SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown felt John-Joe O’Toole enhanced his chances of earning a permanent contract with the Shrimpers by helping them beat his parent club, Northampton Town 2-0 at Roots Hall on Saturday.

O’Toole lined up against the Cobblers just two days after leaving the Sixfields Stadium on loan.

And Brown was impressed by the midfielder’s display.

“It’s up to John-Joe to grab a contract here now and he went a long way to doing that today,” said Brown.

“He was under pressure because it was a very unusual situation for him but he played his role in a good winning performance and the only reason I took him off before the end was because he’s on four yellow cards and I didn’t want him to pick up a ban.”

O’Toole went straight in to the starting line-up alongside Michael Timlin in the midfield.

And he enjoyed a successful debut as Blues were able to grind out their fourth league win in a row.

“It was a hard fought victory for us in the end,” said Brown.

“We had to be patient and I think that was the key for us.

“In the end that was repaid with a bit of a fortune when their keeper made a mistake for the opening goal.

“And that was a defining moment because Northampton had been coming in to it up until then.

“The impetus and the flow of the game was going towards them and I was thinking of making some subs and changing formation before we got the break.”

Cobblers goalkeeper Jordan Archer was sent off after bringing down Barry Corr in the box midway through the second half.

Corr slammed home the penalty before David Worrall completed the scoring.

But Brown felt the game was harder than the final score-line suggested.

“It looks a comfortable 2-0 win but it wasn’t because at 0-0 their game plan worked,” said the Blues boss.

“We got there in the end but we won’t get carried away. We’re not even half way through the season yet and there’s still an awful long way to go.”