SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown felt his side were forced to win ugly at Hartlepool United this afternoon.

Will Atkinson bagged the only goal of the game for the Shrimpers at the start of the second half to secure a vital 1-0 win at Victoria Park.

And Brown insisted the narrow victory was all down to Blues’ fighting spirit.

“We won ugly if I’m honest but I think it’s just the second time we’ve done that this season,” said the Blues boss.

“The other time was York at home when we scored a late a penalty.

“But we know it was going to be like that here, especially as the pitch wasn’t really conjusive to a good game of football.

“We were committed and we showed great bottle and nous in what was a real battle but I do apologise to the punters who have travelled up that we haven’t played enough football to entertain them.

“Hopefully we can do that against Tranmere on Saturday but we just had to make sure we got the three points and thankfully we were able to do that.

“And the points we got here will stand us in good stead for the games we have left.”