SOUTHEND POST-MATCH REACTION

Put it here....

Well in the end a good win, 3 points and 3 more goals to finish the season. Not the greatest game or that strong a perofmance from Saints but they kept going to the end and class evntually came through. A ccrowd of over 25000 bearing in mind nothing at stake wasa good showing that the fans have been won over and hopefully Nicola will recognise that.

Firts half wasnt great with Saints taking over 20 minutes to muster their first shot on goal, at times trying to be afr to clever and passing up shooting options. Martin started at the back again and made some reasonable tackles, safety first approach but on home debut nothing wrong with that Antonio had some decent runs but final ball let him down. Southend mostly a threat from corners but they had at least 6 in first half and need to try and not give so many away as any side will eventually score from a set piece. Lambert came close and Connolly had decent shot but really first half was not much to shout about.

Waigo came on for Antonio at start of second half and made an impact. His first touch creates problems for defenders in this league plus he has pace. Southend had a couple of chances but shot high and wide, Paterson didnt have a good game, was trying to hard and later missed a great chance when score was 1 1 with only Davis to beat. Just as we were beginning to put Southend under pressure they scored a good goal virtually out of nothing. Saints didnt defend an attack and when ball fell to Southend player cut back in from left side and curled a good shot past Davies. funny enough that seemed to fire us up a bit and straight away put pressure on Southend. One two between Waigo and Puncheon saw him take the ball along the by line and put in a decent ball which Lambert met about 6 yards out and powered into net. Wotton came on for Connolly and every time he got the ball crowd shouted for him to shoot, think everyone think his last game for saints but actually brought some balance to the midfield and played some good balls down the left for Harding to feed on.

Finally got the lead thanks to a penalty. Lambert brought down in a crowded penalty area but it looked fairly clear cut and ref had no hesitation. Again crowd were shouting for wotton to take but glad to see Lambert took the ball, still want the three points and not a pre season friendly. Lambert stepped up and put in bottom corner and despite goalie going right way couldnt stop. didnt really expect Southend to come back and Lallana added a third following pass from Harding to make our favourite score of the season, 3 - 1, 8th time this season.

Only a relatively few morons went on the pitch at the end so players eventually did lap of appreciation. AP certainly got the full support of the fans, whether that is felt by NC and ML is difficult to judge. Final position of 7th, 83 pts without the deduction, JPT and Wembley and a squad which only needs 3 - 4 players to make even stronger and challenge for Championship next year is good for most saints fans. No matchday programmes on sale today, some said due to something that had been written, Radio Solent said club said it was a production problem. Nothing on official website, an apology to fans if a production problem would have seemed logical.

Davies 7 Couldnt really fault goal and did everything else competently
Harding 7 good defensively
Jaidi 8 won everything in the air
Martin 7 another fine game
Otsemobor 6 another performance which didnt inspire, we need a decent FB on right side.
Lallana 7 not his best performance but got his 20th goal of the season
Puncheon 6 played a central role and a mix of some decent control and then losing the ball
Hammond 7 should really have scored but had a good game
Antonio 6 Reading supposedly asking for a million, pennies I guess. Not his best game but if Reading are sensible would still try to keep.
Connolly 7 plenty of effort but still lacks sharpness, missed a sitter in 2nd half putting over bar from about 2 feet!
Lambert 8 two goals and links the play so well.

subs
Waigo 7 first touch was good and made a difference in attack
Wotton 7 may have been last game but had a good second half, broke up attacks and made some decent passes. Would still keep for old head to bring on to close out games, we dont have anyone else to do that in the squad.
Chamberlain7 came on for last 10 minutes and his pace caused problems.

Can now wait for next season but no doubt being a saints fan will be expecting more issues during next few weeks. NC and AP need to sort out any differences and NC needs to stick to his 5 year plan as certainly seems a long way forward form this time last year