SOUTHEND United lit up Roots Hall with a shock 4-1 win against Championship club Millwall in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

But manager Phil Brown nearly had to do it himself.

The Shrimpers, who sit 31 league places below the Lions, dominated the majority of the match in dismal wet conditions.

However, they were forced to withstand a nervous 15-minute floodlight failure midway through the first half which almost led to Brown – a trained electrician – having to help out.

“They knew I was a trained electrician and asked me to have a look at what was going on,” said Brown.

“It was nothing to do with the fuses so that ruled me out straight away and I was starting to get a bit worried about whether or not the lights were going to come back on.

“I’ve been told it’s the first time it’s happened here in 50 years so I can’t complain too much but, despite all the good performances out there on the pitch, I think we have to give stadium manager Dave Jobson man of the match for getting the lights on again.

“I was also slightly concerned the game might be abandoned in the second half because of the rain but thankfully that wasn’t the case and this is a fantastic result for us all.”

The victory also saw the Shrimpers make it through to the fourth round of the competition for the first time since 2008.

Barry Corr, Will Atkinson, Michael Timlin and Ryan Leonard all worked their way on to the scoresheet.

And Brown was delighted by the part the three players coming back into the team – Adam Thompson, Conor Clifford and Corr – all played in the unexpected triumph.

“Conor Clifford and Adam Thompson came in and were excellent along with Barry who really took his chance,” said Brown.

“I think Barry had the stuffing knocked out of him a bit when I decided to leave him out for a couple of games.

“But he made a real impact when he came on quite early on against Portsmouth and fully deserved his recall.”