Sturrock: 'Luke's looking a much better player at left-back'
Blues boss Paul Sturrock had only words for former Valiant Luke Prosser after the defenders last gasp strike rescued a point for the Shrimpers to stop an away run that has seen six successive away defeats.
Sturrock told the Press Association: "Luke Prosser had an indifferent start to his time with us and he didn't endear himself to the crowd because he made mistakes. He had a poor game against Port Vale when we met earlier in the season and I took him off at half-time. It must have been a big disappointment to him, but he has shown real character to bounce back. He's a nice lad who is a joy to work with and he really wants to be a player. He works ever so hard at his game and he's looking a much better player at left-back than he did at centre-half."
Well, if more was needed, that seems to be another nail in the coffin of the future of left-back Johnny Herd at Roots hall, while certainly giving the saviour Luke hope for the future.
The official match report:
www.southendunited.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10444~52352,00.html
Grew: 'Mathematically, we are not out of the play-offs'
Meanwhile, Valiants caretaker boss Mark Grew was determined to remain defiant after Prosser's 90th minute equaliser robbed his side of the victory that would have seen his side move to within a point of the play-off positions.
Grew told www.port-vale.co.uk: "We haven't played particularly well today, but I said to them before the game, it is not necessarily playing well, it's about getting results. I had a go at them at half-time because I thought the tempo wasn't high enough, people were having too many touches and they didn't have the ball."
However, what about the chances his side still grabbing one of those priceless top seven positions?
Grew explained: "It was disappointing, because if we had come off the pitch and won 1-0 and it was a poor performance, everybody would still be happy because you go back into the play-off places. Mathematically, we are not out of it, but today has made it much harder. I haven't ruled promotion out, other people may have but I haven't. There are 15 points to play for, and that is a lot of points. I'm not saying we'll get all 15, but we need to pick up as many as we possibily can."
Finally, Grew touched on the areas he felt had let his team down on the day.
He concluded: "Some of the play today was poor; we got into good areas but we didn't get the ball in the box. We worked on set-pieces in training on Thursday and Friday and today we scored from a corner, but we have got to go back to the training ground because there are other areas we need to improve on. The lads are distraught, they new this was a big game but they are disappointed with their performances. But Geoff (Horsfield) and I will get them going and we will pick them up, they will be smiling again come Monday morning."
And so will be a certain ex-player of Port Vale called Luke Prosser.
The Valiants view of the game:
www.port-vale.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10381~52352,00.html