SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown heaped praise on Simon Cox after the striker bagged his first Shrimpers goal in a 6-1 win against Rincon de la Victoria tonight.

Cox, who joined Blues on Friday, was on target during the first 45 minutes in Spain.

And his forward’s display caught the eye of his new manager.

“I was delighted with Simon because for his first game he looked really sharp,” said Brown.

“I was really happy with how he performed but we took him off at half-time because we didn’t want to push him too much too soon.

“We will gradually increase his work-load in our remaining three friendlies starting with the West Ham game on Saturday.

“But this was certainly a really good start from him and it certainly bodes well for the season ahead.”

Jack Bridge and Jason Williams both bagged braces for Blues while Stephen McLaughlin was also on target.

However, Brown felt the game was far tougher than the final score-line suggested.

“Rincon were technically very good and I think they probably had more of the ball than we did,” said Brown.

“We certainly had to work hard when we didn’t have the ball so from that point of view it was a really good exercise especially in this heat.

“But we were just a little bit more clinical than them in the final third but that was really encouraging to see because that’s certainly something we need to improve on.”