Town boss Paul Jewell was again left ruing his side’s failure to defend set pieces and crosses into the box after losing 2-1 to Southend in a friendly at Roots Hall. The Blues were two goals behind after 11 minutes via Kane Ferdinand and a Luke Chambers own goal. Town’s reply was an own goal from Shrimpers’ defender Mark Phillips.

Jewell felt the game was much like the match at Luton on Saturday: “We had all the ball in the second half again.

“But the goals we concede are just beyond belief really, not even for a Championship team. But that’s been the case for a while.

“Once again Massimo was excellent,” he added, turning to the positives to be taken from the match, “Chops worked hard, he looked sharp, especially in the second half. We got better as the game went on and were in total control of the game but you always feel we’re susceptible to the counter-attack.”

He says there’s still much to do between now and the start of the season: “We’ve played Luton, who are a Conference team and Southend, not easy games, but we’ve conceded goals from three set plays and a cross, so that tells where we need to improve, certainly one area and other areas of the pitch as well.

“You can see we need to stop goals going in the back of our net. That means to say we need to work harder to stop crosses, we need to work harder not to give silly freekicks away, we need to be more professional in the right areas and stronger, mentally and physically in one-to-one challenges.”

Midfielder Lee Martin missed out again due to injury but Jewell says the problem’s not too serious: “He did his thigh over in Holland. He came in against Cambridge last week and felt it again unfortunately. He’s OK, but we don’t want to risk him breaking down.”

The Blues boss made only two changes as he looked to give his more senior players a full game, although one of the substitutions was enforced by a niggle: “Andy Drury had a calf injury and Luke Hyam was just a little bit tired.”

Photo: Action Images

Sindre94 added 23:00 - Jul 31 jas out
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karls_dad added 23:04 - Jul 31 Yes its just a pre season warm up game, to gain fitness levels etc in my day yes i,m that old! they had the players running up and down the stepped terraces to get fit, reality says to me that we are a championship club, with champoinship quality highly paid players playing fourth tier sides and losing badly! Now surely that just should not happen? If we are to progress something needs to be replaced in a hurry, exactly what that something is i,m sure someone on here will know better than I, Suggestions on a postcard to Portman rd! And before anyone says i,m negative and its only a warm up, we have just a few weeks before we are found out if we play like this, worrying times......

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Keaneish added 23:05 - Jul 31 Two points. First point is this - Pearce, ward, Keogh, friend...all decent players we've missed out on. Aside from these...who else have we been linked with!? No-one... Poor...and there's 18 days to go! Second point is this - a whole season together and we still and we still can't deal with crosses from lower league sides? Someone has to be sacked because even I could get 6 or 7 players to deal with crosses in well over 365 days!! Joke right?

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NewYorker added 23:12 - Jul 31 Jas0999 IN PJ out
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nitroblue1970 added 23:23 - Jul 31 jas is entitled to his opinion! Jewell has had plenty of time to address our much maligned defence and still hasnt done anything by either buying the right players or by coaching what we have to get the results we want. He was never the right man for the job, never will be, never had a job for more than a few years before resigning or getting the push. His appointment was a mistae and nothing more than a panic appointment to get a "name" in charge to appease the supporters after the Keane disaster.....he will be gone by christmas as town struggle to make mid table....i just cant see where were are making any progress, can anyone show me where we have improved?

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TimmyH added 23:29 - Jul 31 Strikes me Delaney took some time to get his partnership with Smith to a respectable level, as soon as he partners a different player in central defense he's like a headless chicken. Can anybody tell me who was at the game tonight which side a majority of these crosses came in from and could they have been avoided? What worries me is that Smith (one of our best players in the second half of last season) has had very little rest when the new season gets under way and will have to submit straight away to a new partner. Doesn't fill you with confidence. P.S. Jas - doesn't bother me at all, sometimes he makes very valid points, we all support the club in different ways, some very positive others very critical but we all share the same denominator and that is for the club to succeed.

