Brown – We Did Enough For The Win

Building on the win against Portsmouth, Southend backed that up last night with a good one nil victory over Cheltenham Town.

With manager Phil Brown wanting to see us get on a winning streak now having been five unbeaten only a game ago, he was again left delighted at full time following the game as we have again registered back to back victories.

Speaking to the Official Site after seeing Conor Clifford win us the game in the second period, he explained.

‘We deserved it, and although we missed a few chances, we took one and held on against a strong Cheltenham side who made it difficult for us right until the end. I thought our two centre backs were fantastic. We didn’t get that second goal to make it comfortable for ourselves but we saw it out well.’

With the game featuring a red card for our hosts and Clifford being heavily involved in almost all aspects of the game having replaced the injured Ryan Leonard, the manager said he felt the referee got the decision spot on to reduce them to ten men.

‘Conor’s gone to ground and it looks as if the lad’s elbowed him. I can only take the integrity of my players and say that was an honest red card. The referee was five yards away and I feel he’s made the right decision.’

As for Clifford specifically, Brown goes on to say that this is now his second goal of the season and he felt that he needed to find himself a home after leaving Chelsea, and thankfully for us with the way he’s settled in and performing, it looks like he’s found it with us.

What also pleases the gaffer is that with Clifford coming in and then losing his place, his attitude has been spot on in training and he was delighted to see him take the chance to impress again last night.

As for Leonard, it is a hamstring injury but scans will have to be done to assess how bad it may be.