DAN Mooney has been boosted by Southend United’s reaction to their opening day defeat.

Blues were beaten 1-0 by Boreham Wood in the first fixture of the campaign at Roots Hall on Saturday.

But Mooney has taken heart from the disappointment which was on show at the final whistle.

“We will pick ourselves up and go again but it’s good to be disappointed because we know the standards we’ve set in training,” said Mooney.

“We know we can be a lot better than that and we will be.

“It’s not like we played well and got beaten.

“We weren’t at our best.

"One bit of quality beat us and we didn’t have that on the day.

“You always want to start off winning so it was it was disappointing, especially with the crowd that turned out because they were brilliant."

But Mooney felt Blues were unable to execute their game plan.

“It’s obviously disappointing to start the way we did and I don’t think we played the way we wanted to either," said the winger.

“We got suckered into playing the way Boreham Wood wanted us to play really which killed us a bit but it’s one game and now we have to focus on bouncing back.”

The Shrimpers will be looking to do just that at Solihull Moors on Saturday and Mooney wants Southend to embrace the challenge.

Solihull were beaten in the National League play-off final by Grimsby Town last season and are again expected to push for promotion this time around.

But Mooney is looking forward to this weekend’s tussle and helping to ensure Blues pick up their first point of the season.

“It’s a tough test but that’s what we want and we look forward to it,” said Mooney.

“It would be a good way to bounce back. 

“We’ve started off with a loss but now it’s about bouncing back and there would no better way to do it than winning on Saturday.”

Mooney, who caught the eye with some fine displays in pre-season, is keen to play a big part in the contest.

And the 23-year-old is already enjoying the role given to him by Blues boss Kevin Maher.

“I think it suits me perfectly to be fair,” said Mooney.

“I can play out wide but the gaffer gives me the freedom to drift in and pick up the pockets like I like to do as well. 

“It’s nice but it didn’t click on Saturday as well as we would’ve liked.

“It will click soon though and I am definitely liking the role.”

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