BLUES boss Phil Brown believes not making any half-time substitutions against Walsall on Saturday was the bravest decision of his entire managerial career.

The Shrimpers found themselves 2-0 down against the Saddlers at Roots Hall.

But Brown opted not to make any changes until six minutes into the second half.

“Looking back now I would say that not making any changes at half-time was probably the bravest decision I’ve ever made in my managerial career,” said Brown.

“That’s including my time at Derby, Hull and Preston and I was probably the only person among the 6,700 people at the ground not thinking of making any substitutions but I thought it was the right thing to do.

“I had a look at the statistics and saw that Walsall had scored twice from the only two shots they had.

“I saw we had had more shots than them and more chances as well, the best of which was missed by Nile Ranger.

“That was why I decided to keep things the same until slightly later on.”

Brown eventually opted to make a double substitution with Jason Demetriou and Theo Robinson entering the action in place of Luke Amos and Ryan Inniss.

The new look Shrimpers fought back to secure all three points with goals from Nile Ranger, Anton Ferdinand and Simon Cox seeing Southend fight back from 2-0 down to win for the first time since beating Hartlepool United back in 2009. Blues will now be bidding for a third straight win when they head to AFC Wimbledon this weekend.