MOLESLEY: WE WILL FIGHT ALL THE WAY TO STAY IN THE LEAGUE
Battling Shrimpers out of the drop zone
MARK Molesley felt his Southend side had enjoyed a strong week following their draw at Cambridge.
The Shrimpers followed up their victory at Newport in midweek with a goalless draw at the Abbey Stadium in one of only two League Two matches that beat the weather.
The draw lifts Molesley’s side to 22nd, the first time Southend have been out of the relegation zone since they went bottom on October 17.
The U’s kept a clean sheet, four days after conceding four at Salford, but struggled to threaten the Southend goal and had to settle for a point that extended their lead at the top to four points.
“I was really pleased with the performance,” Molesley said. “In tough conditions, our second away game in a week, away at top of the table was always going to be a challenge, but we more than matched them.
“We had a lot of shots, probably didn’t test their keeper enough, but that final pass or final shot sometimes couldn’t quite get away. It was a full action game and we showed the right attitude, work rate and endeavour.
“We’ve shown all the fighting characteristics that we’re going to need, but all we’ve done is given us a platform and we’ve got to continue to build on that.
Asked about Southend’s penalty shout in the first half for a possible foul by Jack Iredale on Ash
Nathaniel-George, Molesley said “It was quite a strong one! Ash has cut across him and he’s either got to do him for diving or it’s a penalty. He’s pulled him back twice before that, so that’s his third foul on him.
“The things we focus on is ourselves, and we are improving very quickly. We have done this week, and we needed to. We’ve got our key players fit and ready, and we’ve gone toe to toe with two top teams in the league this week.
“We’ve had to get ourselves back up off the canvas again, we’ve given ourselves a fighting chance again, that’s all we’ve given ourselves and we’ve got to continue to build on this.
“This could be a good point if we follow it up, we’ve got to consistently put results together. Four points for a week’s work is good
but we’ve got to continue doing that, there’s plenty of hard work ahead of us.”
The Shrimpers could have scored in unusual circumstances after 12 minutes when goalkeeper Mark Oxley’s free-kick from inside his own half almost bounced over his opposite number before being tipped over by Callum Burton.
Cambridge went close five minutes before the break when Paul Mullin slotted the ball through to Adam May, whose effort was well parried by Oxley.
The visitors continued to threaten after the break, with Kyle Taylor pulling the ball back to Simeon Akinola in a great position, only for Cambridge to block well in front of their own goal.
Emile Acquah pulled back for Taylor to blast wide, and with 12 minutes left Cambridge struggled to clear a corner and Timothee Dieng headed over as neither side could find a way through.
Cambridge boss Mark Bonner felt his side failed to hit the heights they’ve achieved during their run which sent them to the top of the division.
“The game was far from a spectacle,” Bonner admitted. “I thought it was a really low quality game with very, very few, if any chances throughout the game.
“We didn’t really test the goalkeeper, we made lots of poor decisions with the ball, and never really got into our stride and lacked a bit of intensity in our work off the ball as well.
“We take a clean sheet, we take a point when we were a long, long way from our best. They’ve had a brilliant week so I’m sure they’ll be delighted with their four points and two clean sheets this week. There was a little bit of a lack of energy from us, a little bit of not taking care on the ball and just lots of bad decisions with it.
“Any moment in the first half when we managed to get it going for a couple of moments we created a chance. Adam (May) has a good chance where he goes through on goal, but in the end there was a game between two boxes where not a lot went on.
“All things combined it was a match that not many people will want to watch again.”