SOUTHEND United boss Phil Brown is out to avoid the curse of the manager of the month award after picking up the prize for November.

Brown also won the award with the Shrimpers in September but then went without a win for the whole of October.

And the Blues boss is desperate for that not to happen again.

“It’s testament to the hard work being put in by everyone at the club that we’ve won this award but I definitely don’t want the curse which goes with it this time,” said Brown.

“Last time we won the award we didn’t win for a month and we can’t afford for that to happen again.

“When the Southampton manager won it earlier on this season I think he won the next match 8-0 so I much prefer that kind of reaction.

“But if we can pick up a couple more of these awards during the remainder of the season then we will be doing well, even if the odd game is cursed for us.”

Brown saw off opposition from Wycombe Wanderers’ Gareth Ainsworth, Shrewsbury Town’s Mickey Mellon and Newport County’s Justin Edinburgh to win the award after Blues triumphed in all four of their league games during November.

That moved Southend up to fifth in the League Two table, but Brown revealed plenty of hard work had gone in to turning things around after an indifferent October.

“People see what happens on a match-day but they don’t see what goes on during the week and the graft of the players,” said Brown.

“We’ve been to some really difficult places and won and the players’ attitude has been spot on.

“The chairman has also allowed me to have an excellent backroom team here and they deserve praise for this award too.

“Dave Penney and his experience is priceless for me and Graham Coughlan has also developed in to an excellent coach so they’ve played a big part too.”