IT’S something of an unusual week for us as we find ourselves playing on a Friday having previously played on a Monday.
But that’s the way modern football works You can find yourself playing on pretty much any day of the week due to the demands of Sky Sports.
The only day you don’t tend to play on is a Thursday night, unless you’re playing in the Europa League.
So hopefully at some time or other Southend United will be playing on that day of the week as well!
In terms of preparation this week is not a problem, especially after such a good result against Burton.
Winning 3-1 was fantastic and it was a reward for getting things right in the key areas of the pitch.
Burton’s striker Stuart Beavon is somebody I rate extremely highly but I thought Adam Barrett and Cian Bolger did well marshalling him and limiting his impact on the game.
The midfield three worked well together and it was great for Anthony Wordsworth to get himself another goal.
We brought Woody to the club as a goalscoring midfielder and we’re seeing that from him now.
He scored 16 goals in a season once and is a player with fantastic technique so if we keep getting him into the right kind of areas then I’m sure he will keep scoring.
He formed a good partnership with Michael Timlin and Will Atkinson the other night and hopefully that can continue.
Further forward, the front three did well too and Tyrone Barnett scored one of the goals of the season.
All in all it was a great night and the only real disappointment was that we didn’t keep a clean sheet.
However, that was down to another very poor decision from the officials as the ball was quite clearly off the pitch during the build up.
Thankfully, it didn’t prove to be too costly and we now go into the Port Vale game tomorrow night in good spirits.
OVER THE MOON-EY
IT was good for David Mooney to get back among the goals against Burton.
It shows the strength we have in depth at the moment and it’s important that our substitutes continue to make an impact when they come on.
It’s a credit to the strength and conditioning coaches at the football club that the players are in such good shape and that at the moment we don’t have too many injuries either.
Myles Weston is a long term absentee and so too is Ryan Leonard but that was an impact injury we can’t really do anything about.
It means I have about 22 players to pick from at the moment and it’s very difficult for those out of the team to get back in.
All they can is play well in any behind closed doors games and to also impress when coming on, just like Dave did on Monday.
HOPING TO BE IN POLE POSITION
We had a great day at Rayleigh Go-Karting in the week.
To a man, every single member of the squad turned up and it was just brilliant.
I was watching on from the sidelines because I was wearing a pin-stripe suit but I’m happy to report it was a member of staff who finished first.
In terms of the players, they were all really going for it to try and finish first.
And if that kind of spirit is synonymous with our end to the season then that would be great.
LOAN PLAYERS DOING WELL
WE’VE been keeping tabs on our on loan players and if Jason Williams and Jack Bridge are keen to stay with Chelmsford for a second month then that’s fine by me.
Jason was sent off against Margate at the weekend but in non league football it takes a couple of weeks for the suspension to kick in so he won’t be missing matches just yet.
The second month of a loan spell includes a 24 hour call back so we can always bring them both back if needed.
Harry Kyprianou is also doing really well at Lowestoft Town.
They’ve had some good results in the last few games and I understand Harry was man of the match for them again in their 0-0 draw with Hednesford Town on Tuesday which is great to see.
But it’s an important time of year for our young players and meetings are currently taking place to discuss which under 18 and under 21 players will be kept on next season.
FA CUP REPLAYS SHOULD NOT BE SCRAPPED
A lot has been said about scrapping replays in the FA Cup but it’s not something I agree with.
I’m not really too sure how much difference one more game can actually make to Premier League clubs with huge squads.
These teams have the most money and the most players and I don’t understand why we pander to them.
FA Cup replays can make a massive difference to sides in the lower leagues and I think they should stay.
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