Powell feels the love as Cox inspires Southend win
Posted Sunday, March 25, 2018 by PA
Southend manager Chris Powell was loving Simon Cox’s return to the scoresheet in a 2-0 win against Rotherham.
The Shrimpers striker sealed his side’s victory at Roots Hall with a neatly-taken effort after setting up Stephen McLaughlin’s early opener.
And Powell was delighted to see Cox bag his first goal since scoring a brace against Charlton on Boxing Day.
“It’s been tough for Coxy because you get judged on goals but I was hugging him on Friday and showing him a bit of love,” said Powell.
“You can talk all you like but I just felt it was the right thing to do.
“He’s a clever player who has played at the highest level and I’m delighted to see him score, but it was his own hard work which made it.
“It’s a good win and we always seem to be self-motivated when it comes to playing the bigger sides and we’ve been beaten a few of them here now.
“It’s always nice to do it in front of our own fans and I was also pleased with the desire we showed to get the clean sheet.”
The Shrimpers, who had been beaten 5-0 by the Millers in August, went ahead after just seven minutes when Cox played in McLaughlin to score with a neatly controlled left-footed shot.
Millers goalkeeper Lewis Price then stopped Marc-Antoine Fortune making it 2-0 when the striker was clean through on goal before David Ball fired wide for the visitors on the stroke of half-time.
After the break, Rotherham stepped things up and Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley denied Richie Towell from long range.
But the Shrimpers recovered strongly and doubled their lead in the 79th minute when Cox beat Semi Ajayi in the left hand side of the penalty area before netting with a low shot to end a run of three successive draws.
The fourth-placed Millers still threatened, with Michael Smith having a header cleared off the line by McLaughlin before Richie Towell hit the crossbar, and boss Paul Warne was frustrated by his side’s display.
“It was hugely disappointing,” said Warne.
“We don’t come away to lose games and our away form has been excellent in recent weeks and months.
“I think that if I am truly honest, I just think we got a bit ‘old-manned’ today. We have a really young side and they have one of the more senior groups in the League.
“Our keeper has kept us in it in the first half but in the second half we were considerably better.
“I thought we were the only team going to score at that time but one individual error has cost us.”
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