Can we stop the rot? just clocked in from very wet stormy Cornwall, a million miles from the green turf of PR. Good to see Norwod back on the score sheet, and not too down at Downes joining thr fray! COYBs
Redruth, ffs I am in Redruth ha ha! Psychic or what, but as in guest house no ifollow audio connection so have to rely on my mates and BBC txt coverage, hugh!
According to radio it sounded an average performance but with two up front on fire we will always be a threat.
Can someone pse tell me, give me a short summary, no f-ing ifollow audio, as in guest house, with strange wifi, in beautiful wet Cornwall, and Redruth, where I happen to be, has asked me out for a pint - well, not yet! Ha ha!
Sounds like a solid, effective result and performance, away to admittedly one of the worst teams in the division. A return to winning ways is exactly what we needed though, especially after the last week and particularly with Peterborough dropping points. Good to see Norwood snapping a run of six games without a goal. Judging from comments elsewhere, didn’t sound like we needed to get out of second gear. A week and a bit off now, with what would have been the Bury match next weekend cancelled and the rearranged Rochdale match a week on Tuesday.
Decent game today. We looked a bit shaky at the start, understandably after the last two results, but we were much more comfortable after the early goal. Jackson and Norwood up front is easily our best combination at the moment. We were able to play the ball on the floor more today as Southend didn't press us as aggressively as Stanley or Rotherham in the last two matches. The defense was mostly untroubled, the midfield had control of the ball and the strikers caused problems for Southend's defenders. Norris - made a couple of good saves, took crosses well but suffers from the Ipswich 'keeper curse of kicking the ball out of touch! Garbutt - decent display at LB. Linked up with Edwards well and benefited from having somebody ahead of him that stayed in wide areas. Took some decent free kicks as well. Chambers - good again. Still lumps the ball forward but does make some good cross field passes to start attacks. Got another timely block in to prevent a goal. Woolf - another solid performance at both CB and FB. Should be starting every match. KVY - quiet game until he was taken off in the first half Edwards - played well today. Got forward, kept possession and played some good attacking passes. Skuse - subbed early Downes - we definitely missed him the last couple of games. He bossed in midfield, got tackles in and showed good ball control at times with some good dribbles and runs forward. Made a clever dummy that led to the third goal. Rowe - did ok. Edwards was clearly the more effective on the wing. Danny is just so small he gets knocked off the ball easily by bigger lads. Jackson - my MOTM today. Full of running, that boy's cardio is ridiculous! He stretched the Southend defence, ran the channels all day and with Norwood with him, had somebody to play the cut back pass to once he was beyond the back line. I'm happy he got a goal to go with his assists and hard work. Norwood - Put himself about and has an understanding with Kayden about where to be once Kayden has the ball in the channel. Took his goals well and will be full of confidence now. Wilson - played another good game after coming on. Nolan - much better today. Helped Downes keep control in midfield and was effective in attack. I hope he plays like that more often. Judge - fairly quiet but had a great shot at goal that just went wide. All in all, an enjoyable game. We settled down after the first goal and you could see the confidence returning to the team when in possession or under threat. The defence looked comfortable in most situations and our attacking play was more coherent with the ball travelling through the midfield more than it has in the last couple of matches. Edwards and Garbutt were a good pair down the left. The strike partnership was effective with Kayden running his socks off and using his pace to retrieve balls nobody else would get to and playing the ball back for Norwood, who knew where he needed to be. It feels good to get a win, things could've started to get a bit dark on the terraces again if we lost three on the spin.
We are not out of the woods yet. Southend are the worst side in the division and got walloped 7-1 during the week. Rochdale will provide a sterner test.
"Not out of the woods" ha ha!, Hampy, we are top again and won another match. Wins breed confidence which took a temp knock. But I know what you mean; it will be encouraging when we have all our injured players back, and we keep the shape. A string of midweeks to trip us up especially away at Oxford. But, how good to be following Town and cheering wins, after all the misery. As we approach November, a promising start to the season has blossomed, and we have played some of the best teams. I still forecast top 6, and if Freddie & co and KVY stays fit, we could well stay top of the roost for a while yet.
