FORMER Southend United star Bilel Mohsni has finally had his say on the night he famously tried to attack an opposing player with a pair of scissors.

The fiery Frenchman lost his cool after the Shrimpers had been beaten on penalties by Leyton Orient in the League Cup at Roots Hall back in 2011.

And Mohsni told Echosport he had been incensed by the O’s players.

“I remember I was so upset,” said Mohsni.

“On the pitch every person thinks they are the man.

“They want to beat you and try and have a fight.

“But OK if you want to be a man on the pitch show me you can be a man off it too.”

Mohsni scored 18 goals in 80 games during an eventful three year spell with Blues which ended in 2013.

But the 32-year-old felt it was unfair when players looked to break the rules.

“I try to play fairly,” explained Mohsni.

“I never look to injure anyone.

“I just attack or defend as a player.

“I don’t try to be nasty or cheeky and I play to the rules.

“But in England players weren’t always as good or as clever.

“They just try and wind you up because they have no quality.

“In amateur football, you tackle, shake hands and it’s finished but it wasn’t the same.”

Mohsni experienced a number of ups and down while at Roots Hall.

But his after-match altercation with Orient was also written about by then Blues boss Paul Sturrock in his autobiography.

Sturrock wrote: “Bilel had a wee altercation with an Orient player. After the game he ran down the tunnel to the physio’s office and grabbed a pair of scissors and tried to get into the away changing room.

“It took four players to hold him down, while the Orient players changed and went away on the bus.”

However, Sturrock opted to stand by Mohsni.

“Rather than letting him go, I tried to channel his aggression by getting him involved in cage fighting,” recalled Sturrock.

“I contacted one of the lads I knew in Southend and asked him if he could teach Bilel the rudimentary rules of the sport.

“Many a day Bilel came back with a black eye and a bloody nose which seemed to work for a while, but his discipline on the pitch was always an issue, given that he was playing centre-back and having to make tackles which sometimes sparked into something worse.”

However, Sturrock eventually opted to use Mohsni elsewhere.

“One day, I decided to put him on the left wing where he wouldn’t get so involved and it proved to be a shrewd move as he became an influential player for us, scoring and making loads of goals that season,” said Sturrock.

“I stood by Bilel and I’m glad, as a nicer lad on a day-to-day basis you’ll never meet - until the whistle went on a Saturday and he became a different person altogether.”