RICKY Duncan and Kevin Maher took training at Southend United this morning as the Shrimpers began life without Phil Brown.

Brown was relieved of his duties at Roots Hall yesterday following a poor run of results which had seen Blues lose eight of their last nine games to slip to 18th in the League One standings.

Following Brown’s departure, Duncan – the club’s academy manager – has been placed in control with head of the under 23 team Maher acting as his assistant.

However, it remains to be seen if the duo will still be in charge for Saturday’s trip to Rochdale as Chris Powell moves closer to accepting the vacant managerial position.