SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown believes Luke O’Neill is playing his way into the Shrimpers starting line-up for the opening game of the League One season.

O’Neill continued his impressive pre-season form by scoring in a training ground friendly on Saturday.

And his improvements have not gone unnoticed by Brown.

“I’m looking for a right winger at the moment but we could already have him here,” said Brown.

“Right now Luke is looking like he’s going to start the first game against Gillingham but there’s still two weeks to go and lots can still happen.

“I don’t want anyone resting on their laurels and I might still bring in a winger for more competition but I have nothing but positives to say about Luke.”

O’Neill – who has switched from right-back to right-wing in pre-season – failed to figure in Blues’ final 13 games of last season.

But Brown believes the former Burnley man has benefited from linking up with new signing Jason Demetriou down the right-hand side.

“Luke seems to have struck up a decent partnership with Jason,” said Brown.

“I think he’s buoyed by having a footballer behind him like that.

“John White’s probably looking at it and asking where is he going to be playing but that’s the competition I want.

“Luke certainly has the right mentality though and I’m pleased with how he’s doing.”

However that is in stark contrast to the end of last season when O’Neill fell out of favour after a disappointing display in a 3-1 defeat at Port Vale.

“We reached an impasse after that Port Vale defeat,” said Brown. “There were one or two performances which weren’t acceptable and I levelled that at one or two of them.

“We’ve had loan offers for Luke but they were only for a percentage of his wages which we aren’t interested in, especially with how he’s playing at the moment.

“But I don’t expect those offers to go away.”