The latest round-up from Marcus on all things Town
It always puts a nice spin on the rest of the weekend when your team wins and that was the case in the Braddock household.
It was especially pleasing because many of us had seen it coming, our form had been improving week on week and it felt like just a matter of time before we beat somebody. In my Friday match preview, I did say that Southend were a difficult team who would be a challenge, even with players suspended and that proved to be the case. The Shrimpers did almost everything they could to get a hold on the game but when they came close there was always someone there who wasn't going to allow any sort of comeback. We also had a little luck but it was about time after a pretty luckless run since the start of the season.
With the negatives out of the way there are a multitude positives to look at with the obvious ones being the goals. After five minutes, Greg Docherty fired into the roof of the net assuredly following great work by Alex Gilliead. It's the second goal in as many appearances and almost instant vindication for his inclusion in the starting eleven. Lee Angol struck just before half time in what was his best performance so far this season. He always looked a danger to Southend, a quick witted presence who kept defensive minds well occupied.
Aside from the goals, there were great performances all around the team, Anthony Grant gave another solid performance at the centre of the team both defensively and going forward. The keeper and defence got themselves another clean sheet, they've not conceded in open play for four games now which gives the rest of the team a base to work from. The performance from the whole team was as impressive as against Portsmouth and at times we kept them pinned in their own half which was a hallmark of our better games last season.
The three points also make our performances in earlier games look a little better too, we've played three of the current top seven away from home and only been beaten once. It could be argued that we were unfortunate in all three of those games and a more settled Shrewsbury team may have taken seven points from those games rather than the two that we got.
This is all very good and positive but we'd be a bit daft to say that everything is going to be great on the basis of what we've seen so far. There are areas we need to work on and I'm sure John Askey and his team will be addressing them this week. It's an ongoing task but we're going in the right direction and I think better is to come, I felt we didn't really get out of fourth gear on Saturday.
Next up is another challenge, Scunthorpe away this coming Saturday afternoon. They are a little like us in that they've drawn quite a few but found the winning formula on Saturday, beating Wimbledon 3-2 away. It was their second win of the season but they've yet to win at home and I imagine they will be hell-bent on producing something for the home fans. If we can limit their opportunities, I think we could get something, after all, we've avoided defeat in 50% of our away games.
The youth team played at home on Saturday and shared the spoils with Walsall. The Saddlers took the lead with a penalty in the first half in quite an even first half. Town found their equaliser with just under an hour gone, Archie Elmore scoring from Rhys Davies' cross. Morecambe are next up in our second home game in a row in the EFL Youth Alliance, kick off is scheduled for 11.00.