It won't rival Sam's but my write up -
If I'm perfectly honest with you, I forgot we had a game, I went out on Friday night, woke up on Saturday morning & actually considered not going when I remembered, such was my interest after travelling to Bury last week, that coupled with my head feeling like it was about to explode
but, I have only missed 1 home game in 7 season's now (I was overseas) so I wasn't going to let that be 2 & pulled myself up to home park, pretty unexcited & unexpectant.
Upon seeing the line up, I was surprised, but not as disappointed as many seemed to be, my main concern was 2 sitting CM's, but Morgan upfront didn't bother me at all, and I said to my mate that this is Morgan's chance to prove a point and throw some hypothetical eggs at those who dished him abuse.
I knew what a Phil Brown side would play like & I thought we would be better prepared than we were for Stevenage, and we were, the orange man in the away dugout seemed a bit bemused at what was going wrong throughout the game, further evidence that Brown is quite a poor, overrated manager.
We were at them from the off, Morgan dinked the ball over the Southend RB but was blocked off very cearly, soon after, he beat 2 men as he approached the barn park by line and he cut a very inviting ball back across to Reuben Reid, unfortunately, Reid was neither quick or alert enough to connect, which was the story of his first half. Soon after, Morgan was at it again, outwitting Bolger & forcing a foul, and Bolger's first card. Morgan was being pretty much assaulted every time he went near the ball, yet still causing mahem, the ref wimped out on card's on two further occasions, before he finally dismissed Bolger for another foul on Morgan, the sending off was completely fair despite how early in the game it was, he should have walked after 10 minutes.
Argyle continued to create for a short period after the sending off, Banton impressed me in the first half anyway, he was shooting/crossing much earlier, something I've been crying out for him to do, unfortunately, the crossing from Lewi & Banton was very poor, the set pieces no better. Another pivotal moment in the game came when Southend thought they should have been awarded a penalty, the ref put whistle to mouth and begun to point to the spot, but the linesman shook his head, to which the ref responded with a thumbs up, good communication between the officials, my view was that the Southend player miskicked the ball forcing him to go down under minimal pressure. In the last minute of time added on, the best chance of the game arrived, a fantastic ball in from McHugh was met by Reid, but his header went wide when he needed to do better.
One moment which annoyed me in the first half was when Weston had a pass back to play to Luke McCormick after a drop ball, but he clearly decided to shoot from about 30 yards, luckily McCormick caught it just underneath the crossbar as I have to wonder whether Brown would have let us score afterward.
Forgive me I forget the name of the HT 50/50 guest, but while most guests are usually diplomatic and say there are positives, he laid in to the team a bit and said what we were all thinking "who is the side with 10 men? it looks like us", he got a big round of applause for saying it.
The first half wasn't as bad as made out to be, but it wasn't great. While Southend dominated possession, we still looked threatening going forward. Our best player in the first period was Marvin Morgan, our worse Kelvin Mellor. But the HT guest was correct, you could never tell we had a man advantage.
I actually thought our worst period in the match was the period leading up to the goal, the 7 minutes from 45-52 were extremely frustrating, our tempo was slow, we didn't know how to get forward, we dominated possession but our passing was backwards and sideways. It took a move that wouldn't have looked out of place at the world cup to lift home park, Alessandra laid it off to Mellor (I said at HT Mellor is worse on the ball than Soukouna, he was in the first half, somehow in the second, he was excellent on it), he left two defenders for dead, gave it back to Lewi for a neat finish, 1 0, a sigh of relief around home park.
The next piece of play saw Alessandra chip a delightful ball in to the box, but Carl McHugh's powerful & accurate header was brilliantly saved by Bentley (who I understand is being scouted by championship & top flight clubs). Southend still had a fair bit of possession, but they were struggling to pick out a ball, their best chance, well, of the entire match fell to Southend substitute Coulthirst, he controlled excellently on the edge of the box, but his powerful strike was straight at Luke McCormick, who saved safely.
