WE’VE won our last three games but it’s still early days and we cannot afford to get carried away about the recent success.

Things are certainly starting to come together nicely and, most important of all, I think the players are starting to believe they have what it takes to be able to do well in League One.

That’s been great to see but there’s still a lot to be worked upon and we’re not quite there just yet.

I think we’ve caught a couple of teams at the right time and I would include Crewe Alexandra, who we beat on Tuesday, in that category.

I think I’m right in saying they haven’t won at home since March and we were able to exploit that lack of confidence.

The victory also maintained our unbeaten record away from home which is a great achievement.

But we’re now getting ready for another great test as we travel to a Burton Albion team, who are currently top of the table, this weekend.

IT WAS EASY TO STICK WITH JOE

IT was great for Joe Pigott to get back on the score-sheet with both of our goals against Crewe.

I sat down with Joe in the team hotel before the game at around 4.30pm and told him he would be starting.

It would’ve been the easiest decision in the world to leave him out after he had a bit of a disaster against Scunthorpe on Saturday.

But I think there’s more to management than that.

Joe was heavily involved in the win at Millwall in our last away game before Crewe and had started two games in a row which we had won.

I went with him again and I think it maybe come as a surprise to Joe because he got straight on the phone to his dad to tell him he was playing.

Joe’s from a very close family and he really is a lovely lad.

But he’s very young and still has plenty to learn.

We have players of a similar age in Ryan Leonard and Daniel Bentley who have a lot more experience.

However, Joe – who is coming up to being 22 – has only started around 30 league games in his career.

I think it’s important to remember that and he is certainly a goalscorer.

We’ll never forgot when he showed that at Wembley in the play-off final last season and he showed it again at Crewe on Tuesday night.

He has that knack of being in the right place at the right time and we will certainly be standing by him.

BEN COKER DESERVES SUCCESS

CONGRATULATIONS go to Ben Coker for making his 100th appearance for the football club.

It’s been a great week for Ben and I think he has to be right up there with the best signings I’ve made since being at Southend.

We rescued Ben when he was going nowhere in non league and he’s being rewarded for all the hard work he puts in at the training ground.

Since coming in I think he’s now also learnt how important it is to be able to defend and destroy as a left-back and his game has really come on.

Most players will be a six or a seven out of 10 every week but Ben is always higher than that.

He’s very consistent in his performances and long may that continue.

NOEL HUNT'S BEING TARGETED

NOEL Hunt is not quite fit enough to be able to start matches and I think he’s someone who is being identified by opposition teams.

He was only on the pitch for around 15 minutes or so against Crewe but during that time he suffered another real whack.

It’s happening quite regularly where Noel is concerned and I think managers are looking at ways to be able to stop him playing and influencing matches in the way he does.

INJURY NEWS

ON the injury front, there was some bad news with Adam Barrett’s hamstring at the start of the week.

We’re not too sure how long he’s going to be out for but it’s longer than we first thought.

John White should be back in training today and Adam Thompson should be free to start playing again next week.

He wasn’t quite ready for the under 21 game last night but he will play next Tuesday either at Crawley in the JPT or in an under 21 game we have against Luton.

Kevan Hurst will also have a fitness test at the start of next week but Tuesday is probably going to be a bit too soon for him.

And unfortunately Anthony Gerrard, who we have on trial, has also picked up an injury and he was therefore unable to play in last night’s under 21 game against MK Dons.