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Brown curses 'bitter' display

Image: Phil Brown: Gutted by Southend capitulation

Southend boss Phil Brown admitted he was deeply disappointed with his side's display in their 4-2 defeat against Stevenage.

Ben Kennedy was the star of the show for Stevenage as he came off the substitute's bench to win a penalty and score a goal in the final 15 minutes. Earlier, Roarie Deacon scored his first career goal to put Stevenage ahead before Joe Piggot levelled soon after the break. Barry Corr's eighth goal of the season from the spot put the Blues ahead but Boro levelled with a penalty of their own from Simon Walton. Kennedy then scored a great goal to give Stevenage a win in a week where the 18-year-old signed a professional contract before Dean Parrett sealed the win. "It was really bitter to tell you the truth; at that stage of the game we were 2-1 up with 60 minutes played and it was a comfortable away performance but defensively we went missing," said Brown. "To give away silly goals and bad goals and sloppy goals is unacceptable. When you come to Stevenage you expect to fight for everything and to gift them all four goals is inexcusable and it's just not. "I made changes and I'll be making changes next week that's for sure. A game of football is never rosy until the final whistle goes and you've won the game. "There's defining moments in the season and this is a defining moment for me, I've got to get this one behind me as quickly as I can." Stevenage boss Graham Westley felt his side deserved to take maximum points against Southend and described Boro as unfortunate to be behind at the break. "I didn't feel to be honest that they deserved to be behind at half time and it wasn't an unfair reflection of the first hour for them to be 2-1 ahead," he said. "I think it's rude to focus on Ben Kennedy, football is a team game. When a young kid comes in and does alright and nicks a goal here and there I think it's rude to ignore the efforts of the rest of the team, it's a team game. "It's great that a young kid can come in and does his job, let's not take the plaudits away from a young player but let's keep his feet on the floor. It's his attitude going forward that will make the player, not one flash in the pan. "There were so many good performances in the last 20 minutes; to bring it down to one player is wrong. The focus needs to be on the whole team and they should share in the plaudits."

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