Powell relieved to get off the mark

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

Chris Powell was delighted to see Southend record their first victory of the season, even if they were not their best in a 2-0 victory against Bradford.

Second-half headers from Tom Hopper and Simon Cox handed the Shrimpers all three points at Roots Hall.

Despite the comfortable win, Powell felt his side had performed better in their previous outings without winning.

“We’ve played better in the other two games and not won, but we did enough and we showed our quality in the end,” said Powell.

“I think everything had been a little bit on edge so it’s good to get the first win and clean sheet.

“The two strikers got the goals and that’s what they’re judged on so it’s been good all round and we’ve ticked off a lot of things.

“Tom is a good player and he’s a striker the fans will really grow to like here.

“He works hard, he’s brave, his link-up play is good and he gets in the box.

“It was good for Simon to get a goal too and you could see how much it increased his confidence because he started shooting from about 85 yards afterwards!”

Southend dominated the majority of the first half with Stephen McLaughlin, Michael Kightly and Jason Demetriou all going close to opening the scoring and Hopper having a close range effort ruled out for offside.

At the start of the second-half, John White saw his close-range volley tipped onto the crossbar by Bradford goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell, before Hopper opened the scoring from Kightly’s cross and Cox doubled the lead minutes later.

He could have added a third but his chipped shot bounced back off the crossbar before Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley did well to deny Jordan Gibson late on.

Bradford boss Michael Collins slammed the efforts of his players after the game.

“I’m not going to defend the performance,” fumed Collins. “They wanted it more than us.

“There was more desire from them, there was more commitment to win second balls and more desire to do the ugly side of the game.

“That hurts me because it’s a difficult one to take.

“You can talk about formations and systems but you’re always going to struggle if you don’t do the basics right and do the levels of commitment required to put pressure on the man on the ball.

“We’re a group of lads who will take defeats together, win together and take it on the chin together.

“I’m not one of those who will come out and slate the players publicly.

“But they were told in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable.”