Southend United 0–0 Solihull Moors: Two Fine Keepers, One Frustrating Afternoon

Nearly 9,000 at Roots Hall. A play-off place there to be secured with a win. Three league victories behind us and a chance to get the job done in front of our own supporters. The stage was set. The football, sadly, never quite matched it.

Southend United 0–0 Solihull Moors will not be a fixture anybody rushes to watch again. Too much of our play was slow, too little of it carried a threat and the side looked to be feeling every one of those recent matches. But there is a reason we came away with a point rather than nothing, and his name is Collin Andeng-Ndi.

At the other end, Laurie Walker produced the sort of goalkeeping performance that has opponents shaking their heads. We can complain about our lack of sharpness—and I will—but we also have to admit that on the occasions we did get through, Solihull had a keeper ready with an answer.

A big opportunity, but never an easy opponent

It would have been tempting to glance at Solihull’s mid-table position and expect a routine home win. That would have ignored what they had just done to Boreham Wood, beating them 4–1 on Easter Monday. A side capable of that has enough about it to make life awkward for anybody in this league.

They came to Roots Hall organised, willing to press and quick to close down the areas from which Southend have been causing damage. In particular, they did a good job of preventing Harry Boyes and Joe Gubbins from finding the easy forward route down our left. There was far less room for a wing-back to gallop into than we have enjoyed in recent weeks.

Southend were not helped by the absence of James Golding. His willingness to carry the ball out from the back gives the midfield an extra option and makes opponents decide whether to follow him or hold their position. Without that drive, too many of our moves began with another sideways pass, another pause and another chance for Solihull to get organised.

That is not a criticism aimed at Ben Goodliffe alone. A team has to find other ways to progress the ball when one player is missing. We did not manage it often enough.

Both keepers had to earn their afternoon

Solihull started with confidence, threatening from a couple of early corners. Southend gradually found some openings of their own. Harry Taylor helped create a chance for Gus Scott-Morriss, whose curling effort brought an excellent save from Walker. Boyes also tried his luck from range.

That was encouraging, but it was never one-way traffic. Darius Lipsiuc pounced on an opportunity after the ball came loose at the back, and Andeng-Ndi had to be alert to keep him out. Joe Sbarra was involved in some tidy Solihull possession as the visitors showed they had come to play football, not simply stand in a line on the edge of their box.

The frustration was how little speed there seemed to be in our passing. Against a team pressing as quickly as Solihull, you need someone prepared to break a line, carry the ball or play a pass that forces a defender to turn. Too often we made it fairly comfortable for them to shuffle across and close the next gap.

There were efforts on goal and there was work being done. I do not think a lack of effort was the problem. It was the absence of that extra yard of urgency and imagination which has been such a welcome feature of our better performances.

Collin kept us in the contest

The second half could have taken a nasty turn almost immediately. Callum McFarlane broke forward and Andeng-Ndi made another important save, with the follow-up not troubling the net. Lipsiuc continued to carry a threat too. Solihull were perfectly capable of taking all three points if we gave them the chance.

There has been plenty of debate about our goalkeeping position this season. On this evidence, Collin deserves to be judged on what he actually did, not on an argument somebody had weeks ago. He was decisive, made the saves he needed to make and gave Southend a platform from which to try to win the match.

Harry Taylor and Boyes had moments of solid defensive work as well, but the goalkeeper was the player who most clearly earned his afternoon. Sometimes a clean sheet is a team achievement; sometimes the man wearing the gloves has to do rather more than his share. This felt like the latter.

Where was the spark in midfield?

Alfie Massey had looked full of purpose against Braintree. Here he found it much harder to get the game moving. Sam Austin could not consistently find those clever pockets of space and Oli Coker had periods when the play seemed to pass around him rather than through him. The combination did not give the front two the service or support they needed.

I am not interested in singling out one young player as the reason for a goalless draw. Coker had some useful spells, and people will disagree about which of the midfield three offered most. The bigger point is that as a unit we were not moving the ball or ourselves quickly enough to unsettle Solihull.

Kevin Maher reacted on 55 minutes by bringing on James Morton and Keenan Appiah-Forson for Massey and Austin. There was more energy after the changes. Appiah-Forson found a way through shortly afterwards, only for Walker to make another good save. That was exactly the sort of directness we had been missing.

There is a question, though, about whether we could have changed the pattern sooner. It was plain before the interval that Solihull had found a way of squeezing our usual passing game. We kept trying to work through the same crowded channels and hoping a gap would eventually appear.

Good to have Cardwell back

One genuinely welcome moment came after 68 minutes, when Harry Cardwell replaced Tom Hopper for his first appearance since January. It would be unfair to expect a player returning from a lengthy spell out to rescue a match within minutes, but having him back among the options is a boost at an important point of the season.

Leon Chambers-Parillon was also back in the matchday squad, although he did not get on the pitch. If we are going to need something different during the play-offs, getting players of that kind of quality available again can only help.

Late on, Andrew Dallas bent an effort towards goal and Walker produced a terrific diving save to turn it away. That summed up the afternoon. When the passing did finally create a proper opening, the visitors’ goalkeeper shut the door.

Eight minutes of added time gave us one final chance to turn the draw into a celebration. It did not happen. We had waited all afternoon for the breakthrough and, in truth, never found a sustained spell that made a goal feel inevitable.

One point nearer, but we should want more

It is easy to be angry after a performance that lacked rhythm in front of a crowd of 8,993. A home victory would have secured our top-seven finish and allowed us to approach the remaining fixtures with that job completed. We did not take the opportunity.

But a draw against a well-organised Solihull side is not a disaster. They were more dangerous than their league position suggested and the two goalkeepers were probably the best players on the pitch. We cannot describe our finishing as the only reason for this result when Collin made sure we were not beaten at the other end.

My worry is less about one goalless afternoon and more about how we respond when an opponent blocks the routes we normally use. In a play-off tie, a team will study those patterns and force us to find another solution. Golding’s ability to carry the ball is a major help, but we cannot be completely dependent on one player to make the whole side look progressive.

Aldershot away on Tuesday is next. A bit more speed on the ball, a bit more belief going forward—and let’s get the job finished. Up the Shrimpers.

The match details

Yellow cards

Southend United: Gubbins 40’, Taylor 90+7’
Solihull Moors: Whitmore 30’, Wakeling 90+7’

Attendance

8,993 (67 away)

Match Officials

Referee: Aaron Bannister
Assistant Referee 1: Nick Blogg
Assistant Referee 2: Amarjit Sarao
Fourth Official: Morgan Conn

Where it leaves Southend