All hail the Hall: 'Ryan was touch and go before the game'

 

 

Sturrock told the PA: "Ryan was touch and go before the game with sickness and diarrhoea. I don't think he hardly slept at all the night before the game and he hasn't been able to eat either because he couldn't keep anything down. He came in before the game and we talked through if he was going to be able to play or not but in the end we gave it a go and thankfully for us he scored a great goal to win the game."

 

He did indeed, making Ryan the leading scorer for Southend with seven goals, that ten by Christmas he wanted is most definitely on!

 

However, there was no getting away with the fact that Oxford had most of the possession in the opening 45 minutes but came in to the break one down, thanks to some missed chances, and some great goal keeping from loanee shot stopper Luke Daniels, the S24 man-of-the-match with a well-deserved nine out of ten making. 

 

Speaking to www.echo-news.co.uk Luggy said: “People would've gone away from the match knowing the better team lost if I'm being honest. The good thing from our point of view was that the lads rolled their sleeves up and gave even more which is the essence needed for success. However, our keeper kept us in it in the first half and if we carry on playing like that then we're not going to win too many other matches.”

 

Sturrock accepted that the 3-4-3 formation used by the U's led to the away side's domination of the first half and acknowledged they will be a team to beat as the season continues.

 

He said: “They played with a different system and it knocked us out of our stride a little bit. We had been preparing for them to line up with other formations and you have to give credit to their manager for that. Oxford showed that they will definitely be up there at the end of the season and we really had to churn out a result to beat them.”