Argyle soon sealed victory with another great move. Kelvin Mellor & Alessandra once again linking well, Lewi showed strength to beat the left back before sending in an inviting cross to Reid, it was an ok header but I thought Bentley could have got a hand to it personally, anyway, 5 goals so far for Reid, can't complain. The action wasn't quite over, Nathan Thomas produced a mazy run from the left before firing a powerful shot which was well saved by Bentley.
At full time, no joyess ecstatic scenes but certainly a sense of satisfaction as the players applauded the supporters.
In goal, Luke was solid as ever, we have a very good goalkeeper. A quick point. When people say "he didn't have anything to do", couldn't that often be down to the fact his communication is excellent therefore limiting chances for the opposition? His distribution is also much better and quicker this season. He was great last season but he's improved even more so.
At the back. Kelvin Mellor had a mare of a first half (probably a 3/10), but in the second, he was our best player (9/10), his footwork improved, he got forward more, was involved in both goals, really excellent from Kelvin in the 2nd period. Hartley & Nelson were both fairly solid, on a couple of occasions they needed to close down quicker but I had no problems with how they were playing. I think some ratings on here have been harsh toward Carl McHugh, who I think, despite not being a left back, had his best game in a Green shirt, solid, confident & assured, I have a lot of respect for McHugh, it would be easy for him to become demoralised but he gives his performances everything.
I worried before the game about having two sitting CM's, it was an issue in the first half when both were sitting on the halfway line. Sheridan clearly told Cox to get forward more at half time, and it certainly helped. Both Cox and O'Connor are very good CM's, I like Norburn, but I prefer Cox & O'Connor, many seem to think we are weak in midfield, I disagree.
Going forward, a mixed bag at times. Marvin Morgan had a point to prove and he did so, he worked extremely hard, Southend couldn't handle him, he looked much better on the deck & he deserved his standing ovation. Alessandra would have actually been my 5th choice for MOTM so was a tad surprised when he got it, I thought he was poor-average in the first half, but much improved in the second period, possibly our 2nd best in that half. Banton, hmm, a decent first half, but he seemed to let cockyness creep in & he started taking a ridiculous amount of touches in the second period, frustrating, good player to have but not essential by any means. Despite scoring, I don't think Reid was excellent, he looked a bit off the pace to me, especially in the first half.
As for the subs. Norburn came on & did well, he's a tidy player, but as I say, I prefer the CM's we started with. Tyler Harvey was out-muscled too easily when he was on. Nathan Thomas was only on for a brief time but looked effective.
I'm happy to give Sheridan credit after that game. He definately changed some little things at half time, he got Mellor going forward more, Cox was improved after the team talk, Alessandra was pushed further forward while O'Connor was placed just ahead of the CB's where he's best, Banton was moved further inside to keep Clifford out of it. Also, I've criticised Sheridan a lot of late for showing little passion (I know it's not that important but football is nothing without emotion) but yesterday was the most passionate I've seen him, I could hear him shouting from the Devonport & I'm honestly shocked he wasn't sent to the stands after Bolger's second challenge on Morgan wasn't given as a FK, he went mental at the fourth official and was given a warning. Credit to Shez.
As for Southend. I don't like how they play, but unlike Stevenage, they will do well this season in my view, not due to management, but they have a good team, Corr looked pretty toothless upfront for a striker of his size though. Their best players included 2 ex pilgrims, Clifford, Leonard & Bentley are all to good for this league.
I can't really say I enjoyed the game but I enjoyed the result if that makes sense, it was a solid professional display but we can still do better.
My ratings:
McCormick - 7
Mellor - 6
Hartley - 7
Nelson - 7
McHugh - 7
O'Connor - 8
Cox - 7
Banton - 6
Alessandra - 7
Reid - 6
Morgan - 8
Norburn - 7
Harvey - 4
Thomas - NA but effective.
Onwards to Luton.
