Cod Almighty | Match Stats
Friday 19 November 2021
Conference Premier
Grimsby Town 1 Taylor (2)
Southend United 0
Attendance: 5836 (214 away fans)
The Great British Public is always swayed by the superficial. Sexy Sousa was a nuisance, in many ways.
Waterfall and Pearson were imperturbable and impassable, heads and shoulders above the feeble Weebles of Essex. Ah, but why did Town win? Because Taylor gave a free on-line masterclass in Bananarama centre forwardism. It's the little things that make a difference, every little thing he did was magic.
Our man of a thousand dull quotes used the word "edgy", then proceeds to go straight down the middle, noting that:
"We won a lot of headers"
The rest is noise, filling the airwaves with simple words meaning what they mean. No more no less, he only has a handful of songs to sing you.
The man has put them together, so come on, come on you Shrimpers, let's stick together! Yep, the old lobster pot has made a vow and he wants them to stick together.
"I've said to the players in there that we have to stick together... We have to stick together and as bad as things seem now, it will turn and when we turn all of us will go together... As a staff, as a group of fans, as a club... If we stick together it'll turn"
And here comes Jerry entering Roots Hall twirling a tiger's tail. Yee-ha.
Well, wasn't that a vintage Hurstian display of functional football. Perhaps it was a triple bluff, designed to deflect attention as no-one watching would take us seriously as a title contender. We looked like dull grinders.
The full-backs look very vulnerable to pace, and the midfield was strangely discombobulated. Sousa fluttered and flattered but ultimately was as much a hindrance as a threat. Efete was infuriatingly dozy, Coke had the air of a man whose legs move but can't hear what his brain is saying, while Fox was lost in the hole again.
Ah, but all's well that ends well, as the solution arrived.
If all the right cogs are put in the right order then there is hope of happiness in the future. Pearson and Waterfall take no nonsense, so maybe the recent nonsense is over.
Not bad enough to go down, they just need a couple of tweaks to become as boring as Eastleigh.
These shrivelled Shrimps are simply on a well-travelled road – the relegated club that takes half a season to shrug off the egotism and realise that brawn beats brains down here.
If left alone they were sleek and slippery, but it all dribbled into the nonsense of moany Murphy and his inner ear turmoil. Silly man: stand up, attack the near post and you'll keep 'em up easily.
They have realistic aspirations to be comfortable lower mid-table trundlers. We all have to have ambitions, don't we?
Closer to the hedge.
Mr J Miles
It didn't take us long to find out that this day tripper always took the easy way out. He gotta stand trial, because all the while I can see a score of 6.138 heading his way for being at least consistent in his pusillanimousity. There was no way he was going to make a game-defining decision, and he didn't.
Supper's ready: potted shrimps on toast.
In a word: coasting
Town: McKeown, Efete, Pearson, Waterfall, Crookes, Sousa (Revan 90+1), Coke, Hunt (McAtee 76), Clifton, Fox, Taylor
Subs not used: Longe-King, Towler, Bapaga
Booked: McAtee
Southend United: Arnold, White, Hobson, Lopata, Demetriou, Ferguson, Dunne (Egbri 65), Atkinson (Dennis 86), Walsh (Dalby 90+4), Murphy, Brunt
Subs not used: Phillips, Sayers
Booked: Ferguson, Egbri