he coped with everything that came to him very well and came up with a brilliant last ditch challenge when their player would have been clean through.
Till and Jones showed a lot of promise, both have a bit of pace and quality about them. Deeney played very well in the 1st half but then suffered in the 2nd due to the fact that he was out of position.
I think if Ince hadn't of made that mistake which lead to their 1st goal we would have probably won the game with 10 men as Southend looked rubbish.

[PT]

I thought we were getting stronger as the game progressed until the sending off. Agree with others when they say it was a little harsh but mattis was brain-dead to give the ref a decision to make at all.

Positives were Westlake, Smith & Hughes.

Negatives are all around crass unprofessionalism shown by some of the senior members of the squad for the second match running. Weston, Mattis and Ince should all know better and we should now be looking at a cup run and a perfect start to the league season. Unfortunately a complete lack of professional application by these three means that a what should have been a great start is now mediocre and could come to back to haunt us later in the year.

As for the crowd, well, we've been here before and will again and it looks like, as in the past, around 2,500 - 3,000 of us will see it through when the going gets a bit tricky.

[Wyrley_saddler]

First of all, Ince made a mistake. GET OVER IT. All players have their howlers, unfortunately for a keeper their mistakes are higher profile. Reading through this thread is stupid. People say don't jump on Parkin's back after less than a months play, yet look what you are doing to Ince. Apart from the goal and one miss kick (and we all know what his kicking is like) I can't realy remember him putting a foot wrong.

As for the match. to get straight to the point, it was crap. Neither team deserved to win. A draw was fair.
We are incapable of doing the simplest tasks. It seems when we get a foot on the ball, we panic and lump it to Parkin (who can not head).
I thought that at times, when we got it down and outwide we looked quite good, but had no one in the box to finish it off.
Southend were poor. Never realy threatened until we went down to 10. However I was impressed by Moussa.

The sending off, I missed the first booking whilst getting a burger, but the 2nd was harsh. Mattis tired to play the ball, he just slightly miss timed the tackle. It wasn't reckless or dangerous at all. the ref should have just told him to calm down abit or else he will send him off.

The penalty was a clear penalty to me. Parkin had the ball knocked it past the defender, who stuck out a leg and brought Parkin down. The penalty was the only good thing Parkin did today. Nicely taken. other than that he was woeful. However, I am in two minds whether it was because all we did was lump balls at him or whether it was down to him being crap.

I thought our defence was good today, including Wetslake who did very well on his debut despite a shakey start. However, we seemed to lose concentration after they equalised which led to them taking the lead.

MOTM, was Smith. Fantastic performance from him.

[tape66]

4 points from the first 2 games is not a bad return. I'd have taken that before the season started.

The low attendance is an entirely different matter, however.

Yeah but there was a much better atmosphere.

Agreed. I was surprised how loud we were at times.

[scott_powell]

Wasn't a red card for mattis .... If Heath didn't apeal to the ref then nothing would of happened .... The ref should of warned mattis

One thing on the ince matter .... imagine if that was gilmartin :roll: Ince is worse than rene at kicking and makes mistakes which cost us a lot (usually with a bad kick) Give gilmartin a chance i say or get a keeper on loan

Smith, westlake, jones, hughes and richards were superb i thought

Parkin was pretty useless most the time but does spread play well when he's not under pressure

deeney was below average

till and vincent were ok

Overall I thought we played decent ... stupid sending off changed the game though

[tinned]

All the Gilmartin knockers keep bowing down at the feet of Ince. If I read one more time that we're going to lose 5 or 6 if Rene is playing then I will explode. Ince is a clown and he's not half as good as some of you lot claim. Gilmartin first choice now.

Parkin manages to jump about 6 inches shorter than he is. I gave him a 5.6 for the penalty. The artistic interpretation. From middle block 1 it was obvious it was a dive (Louise was just behind me and has the same opinion).

I thought Hutchings made a terrible decision when Mattis got sent off. Bringing Deeney back into midfield a leaving concrete boots up front on his own just totally finished us as an attacking force and handed the initiative straight to them.

[scott_powell]

All the Gilmartin knockers keep bowing down at the feet of Ince. If I read one more time that we're going to lose 5 or 6 if Rene is playing then I will explode. Ince is a clown and he's not half as good as some of you lot claim. Gilmartin first choice now.

Parkin manages to jump about 6 inches shorter than he is. I gave him a 5.6 for the penalty. The artistic interpretation. From middle block 1 it was obvious it was a dive (Louise was just behind me and has the same opinion).

I thought Hutchings made a terrible decision when Mattis got sent off. Bringing Deeney back into midfield a leaving concrete boots up front on his own just totally finished us as an attacking force and handed the initiative straight to them.

Completely agree ... Especially with what you say about Ince and Gilmartin

[Neuromantic]

Just realised that we didn't have a minute silence for Siir Bobby Robson today. Very disappointing.

[yoda]

We did the minutes applause at Brighton. I loved the guy but we've got to end the tributes somewhere.