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Kevin Maher on emotional night, unable to watch winning penalty as Southend beat Forest Green

Kevin Maher speaks on what was an another emotional night, unable to watch the winning penalty as Southend beat Forest Green.

The Shrimpers will be in the National League playoff final, where they will take on Oldham Athletic for a place back in the Football League.

Southend went wild on Wednesday night, a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Forest Green after quite the end to end 120 minutes.

The first half saw Southend’s Keenan Appiah-Forson hit the crossbar, then Ben Goodliffe’s header gave them a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute. Ryan Innis equalized for Forest Green eight minutes later.

Spot kicks were needed with the scoreline at 2-2, Jack Bridge scoring four minutes from the end of extra time, following Emmanuel Osadebe’s header.

Gus Scott-Morris scored the decisive penalty, meaning it’s Oldham v Southend in the final, set for Sunday, June 1st, at 3:00pm.

Gus Scott-Morriss said after the game: “It’s hard to put it all into words. It was a a special night and incredible performance.

“We don’t like to do it the easy way! They have been two great semi-finals, and there’s one more to game to go.

“It’s going to be a huge final, and we’re going there to get promotion. It’s been a brilliant season but we want to end it by winning at Wembley.”

His manager Kevin Maher, said, per Southend Echo: “I watched most of them but I couldn’t watch the last one.

“We practised them and Gussy has been pretty consistent.

“I was watching the guys up in the directors box to see their reaction and to see their elation was just an unbelievable feeling.

“If you could bottle that it would be worth a few quid.

“I’m not sure I can sum it up right now.

“All I know is that we found a way to win it and everyone deserves so much credit to get us in the position.

“It seemed like it was dead and buried at the end but we shouldn’t be surprised we came back again.”

“It’s all a bit surreal and it’s nice to see the faces in the directors box and my family too,” said Maher.

“My kids are here so for them to experience that is brilliant.

“It’s brilliant for all the fans too.

“The highs and lows we’ve had in games recently is unbelievable but that’s where the football club has been and we’ll keep on going.

“The way the game panned out there’s huge emotion and relief but make no mistake we’re going to the final to win.”

Forest Green boss Steve Cotterill said, per Gloucester Live: “I have to be brutally honest; I wasn’t preparing for our season to end.

“I genuinely thought we were going to win. That wasn’t out of any arrogance, I was just confident in our lads. Congratulations to Southend as well, I have just been and shaken hands with all of their guys, which was tough. I thought it was the right thing to do.

“We probably lost the game in the first-half. I thought our first-half performance we looked a little bit tentative with everything. I thought that was maybe the time we could put the squeeze on them and we didn’t do that.

“In the second-half we were much better, I think in extra-time the game is won. We have gone galivanting off a little bit and got a bit excited whereas all we needed to do is keep our back four together and keep our two holding midfielders. I thought it was a great effort from the lads considering we have gone into extra-time and it is strange really how it has worked out with the teams that have had games before that.

“You can only do so much running and fitness work with your boys, but you can’t replicate how a game is. I just thought in the first-half we looked a yard away from things so that for me is how I look at it. That is my only disappointment with the lads, anyone can miss a penalty. We have done what we could this season, I think it has been a good season, but it is difficult to say that right now because of the disappointment. The guys are devastated in the dressing room.”

The plan was to put Christian Doidge and Teddy Jenks on the final minute of extra-time and take a penalty, only for the referee to blow for full-time earlier than expected, before they had chance to enter the field.

“Kyle (McAllister) would have taken a penalty, but it is whether we get him through the game, he seemed to be limping a little bit. Maysey (Adam May), he would have been another one to take a penalty.

“With that (Doidge and Jenks), what you are doing is weaken the team from a set-play. You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t. We very rarely make any substitutes when the ball is in our half because any one mistake can end up in the back of the net. Those two were coming on, while Teddy wasn’t in the top five, he would have taken a penalty and so would Doidgey. I am stuck for words a little bit.”

Looking back on the league season as a whole: “I might look at in a week or two, I might think ‘it has been a good season’, but it could have been great. I have just said to the boys in there ‘don’t get talking and analysing it too much’ because they are very emotional at the moment. They are good friends and a tight-knit squad, we did unbelievably well after being 1-0 down to come back and go 2-1 up.”

Forest Green: Cann, Long, Inniss, Moore-Taylor, Robson, Sercombe, May (Bunker 118′), McCann, McAllister (Knowles 113′), Quigley (Cardwell 91′), Garrick (Osadebe 91′)

Subs: Osadebe, Doidge, Knowles, Bunker, Searle, Jenks, Cardwell

Southend: Hayes, Scott-Morriss, Harry Taylor, Goodliffe, Ralph, Noor Husin (Bridge 82′), Appiah-Forson, Coker (Miley 67′), Parillon (Walker 95′), Kendall (Bonne 60′), Hopper (Gubbins 105′)

Subs: Wind, Bridge, Bonne, Walker, Gubbins, Miley, Jaakkola

Goals
Forest Green Rovers: Inniss 62’, Osadebe 94’
Southend United: Goodliffe 53’, Bridge 116’

Yellow cards
Forest Green Rovers: Moore-Taylor 78’
Southend United: Kendall 42’

Referee: David Rock

Attendance: 3,937 (751 away)

Twitter users gave their reaction as Kevin Maher speaks on an emotional night, unable to watch the winning penalty as Southend beat Forest Green…

@BradSibbo: Hopefully you get the result at Wembley , love a trip to Southend with Gills

@Winstanley_74: Good to see Southend heading in the right direction after everything you guys went through! 🙏🏻 very best of the luck in the final! 🤝

@alyn_line: Get in there Southend! Be good to see a proper club back in the EFL, whether it’s yourselves or Oldham. Great achievement 👏👏

@natashaboo7: Absolutely buzzing!!!! Im literally in tears…. what a club 🙌🙌🙌🙌

@BCAFCBH: Football thanks you

@NicaraguaVisit: I’m over the moon! I absolutely love this club. Never give up. And what wonderful night for Kev and his team, our boys and our fans. Brilliant Blues!

@AL2Spireite: Well done Shrimpers. Now win it at Wembley.

@DonsCentre: Go on you lot please win the lot and get back into the EFL 🙏

@BensonDiseworth: Congratulations to Southend well deserved win , true fighting spirit, all the best at Wembley ⚽️😊

@danbow2019: Words cannot accurately sum up the scale of the achievement of our football club

@MikePannett: As a York City supporter absolutely delighted for you all. A great club with a fantastic fan base. After everything you’ve been through this is just rewards. What a cracking performance. Please do us all a favour and beat Oldham at Wembley. Good on ya all #YCFC #SUFC

@BCAFCPHILL: Well done @SUFCRootsHall, was cheering for u guys on the pens, proper football club unlike FGR

@WillB_2003: Quite fitting that the final will be between two sides who’ve been through hell on and off the pitch and one will finally get a bit of overdue joy

@myftblpictures: Oldham or Southend in League Two next season, two proper clubs. Most importantly no Forest Green Rovers in the 92. Joke of a club, joke of a stadium. Great news.

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