SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown has admitted he got it wrong leaving Jack Payne out of his starting line-up at Luton Town on Saturday.

The Shrimpers sunk to a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Kenilworth Road.

And Brown felt he should have started the young midfielder, who looked lively after coming on at half-time.

“I think I made a mistake to tell you the truth in not playing Jack Payne,” said the Blues boss.

“When he came on at half-time he looked a danger-man and looked like the one who was going to get a goal for us.

“But the damage had already been done by then.”

Southend found themselves 2-0 down at the break after a woeful first half performance against the Hatters.

Alex Lawless and Mark Cullen both worked their way on to the score-sheet to gun down the Shrimpers.

And Brown was left questioning the spirit of his side after they sunk to a second successive defeat to slip down to fifth in the League Two table.

“Spirit is what we were all about last year and it’s what got us the four wins we had in a row not so long ago,” said the 55-year-old.

“The spirit of last year needs to be rekindled and that’s the main point I’ll be making to the players this week.

“The mentality of the team wasn’t right and one or two of them just weren’t prepared for what Luton threw at us.

“We didn’t have enough nous or experience out there but there are no excuses and our fans deserved an awful lot better.”

The Shrimpers had more than 1,000 fans cheering them on against the Hatters.

But they all endured a miserable afternoon which was compounded in the 69th minute when assistant manager Dave Penney was sent to the stands by referee Christopher Kavanagh after clashing with Luton striker Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu in Blues’ technical area.

However, Brown was left confused by the officials’ verdict of the incident.

“The referee has said Dave Penney elbowed their player in the face which is a ridiculous statement to make,” said the Shrimpers chief.

“For a start, he would have to jump up to do that because Pelly Ruddock must be about 6 foot 4 inches tall and Dave’s 5 foot 8 inches tall.

“It was an unsavoury incident, prompted by the player more than anything.

“Dave grabbed hold of the ball, their player then tried to do the same thinking it was their throw when it clearly wasn’t.

A wrestling match ensued, it’s not what you want to see at a football match and Dave’s bitterly disappointed in there.

“He’s not disappointed at himself, just in the way the game seems to be going and that any kind of incident that happens in the dug-outs and in the tunnel are overshadowing the game.

“But maybe as a group we need to take a step back and look at ourselves a bit deeper now. “