SOUTHEND United midfielder Michael Timlin felt it was written in the stars for him to score in the Shrimpers’ win at Peterborough.

Timlin bagged Blues’ final goal in an impressive 4-1 win – just a day after becoming a father for the first time.

And the 31-year-old was delighted to add to his excitement by helping Phil Brown’s side move up to fifth in the League One standings.

“The birth of my first child, the goal and the three points have given me a fantastic feeling,” said Timlin.

“All the boys have been saying it was written in the stars for me to score and they’re probably right.

“I hadn’t scored all season so it was nice to get one but the three points was the most important thing.

“It’s a really big win against a team who are just below us and, with Millwall drawing against Chesterfield, it’s a massive night the team.”

Timlin played a prominent in the convincing victory.

But it was originally thought he may miss the game to attend the birth of his son Rafe.

"Of course you want to be there for the birth of your child but my missus knew the situation and that I wanted to play," said Timlin.

"The gaffer only had to ask me once if I wanted to play and I said yes straight away.

"My wife started having some tweaks on Friday night and I was worried about the game on Saturday.

"I was hoping it would happen on Sunday and then it was getting close to Tuesday's game.

"But he was born on the Monday and it's certainly been a memorable couple of days for me."

Timlin celebrated his late strike at London Road by joining his team-mates in mimicking the baby rocking celebration made famous by Brazil star Bebeto in the 1994 World Cup.

However, Timlin admitted the celebration had not been pre-planned.

"Sometimes someone will shout out about a celebration but this one just happened," said the midfielder.

"I was happy to score because my goals seem to becoming fewer and fewer every season so I was starting to worry I might get an own goal instead.

"It rounded off a great night and we know ourselves we should at least make the play-offs now but we won't be resting on our laurels because we want to see how far we can go with this group of the players."

But Timlin was not the only Shrimpers player to be celebrating the birth of a new child.

"Anton Ferdinand and Lucy had a baby girl so congratulations must go to them too," said Timlin.

"Their child was born half an hour before ours so it's been a great couple of days for them as well."