SOUTHEND United winger Mark Gower believes Blues paid the price for not building on his well-taken goal against Leyton Orient on Saturday.

The 28-year-old midfielder finished off a superb move to hand the Shrimpers the lead against the East Londoners during the first half.

But his side failed to make the most of their advantage.

"We should have pushed on after taking the lead but we didn't and it was almost the worst thing that happened to us," said Gower.

"We sat back and invited Orient back onto us and in the end they probably deserved to get the goal back, and it was disappointing from our point of view."

Blues will now be looking to bounce back tomorrow against Cheltenham Town in the Carling Cup and Gower insisted it was important to get a good result.

"Losing to Orient in what is the first game out of 46 isn't the end of the world," he said.

"But we need to react and fast because after the way we finished off last season we have to get going again and hopefully we will do much better against Cheltenham."