SOUTHEND United manager Mark Molesley felt Shaun Hobson was the obvious choice to fill in at right-back against Cheltenham Town.

Hobson moved onto the right hand side of the defence in place of the injured Elvis Bwomono.

And Molesley feels it is a position Hobson does well in. 

"Shaun seemed the obvious choice to me," said Molesley. 

"John White is much more of a centre half now.

"I’ve been really pleased with him.

"He’s our captain and leader and him at the heart of the defence is something that doesn’t need to change.

"JD has been a right-back by trade but Shaun has been excellent at right-back.

"He played there against Exeter at home towards the start of the season and nullified one of the best wingers in the League.

"He was excellent there against Walsall when we won 1-0 as well so it’s not alien for Shaun."

Hobson has mostly been used at the heart of the Shrimpers defence this season.

But Molesley feels Hobson is equally at home at right-back and proved that again at Whaddon Road

"We looked as solid as we have in every game and we limited Cheltenham, one of the best sides in the league, to very very little," said Molesley.

"That back four worked very well on Tuesday night and out of our selection I thought the defence was fine.

"Tyler (Cordner) came in and fitted in.

"He won his headers and dropped in after not playing for a while.

"We didn’t look out of shape and that good defensive shape carried on in similar fashion."

And Molesley felt there were not too many other options to put at right-back. 

"It’s only really JD and Whitey you could look to play there as Rob Howard has a fracture in his wrist and isn’t available," said Molesley.

"Cheltenham are a big side as well so we wanted to be physically robust.

"We wanted bigger players in the side and that helped us.

"I was happy with our defensive performance and that shows in how we nullified them to having hardly any chances whatsoever."