Southend United (A) Mar 3rd, 3pm

[Welsh_Saddler]

In view of the fact that both Gillingham's home match against Rotherham United and Oxford United's v Fleetwood Town have already been postponed (on Thursday) it would seem that this game at Southend is also doubtful to say the least. Full preview will follow as and when more definite details are available.

EDIT ... Bradford City v Portsmouth now postponed
Sheffield Utd v Burton Albion in the Championship gone the same way

And it's still only Thursday :shock:

[SoccerHQ]

Will surely be called off as tomorrow's forecast looks even worse.

[hullsaddler]

Southend asking for volunteers to turn up 8 am on Saturday morning to clear snow off pitch apparently!

[SoccerHQ]

Southend asking for volunteers to turn up 8 am on Saturday morning to clear snow off pitch apparently!

Pitch will still be frozen so think that will be futile.

You can understand Southend doing everything to get it on, they are in brilliant form atm under Chris Powell. Demetriou's scored a few in recent weeks.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Southend asking for volunteers to turn up 8 am on Saturday morning to clear snow off pitch apparently!

Pitch will still be frozen so think that will be futile.

You can understand Southend doing everything to get it on, they are in brilliant form atm under Chris Powell. Demetriou's scored a few in recent weeks.

It's not just the state of the pitch that will influence the powers-that-be ...... if the surrounding roads and transport systems are compromised then it becomes a matter of public safety - the safety of the people trying to get to the game. :?

[Welsh_Saddler]

Friday lunchtime, and there are only 4 League One games still on:-

Doncaster Rovers v Bury
Milton Keynes Dons v Bristol Rovers
Scunthorpe United v Oldham Athletic

and............

Yes (so far)

Southend United v Walsall

EDIT ... 2pm Friday, and Doncaster's match is called off.

[Walsallone]

Looks like game will be on...Southend pulling out all the stops to play it. They are in really good form so I think we will lose. Rochdale gets more important by the week.

[Ancient Moaner]

Looks like game will be on...Southend pulling out all the stops to play it. They are in really good form so I think we will lose. Rochdale gets more important by the week.

Right twice. We might even be able to get a draw out of Oldham, but Boundary Park being one of the coldest places on the planet, will mean 'that' fixture might eventually get played towards the end of April! (would still be minus 2 even then!)
Get the feeling that this expected bad run that we are due, may result in the final Fleetwood game being more important than originally anticipated! :oops:

Should this Southend fixture go ahead, you get the feeling that there will be even fewer than 81 of our brave souls risking that particular journey!

[Welsh_Saddler]

Southend United have announced that they are expecting around 100 volunteers at Roots Hall tomorrow morning to clear snow off the pitch - the club must be confident that the pitch itself will be fit for play, so on that basis here comes a brief preview .......

On the day Chris Powell was appointed manager (23rd January 2018) the Shrimpers were 18th in the table, a mere 2 points above the drop zone. They are now 13th, 3 points ahead of ourselves, and Powell certainly seems to have found something in the squad that had been eluding Phil Brown for quite some time. There may well be 2 familiar faces in their line-up - Jason Demetriou has made that left-wingback position his own, and Sam Mantom has arrived on loan from Scunthorpe United for the rest of the season. Captain also needs no real introduction, Anton Ferdinand being the brother of Rio and cousin of Les - big names to live up to. Southend United's recent form in League One:-

13 Jan Fleetwood Town (H) Lost 1-2
27 Jan Scunthorpe United (H) Won 3-2
3 Feb Peterborough United (A) Won 0-1
10 Feb Wigan Athletic (H) Won 3-1
13 Feb Bury (A) Drew 0-0
17 Feb Portsmouth (H) Won 3-1

Jon Whitney's plans have probably been scuppered by the injury to Joe Edwards, which will deprive the Saddlers of his services for the rest of the season. Florent Cuvelier (if and when fit) would be the nearest thing to a replacement, but his current form doesn't inspire the level of confidence we have seen from Edwards' performances. Up front Ngoy has done enough to keep his backside off the bench, and all we need to do defensively is to stop giving away silly goals and penalties - Liam Roberts can't be expected to keep a clean sheet when deprived of assistance from his team mates.

Prediction? Looking at the recent results above, anything we can get from this game will be something of an achievement. I'll go with heart rather than head and say a 1-1 draw with Ngoy again showing us how it's done.

[chunkster]

they may be confident of getting the match on, but We have got to get out of walsall first :mrgreen:

[Guest]

Hope we remember our skis this time.

