Sturrock: 'I normally go out in the first round every year'
Who would have thought it, in all the success that Blues boss Paul Sturrock has had over the years, not much of it it has been for that famous old trophy the FA Cup, which his present side do battle with League One Preston North End in the First Round to gain a place in the next stage, only one away from when the big guns enter the draw.
Sturrock told www.southendunited.co.uk: "I normally go out in the first round every year. That's the special memory for me, so hopefully I can change that with this game. It really is that bad. Cups have never been my forte in my management career but hopefully that will change this season."
He certainly fell at the first hurdle last year, against Macclesfield in a penalty shoot-out, though it got to a replay.
The teams go into the tie in mixed form, the Shrimpers unbeaten in twelve games, eleven of those wins, scoring 29 goals; Preston however have not won any of their last seven league matches shipping 19 goals, and even their win in the JPT was on penalties after a 1-1 draw on 90 minutes.
We must be favorites then? (In fact Preston are 11/10 to our 11/4, 13/5 the draw.)
Luggy, of course, will have none of that: "It is a long way to go and their players are coming back from injury. They had a run at the start of the season that was second to none with six wins in a row and because of injuries have had a torrid last six matches. Hopefully we can be organised as we have been away from home and cause an upset. They are a League One side/Championship club with good players so it is a very difficult game for us and we are definitely the underdogs.'
Nice one Luggs, and quite true, the tie will give certainly us an idea where we truly stand at the moment as he thinks about his starting line-up.
Sturrock said: "JP is back now which is important with Granty being suspended. We have a couple of illnesses at the moment which are worrying me but we will give them every chance to be available."
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Brown: 'Southend are in a rich vein of form and winning games quite comfortably'
Meanwhile, North End boss Phil Brown is happy to try and shift the odds around as he tries to get back some confidence in his side who are struggling at the moment.
Brown told www.lep.co.uk: “This is a big game in terms of our development. When you look at the way the season has gone for us, we have found it difficult in League One without our best players on the park. But when we’ve had our best players available, we haven’t found it difficult. Hopefully the players who have been missing are just a week or so away from returning. We will endeavour to put out a team which is capable of beating Southend. The bookmakers have us down as underdogs and that is down to confidence."
Well Phil, they don't actually, as posted above the home side are just 11/10, they are still a division higher, for now.
Anyway, back to Brown and his attempt to take on Luggy with the pre-match mind games.
He said:"Southend are in a rich vein of form and winning games quite comfortably. They are top of their division and that is the measure of what we are facing. We are not in a rich vein of form but I hope the game at Rochdale on Tuesday will have arrested our situation and steadied the ship a wee bit. What’s important is that we make Deepdale a difficult place again for the opposition. Up until the Bournemouth game, I would have said it was a tough place. There won’t be a shortage of effort and determination – it’s up to us to douse the confidence which Southend have, by playing well.”
One hero from Tuesday, he saved three spot kicks, was the 6ft 6 German loanee Thorsten Stuckmann who will be making his home debut, (to be fair Luke is no drawf at 6ft 4), just like Oxford's Wayne Brown on Tuesday, and looked what happened there!
Brown continued: “Thorsten did a sterling job on Tuesday, not just making the penalty saves, but by putting a bit of confidence into the back four. Anything he does in his life will be big because of his size – a big save, a big punch, a big catch. What I’m looking for is a big game from him.”