Sheridan demands positive reaction

KEVIN MAHER

ATHLETIC held a lengthy post-mortem in the dressing room after their FA Cup defeat by Cheltenham this week – and now they must transform those words into actions.

The visit to Southend United is a tough test for John Sheridan’s side, whose form can vary wildly from one game to the next.

Southend have only lost once at home in the league this season and, like Athletic, they are on the fringes of the play-off zone.

Boundary Park was a subdued place late on Tuesday night, but Sheridan believes his heart-to-heart with the players will help to spark a response.

He said: “Whether I’m right or wrong I always tell them what I’m thinking. That’s the way I am.

“We do it behind closed doors and hopefully it’s constructive, but basically some of them need to grow up quickly.

“I don’t think we played poorly against Cheltenham because we dominated and had lots of chances to turn it round from 1-0.

“We’ve learned from other defeats and hopefully we’ll learn from that one as well – we need to win our next game.

“Southend are strong with some good, experienced players, and they are one of the sides I looked at in pre-season as probably being up there.

“We are too up and down at the moment, and that’s something we’ve talked about, but it’s an important league game so the lads should believe in their ability to win.”

Athletic midfield man Kevin Maher will be making his first return to Southend since moving to Boundary Park in the summer.

And as a tremendous servant to the Roots Hall club for fully 10-and-a-half years, he is sure to be given a genuinely warm welcome.

It’s rare in the modern game for a player to have such longevity, but a record of 454 league and cup appearances showed Maher’s value to Southend.

Having signed from Tottenham, he was virtually ever-present until dropping out of favour midway through last season.

Maher became team captain, then club captain, and led the Essex boys to successive promotions from League Two to the Championship in 2005 and 2006.

Manager Steve Tilson – who celebrates five years in charge this weekend – released him with four other players as Southend made cutbacks to their squad.

On the other side of the coin, Southend could include three former Athletic men in their line-up for tomorrow’s battle.

Goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall had a spell at Boundary Park five seasons ago, midfielder Anthony Grant spent one month on loan from Chelsea and forward Kevin Betsy was a regular starter under Brian Talbot.

Betsy joined Southend from Bristol City and opened his goal account last week when, having opted to miss the birth of his daughter, he equalised at Tranmere.

Southend are unbeaten in five league and cup games, but Athletic won at Roots Hall last season with an early goal from Lee Hughes.

TOMORROW’S LEAGUE ONE FIXTURES: Brighton v Huddersfield; Bristol Rovers v Swindon; Carlisle v Cheltenham; Crewe v Stockport; Hereford v Northampton; Leeds v Hartlepool; Leyton Orient v Millwall; Peterborough v Colchester; Scunthorpe v Leicester; Southend v Athletic; Walsall v MK Dons; Yeovil v Tranmere.