CITY 3 SOUTHEND 0
City celebrated Chris Powell's 750th league game in fine style with an eventually comprehensive win over a determined Southend side hovering on the edge of the play-off positions. The 2.30 start to avoid clashing with the Tigers European Cup game at Welford Road meant that news of City's victory had filtered through to our rivals before their games had finished.
This obviously had an unsettling effect as of the top four only City and Millwall – comfortably the best side seen at The Walkers this season – won. We should be particularly grateful to Scunny who ended M K Dons recent run of good results with a 2-0 away win.
After last week's exciting open game against Dagenham & Redbridge I had expected a return to the attritional style employed by League One sides, Millwall excepted, visiting The Walkers this season. That this was not the case was entirely down to the fact that City scored an early goal.
We seemed to have missed the boat -yes, we were playing the Shrimpers – when Oakley headed wide from a gilt-edged chance after 5 minutes but within a short space of time Oakley made amends with an incisive, quick through ball which set Fryatt free down the right. He turned the defender as he cut into the area and planted a left foot shot low into the far corner. Amazing what confidence does for a striker.
This prompted a surge of comments from those closest to me re the increase in Fryatt's value if he declines to sign a new contract and City are left with no option other than to sell him thanks to the EU's moronic Bosman Ruling…
Southend immediately pushed up a little and we saw action at both ends of the pitch. A cross from the right close to the by-line gave them what proved to be their best chance of the match, Revell's first time side-foot from close range clipping the top of the bar when a goal seemed certain.
Neither side created a clear chance in the remainder of the half. There were no substitutions even though Oakley was clearly unable to make tackles. Staying on the pitch must have surprised him – he went on to complete the match – almost as much as being selected to play wide on the right, a position that he is hardly qualified to occupy.
He gets round it by sneaking inside at every opportunity leaving Gilbert, back in the side after injury, with an ocean of space occupied solely by opposition players! I can see Pearson's reasoning as Berner complements King's style better than Oakley who is too similar to the ever-improving Welshman but it restricts our attacking options. What an irony that the only goal in the half came from an attack down the right!
The third quarter was similar to the second as City gradually wore the Shrimpers down in the manner of a fighter who intends to deliver the coup de grace in the closing stages. Thus it came to pass.
The warning signs were there when Martin made a good save from a close range shot (Southend only managed two on target in the whole game) and the ball ran out sideways to Gilbert. He scuttled up to the half-way line and after a fortunate rebound was left with a clear sight of goal. He had no alternative but to now run the length of the remainder of the pitch! Having reached the by-line he put in a low cross which eluded the few players who had had time to get into the Southend box from the other end of the pitch and ran out of play.
This clearly inspired the team and the 17 000 crowd and in the 76th minute a ball down the middle was headed on by Howard into Fryatt's path. He went round the covering defender and slotted a cross-shot home with relative ease. It all happened so quickly that Brian Clough -'it only takes a second to score a goal' – would have been delighted.
Credit to Howard for his part in this goal and for his general play which was a big improvement on what we have regularly seen. He held the ball up better and found team-mates well with both headers and passes.
The only sign of the other Howard came in the first half when the ball caught him off balance and stuck stubbornly in his feet. He proceeded to do a good impression of my 94-year old mother trying to get out of her chair! The Brazilians have long seen the value of balance in footballers and it is not hard to see why as most English players have the turning circle of the QE2. Perhaps this explains why the only footballer to appear in Strictly Come Dancing has been a…….Danish goalkeeper!!
We sensed the match was now over and settled back to the luxury of a care-free final few minutes. Another attack down the left led to a defender blatantly blocking a Fryatt shot with his hands.
The keeper had clearly seen Fryatt's unremarkable penalty last week and went the same way but Fryatt smashed it into the other half of the goal as if shelling peas. Watch someone do something well and it always looks easy.
This was his last significant act as he was soon subbed giving Dickov a chance to see if his boots still fitted. Cynics suggested that Pearson was trying out his post-January transfer window strike partnership!
So a convincing performance overall and 3 more precious points. The entire team played well for a change, including subs Morrison, who replaced Tunchev with what looked like a groin strain and Davies who looked the sort of midfielder that could be very useful to us.
City: Martin, Gilbert, Hobbs, Tunchev (Morrison 74), Powell, Oakley, King, Berner (Davies 59), Dyer, Howard, Fryatt (Dickov)
Southend: Mildenhall, Francis, Clarke, Barratt, Harding, Betsy (Feeney 80), Milsom, McCormack, Stanislas, Revell, Laurent (Walker 72)
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation