Sturrock: 'I think the players now know how to play the Roots Hall pitch now'
The then Shrimpers assistant boss Tommy Widdrington departed the club after the 3-1 defeat to Burton Albion back in December after a particular poor display, luckily EEB had enjoyed a few of the local businesses to remember much of the game, one that Blues boss Paul Sturrock wants his team to avenge Saturday afternoon at Roots Hall.
Sturrock told www.echo-news.co.uk: "I think that remains our biggest loss of the season and certainly one of our poorest performances too. The build up to it was affected by the weather and we hadn't been able to train properly because of all the snow. Burton had been able to train properly for three weeks but we only had about three days and I do think that had an influence on the game. But we've picked up since then and it would nice to pay them one back for earlier on in the season."
And so would we Luggy as we bid farewell to our heroes, well in south-east Essex anyway, until next August.
In the meantime, he's well aware that a win for the Brewers will see them reach that magical 50-point mark and should guarantee themselves League football once again next time around.
Sturrock continued: "I think they have probably made themselves safe with their last few results. But they will want to get another three points to make completely sure of survival. We want to keep our home form going though and I think the players now know how to play the pitch which wasn't the case at the start of the season when everything was so new to them. Next year we will play with one system at home and then another one away."
Interesting, Luggy's experiments with tactics haven't always come off but we'll willing to stay with him as we hopefully make a real push for honours over 2011/12.
The S24 Preview:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/roll/ed61/
southend_united_v_burton_albion_672948/index.
As for this campaign, vote for you're S24 Shrimpers Player of the Season here:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/interactive/voting_polls.asp
Peschisolido: 'We're still not safe, but I would like to think we will be after Southend'
Meanwhile, Brewers boss Paul Peschisolido, hubby of Hamsters vice-chair and ex-Brummie MD Karren Brady, don't sing that song, is wondering if he'll still be at the Pirelli Stadium next season after a horrific run of results playing catch-up on the rest of the League saw them sink into real trouble at the bottom end of the table, but a run of eight points from the last four unbeaten matches has seen survival move tantalisingly close.
Peschisolido told www.burtonmail.co.uk: "I'm just grateful the chairman (Ben Robinson) has been patient and supportive enough to give me the chance to get us out of the situation we're in. It's been an horrendous season for a variety of reasons but we're in touching distance of staying up, and I just hope I get the chance to turn things around next season. You need to be successful to stay in football — and it's been a massive learning curve that I honestly think will make me a better manager."
It's more than likely that his job depends on keeping the club playing League football, something he fully appreciates.
Peschisolido continued: "My future hasn't been discussed and it will be for others to decide whether I remain in charge at Burton, but I truly hope I will be offered the chance. The priority at the moment is obviously to keep the club in the League, which we're close to doing, and hopefully I will be given the opportunity to make sure there is a massive improvement next season."
In the Pesch defence was a horrible back log of games that built up, around the beating of the Shrimpers thoughts in Staffordshire were probably more of play-offs than Blue Square Conference, due to the inclement weather conditions last winter and Burton's record-breaking run to the the FA Cup fourth round.
He explained: "The games we have had to play have destroyed us in terms of our league position. I've never known such a freakish season where a club has had to play every midweek for three months without a break. We've played 23 games since the start of February — that's half a season in 12 weeks — and it's killed us. I had players saying at half-time on Monday (against Torquay United) that their legs had gone, and all I could do was to ask them to keep digging as deep as they could to get us a result."
And the last thing he wants is to have all the pressure of having to gain a result next weekend at home to the Stanley, three points against the Shots and an exciting 3-3 draw with the Gulls of Torquay Easter Monday has given them a rare six days rest, well, sort off, they were back training after four!
Peschisolido said: "Happily, after winning at Aldershot on Saturday, we did just that. We got a point and took another step towards our target. We're still not safe — but I would like to think we will be after Southend because we don't want to go into the final game against Accrington with anything resting on it from our point of view. It's been important to give the lads to some recovery time to recharge the batteries for Saturday."
As for the Shrimpers, is he expecting a similar result to the one last time around that will certainly banish any relegation concerns?
He concluded: "We won quite convincingly that day, but in all fairness I think they had a few players missing. You only have to look at their solid form in the second half of the season to realise this will be a difficult game against a side with a good home record. People will say they're comfortably mid-table with nothing to play for, but experience tells me that could spell danger because they are in a position to relax and play their football. Our focus is solely on getting our own preparation right with a view to repeating the performances we've produced in the last few games. I still maintain we're a match for anyone in this league, if we play to our strengths and at the right tempo. We've proved ourselves again in recent games, but the lads know we've just got to keep going and make sure we don't drop our standards again."
Don't lie, we know what you're thinking
Lucky Pesch, getting his gums around those mammas.
Back in 1995, the present Apprentice judge Ms. Brady was voted the 98th sexiest woman in the world by the readers of FHM magazine don't you know.