[hullsaddler]

On Southend twitter feed

Today’s referee Charles Breakspear has been down at Roots Hall and is happy with the state of the pitch. As things stand, the game is on!

[Ancient Moaner]

On Southend twitter feed

Today’s referee Charles Breakspear has been down at Roots Hall and is happy with the state of the pitch. As things stand, the game is on!

Bugga, it's obvious that our lot don't like wintery conditions (Posh secure their first win in 8 games!) so that's our 'games in hand' feature that many on here were quick to point out, gone! The fear is that at 5 tonight our points tally will remain the same.

Heart says 1-1, which could be a distinct survival advantage, but head says 3-1 defeat. The one certainty........Bakayoko will lead the line, Ngoy on the bench, brings him on after 85 minutes when we are 3-0 down to score our consolation. :evil:

[SoccerHQ]

Would love Walsall to turn Sarfend over after all their efforts to get it on........

3-1 defeat. The defence has gone back to giving stupid goals away so that's not good when playing an in form team who'll create plenty.

[saddla]

The team is:

[Ancient Moaner]

Blimus!! Bakayoko on the bench!! Whitney must have paid off his debt.............. :wink:

Still wish this one had NOT gone ahead, hoping that we can reverse what appears on paper an almost certain defeat.
C'mon me babbies...let's upset the form book and sneak at least a draw!

[Walsallone]

Lets hope for a miracle AM....but I fear the worse.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Strangely enough ...... although Southend United are clear favourites (very clear) to win this one, the favourite scoreline is a 1-1 draw. :?

[SoccerHQ]

Southend evens to win today, had a nibble on that.

[Walsallone]

Kory Roberts starting instead of Fitzwater according to WM....no explanation yet!!

[EvenFlow]

Seems like Fitzwater has gotten injured in the warm-up, as Kory is now starting.

Inclement weather/pitch played a part, perhaps? A consequence of busting a gut to get the match on that may hamper the rest of our season, depending on the severity, as we're back to two fit centre halves again.

[saddla]

It's all walsall first 10 mins

[Welsh_Saddler]

Fitzwater still named on the bench, so any injury can't be that serious.

Blues 1-0 down at Nottingham Forest after only 6 minutes !!

[Ancient Moaner]

It's all walsall first 10 mins

Why, is it too cold for sarfend to leave the dressing rooms yet?

[SoccerHQ]

Sounds like all Southend...4 shots on target so far for them.

[BathSaddler]

It's all walsall first 10 mins

In what way saddla? We've not had a shot yet!;-)

[Ancient Moaner]

It's all walsall first 10 mins

In what way saddla? We've not had a shot yet!;-)

I think Saddla is an 'old school' Hilary Street ender, who used to think Chopper Guttridge ran a charm school when not on the pitch, and George Kirby made Messi look untalented! :lol: Thank goodness there are still some of us about who think we are still great (even if some of us were in the wrong end of Fellows Park.....Laundry enders rool KO!)

At least Ngoy seems to be having some shots on goal, Baka would still have been running round in circles!

[Welsh_Saddler]

Half time, and an unexpected 0-0 scoreline. Although it should be noted that Southend have had at least 4 goalbound shots, against our big fat ZERO......

No goals anywhere in League One as yet.

Blues look even more precarious - not only are they losing, but Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers are leading in their games.

UTS :D

[Ancient Moaner]

Half time, and an unexpected 0-0 scoreline. Although it should be noted that Southend have had at least 4 goalbound shots, against our big fat ZERO......

No goals anywhere in League One as yet.

Blues look even more precarious - not only are they losing, but Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers are leading in their games.

UTS :D

Thanks for ruining my Sunday morning recorded viewing again Welsh! Luv yow really mate. :wink:

[saddla]

It's all walsall first 10 mins

In what way saddla? We've not had a shot yet!;-)

I think Saddla is an 'old school' Hilary Street ender, who used to think Chopper Guttridge ran a charm school when not on the pitch, and George Kirby made Messi look untalented! :lol: Thank goodness there are still some of us about who think we are still great (even if some of us were in the wrong end of Fellows Park.....Laundry enders rool KO!)

We had by far the lions share of the possesion in the first ten minutes although we did not get much into their penalty area. Southend then came mor into the match and had 2 headers, 1 wide and one easily saved by Roberts.
We had the best attempt of the match so far when a raspinmg shot form Morris just missed the top corner fractionally outside the post.
Ngoy has looked very sharp on the ball holding it uup well and causing their defence some problems.

Loopking forward to the second half although it has been a bit scrappy inm the first.