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RossHolmes added 23:30 - Jul 31 Do something about it!!!!!! Why the f*ck didnt we go snooping for Danny Collins, missed out on him! We need a powerhouse someone who can command the box. Loach hasnt seemed convincing either.
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roytheboy added 23:41 - Jul 31 We really do need to get our season off to a very good start, these results have left me feeling very concerned.
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GTRKing added 23:45 - Jul 31 Look you lot it's pre season & stop moaning PJ Trying his best there will be more players soon. E.G Tht French Guy (When we have sorted the red tape). We will beat West ham & Colchester. Wait till the season starts & go from there Pre season is all about match fitness & Preparing for the season. I say Keep PJ & Only sack him if we not in top 10 at xamss.
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Pabloisgod84 added 23:58 - Jul 31 any defence that has dangerous delaney in it is in trouble. Smith isnt great either, just cos he plays for NZ people think he's a talent or a prospect, well he's not. we need another 3 defenders at least! cant believe Jewell can allow this to happen. should be breaking the bank to get some strong mentally tough defenders in! seriously unhappy!
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ForeverTractorBoy added 00:01 - Aug 1 Man City lost to Oldam tonight. Maybe they will sack manchini! I doubt it! Guys dont be so silly! Its pre season! Not xmas! The club nerds consistancy right now. PJ has brought some quality players in and im sure the next couple of weeks will see a few more. Come on guys!
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StowTractorBoy added 00:27 - Aug 1 The worrying thing for me is that the squad looks very weak in terms of real quality and strength. Add to that the the Championship gets stronger and stronger every year while we stand still. For me the jury is out with Loach. I am happy with Edwards Chambers and Cresswell but we desperately need another powerhouse centre back and it it disappoints me that with all the staff we have behind the scenes we can't find a centre back better than Delaney. We still have no pace on the flanks (Carson not good enough) nor indeed anywhere unless Martin plays or JET decides to turn up.We still don't know which formation to play despite the one up front formation being the most successful. I like PJ and believe he wants success very badly but why is it that we cannot attract players when so called lesser and poorer Clubs than us can.Do we presume that the purse strings have been pulled in by the owner ? I know these are only friendlies but these recent set of results just deflate us and cannot be good for team morale. Lots of work to be done before 18th August when hopefully it will all come right but at the moment those opening 7 league games look very daunting.

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brockleyblueboy added 00:41 - Aug 1 Manchester City lost to Oldham tonight, if they had the "supporters" we had Mancini should be worried Hahahahaha Get a grip you bunch of mugs, it's pre-season, best to work out the kinks now and hit the ground running for the real thing. Judge Jewell at Christmas.
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urmancian added 02:19 - Aug 1 if we wrap up kourouma's dead and bring in gerrard of cardiff and davies of derby and maybe daryl murphy (on a free) are squad will be complete
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PauloJulio added 06:46 - Aug 1 In the words of the great man "where's the f@@kin money?, where's the f@@kin money? (Al Murray, Pub Landlord)
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Essexnblue added 06:58 - Aug 1 I had to put up with this last night and the only positive was the young Spurs lad who must wonder what the hell he has let himself in for? Delaney and Loach cannot talk to each other as both times they left the ball for each other, just as the Watford boys have said, Loach wont come for anything and stays on his line. Delaney was poor throughout and I have never seen Cresswell play so badly especially his distribution. Hyam and drury only played square and lost the ball repeatedly and in the end Chopra was back in his own half hunting for the ball. Smith will be a great help as Chambers looks steady but, same old, same old, same old.................. Did forget 1 thing Jimmy looked half decent for 25 minutes

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TimmyH added 08:10 - Aug 1 @pabloisgod - well mate on the Smith issue, he was no doubt one of our better players in the second half of last season, says a lot for the rest if you don't rate him!
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Surco72 added 08:44 - Aug 1 Biggest problem of all last night was crosses coming in from wide mainly because we have no right back and our left back had a very poor game. Hopefully the young lad Hewitt will help this as Edwards was poor last year defensively as i said many times whilst everyone is blaming the centre back and the keepers the two things that didnt change in our poor defense last season was the full backs ? Delaney his usual 50/50 self one ok game one poor game ,overall a poor Keane signing ,we need better . Also i still dont believe Hyam is up to it which is what Jewell must be seeing,especially if we have Luongo who looks the real deal and will help us no end ,but Bullard must be played alongside him as he is our only real quality ,and we miss Martin .

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PunchNoHopers added 09:16 - Aug 1 So what on earth have they been doing in training, obviously not working on how to defend basic set pieces, that is obvious!!!
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unknownicr added 09:46 - Aug 1 At the moment I'm hoping to look very silly this season as my prediction is relegation. Anything else is a bonus. The squad we have is very poor and the manager is nowhere near what a modern coach should be.
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TR11BLU added 09:50 - Aug 1 This is laughable...after pretty much every game last season PJ was lamenting our inability to defend crosses, set pieces and our 'schoolboy' defending. Here we are, pre season and the same old same old comes out. Forget the lack of money, although we have a new keeper and two defenders, PJ has had another pre season to sort it or at least very slightly improve it. As Keanish pointed out, most of us on here could manage improvement. I said on here some weeks ago we will be in a relegation fight this season and it pains me to say that nothing has changed that view. PJ out NOW.

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nysully added 14:26 - Aug 1 This may sound ridiculous but we need a proper center forward who can defend and corner / set piece, god bless Tommy Smith but he isn't the answer
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TimmyH added 20:23 - Aug 1 @surco - yep RB position never sorted by Jewell or Keane, big problem is our captain's playing in that position and they don't want him replaced and Martin is our creative right midfielder so he won't go there either. Edwards not a good defensive player. In my mind Edwards should be on the bench and come on as an impact player or start if Martin is injured (in Midfield).

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