SOUTHEND boss Phil Brown believed his side’s first-half performance in the win over Blackburn Rovers was their best since he took charge at the club.

Goals from Ryan Leonard and Michael Kightly saw the hosts take a deserved 2-0 lead in to the half-time break as they dominated the opening 45 minutes.

Rovers rallied at the start of the second half, and reduced the arrears courtesy of a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick, but a 15 minute spell apart, Southend soon regained control of proceedings.

“It was a decent marker,” Brown said.

“The resilience of the boys in the second half kicked in when they scored a goal, I thought we had our backs to the wall for about 10-15 minutes, but that was about it.

“Against a very well drilled and decent team at this level, with the Peter Whittinghams and Danny Grahams and Bradley Dacks in the team, you know you’re going to get questioned in terms of your discipline.

“It’s probably the best first half performance I’ve witnessed since I’ve been at the football club, but then it tested our character in the second half and we stepped up to the plate.”

Kightly, scorer of Southend’s second goal, impressed on the left flank for the hosts, with his strike seven minutes before half-time proving to be the difference.

He made the move to Roots Hall after his release from Burnley, and Brown was delighted with his contribution.

“Michael, by his own definition, would have said that he hasn’t had a brilliant pre-season but he wanted to get to the starting line-up in some semblance of fitness and he did,” he told his club’s official website.

“He’s played three or four games pre-season, the lads are saying we’ve signed a Premier League player and you want to see that quality, and I thought we witnessed that quality and he’s got himself the winning goal.”