Bolton won in midweek, and they’ll need to keep on winning to get themselves well and truly in the play-off frame.
Tomorrow’s match sees them travel to Southend, a club like us who were also relegated from League One last season. We’re into a run of games against teams down the bottom of the table – in fact two of the next three matches are against two of the bottom three in league, so it’s imperative we pick up points.
IAN EVATT | Manager ahead of Southend United away fixture – YouTube
Team news
Antoni Sarcevic is apparently fit for selection, giving Ian Evatt another option in midfield. There don’t appear to be any new injury concerns either. Positive times…
Previously
Anyone at Roots Hall back in April 2017 won’t need reminding, but let’s do it anyway. We beat Southend 1-0, thanks to Mark Beevers’ late strike, and it seemed that night we would be going up from League One. Unfortunately, we then went on a bit of a wobble, needing back to back wins at the end of the season to seal it on the final day. Last season’s scheduled trip to Essex didn’t happen due to the season being curtailed, while this season we won the home encounter 3-0, our biggest win of the season.
The opposition
Southend have had an awful few seasons, relegated last season picking up even fewer points than us, before looking as if they would be falling out of the Football League altogether after the start to this season. They have had a resurgence of sorts though, and while they have played more games than Barrow and Grimsby, have even moved out of the relegation zone. Nile Ranger signed for the club on an ‘incentivised contract’ in midweek, which seems shorthand for ‘we don’t have to pay him when he inevitably does something stupid’. Jacob Mellis, who was briefly with us last season, is also on the Shrimpers’ books now.
Prediction
Maybe a draw, 1-1. As great as the fightback was in midweek, we were poor for a lot of the game, and Southend are improving, so don’t expect this to be any kind of walkover.