BROWN’S BLUES STAY ON THE UP
Southend United are ‘bouncing’ after their convincing home triumph over high-flying Bradford City, with manager Phil Brown hoping the victory lays down a marker for an important week ahead.
Former Bantams man Will Atkinson scored his first double since 2009 before Bradford captain Romain Vincelot ended all hope of a late revival with an own goal on 87 minutes.
The victory saw the Blues move to within a point of the League One play-off places, and having turned around a difficult spell to go six games unbeaten, manager Brown is confident his side are setting their own standards ahead of upcoming clashes with Swindon and Walsall.
“The lads are bouncing,” he said. “It is the start of a big week and we’ve put the first marker down for what we do for the rest of it. This is a fantastic result for us; it keeps the momentum going and also helps us bring that goal deficit down in the league table. It was minus 11, and is now one, so we’ll keep chipping away at that.”
Star man Atkinson was at times uncontainable as he linked with the imperious Simon Cox and Anthony Wordsworth.
Southend took the initiative early on, and were rewarded after 15 minutes as Simon Cox cut inside and threaded in Atkinson, who scored low to Colin Doyle’s left.
Bradford finally settled into the game after another nervous period in which Nile Ranger should have extended the lead when put through by Cox, and began getting the ball into the Southend area, but Hanson couldn’t convert the few chances he was provided.
“It wasn’t all one-way traffic as the scoreline suggests,” Brown added. “Bradford are a good side, and they showed their strength in depth in terms of the strike force. They had chances but we marshalled it well.”
The visitors did cause Mark Oxley some trouble, with a couple of saves needed to maintain Southend’s lead, but the home side were content to dig in.
On 72 minutes the ball dropped to Atkinson on the edge of the Bradford box following a Southend counter, and his cleanly-hit strike zipped across Doyle into the bottom corner.
Atkinson could have got his hat-trick had James Meredith not cleared off the line, but his efforts were rewarded three minutes from time when a wayward shot skewed off Vincelot and looped past Doyle to make it 3-0.
“We’ll lick our wounds and go again Tuesday,” said Bradford boss Stuart McCall. “I’m disappointed with the result but not with the performance.
“We can play better, but we’ve come to a difficult place with a strong side, and there was enough to show that we’ll be alright for the rest of the season I believe.”