SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown is sweating on the fitness of Ben Coker after the left-back picked up an ankle problem during Saturday’s 3-0 win against Bradford City.

Coker was forced to limp off after just 35 minutes after taking two knocks in quick succession at Roots Hall.

And Brown now fears the influential Coker could be facing a spell on the sidelines.

“Ben’s ankle has swollen up to twice the size than normal,” said the Blues boss.

“He’s injured ankle ligaments and he currently has a pot on his foot which is a protective cast.

“It’s not nice to see but at the moment we don’t know how long he’s going to be out for.

“I think Ben actually did the injury the second time he went down, not the first and he said afterwards he should probably have come off after the first knock.

“But he’s a brave lad and he wanted to continue which you can understand.

“Hopefully it’s not too bad but we will know more in the next couple of days.”

Coker was replaced by Michael Timlin at left-back against Bradford.

And Brown was pleased by how the midfielder adjusted to lining up in an unfamiliar role.

“It was as if Tims had been playing there all his life,” said the former Hull City chief.

“I like the balance of a left footer in that role and that’s why I decided to bring Tims on.

“I could have put Luke O’Neill there or switched Jason Demetriou across with Luke at right-back.

“But Michael was so disappointed when I told him he wasn’t in the starting line up and I told him to show it in the right way.

“That’s exactly what he did as well because I thought he gave a great performance.”

Timlin could now continue in that role against his former team, Swindon Town, on Tuesday night.