Brown admits selection mistake as Hatters triumph

Southend United boss Phil Brown admitted he made a mistake with his team selection as the Shrimpers were beaten 2-0 by Luton Town yesterda.

Brown, who was named the League Two manager of the month this week, dropped midfielder Jack Payne to the bench, before bringing him on at the start of the second half with his side already 2-0 down.

He said: “I think I make a mistake not playing Jack Payne. We brought him on at half time, yes, he looked the danger man, yes, he looked like the one who was going to get a goal for us, but the damage was done.

“You’ve got to give great credit to Luton Town, they’re up there on merit. That’s four on the bounce they’ve won, so they’re in the vein of form that we’ve been.

“We know what that feels like, we’ve lost back to back games now and we didn’t deserve anything.

“The manner in the way we played in the first half. I think one or two of them weren’t prepared for what Luton were throwing at us.

“And that’s a 9,000 crowd, hostile, good atmosphere. If you ask me the type that you’d like to play in, but we didn’t have enough nous and experience out there.”