JEAN-FRANCOIS Christophe silenced the taunts of his team-mates by finally using his head to good effect in yesterday's 3-2 victory at Northampton Town.

The Frenchman, who was making his first start in five games, had previously wasted a series of chances in the air.

But he nodded Blues into the lead at the Sixfields Stadium and was thrilled to make a goalscoring return to the team.

“It was great to see the goal go in because I’ve taken a lot of stick about my heading from both the manager and the other players at the club,” said Christophe.

“So it was nice to show them I have this in my locker and it was even better that it helped us get the win.”

Christophe was joined on the score-sheet by Theo Robinson and Lee Barnard and the midfielder now hopes to have done enough to stay in the side for Saturday’s clash with table-topping Leicester City.

“It would be brilliant to stay in the team but that’s up to the manager,” stressed Christophe.

“It has been frustrating not being in the side lately but I haven’t been able to complain because Alan McCormack and Anthony Grant have been doing really well in the midfield and the team have been winning too.

“These things happen in football so I’ve had to wait for my chance and hopefully I’ve taken it now.”

Christophe returned to the team in place of the injured Anthony Grant and helped the Shrimpers bounce back from suffering a 2-0 defeat at home to MK Dons on Friday.

And that delighted manager Steve Tilson.

“The lads reacted brilliantly,” said the Blues boss.

“This was a tough place to come because Northampton are fighting for their lives and we were right at it which was great to see.

“It’s another good win and there is too much pride in our dressing room for us to just let the season fizzle out.”

The exciting win keeps the Shrimpers eighth in the League One table, five points below the play-offs and Tilson is already excited about taking on the Foxes.

“These are the type of games you want to be involved in,” said Tilson.

“It’s a big game because they are going for promotion but we want to keep on getting good results between now and the end of the season and finish as high up the table as we can.”