Brown's boys hit five on their travels and leave sorry Oldham feeling blue
ByPA Sport
Published 25/11/2015 at 00:12 GMT
Southend manager Phil Brown hailed his team's excellent performance after they pulled off a stunning 5-2 victory at Oldham.
Jack Payne set Southend on their way to victory at Oldham
Image credit: PA Sport
The Blues exploited shambolic Oldham defending to seal their first away win since September and move to the fringe of the play-off places.
Brown said: "I don't know why it was such an open game, but I was delighted with our mentality and performance in the first half.
"We did a professional job, but the second half was more about bodies on the line and making sure the long journey home would be quicker for our supporters.
"After half-time it was incredibly end to end, but our front four havet he licence to go forward and create, which is exactly what they did.
"We came here with a gameplan and executed it very well. Barnsley came here on Saturday and got in the opposition's faces, so we knew if we could get the ball at their defence they might struggle.
"We looked a threat and we've got the added extra of Adam Barrett in the team and dragging the back four through it.
"I'm very pleased. The conditions were conducive to a good game of football and we really served it up."
Brown's side broke through after five minutes when Jack Payne fired into the far corner and they doubled their lead just before the break as David Mooney forced home from 10 yards.
David Worrall's brave header made it 3-0 in the 48th minute before Oldham began to launch a comeback with Michael Higdon's low shot.
Higdon saw his 77th-minute penalty saved by Daniel Bentley after Joseph Mills was fouled by Kevan Hurst, but Higdon immediately headed home from close range.
Yet Oldham hopes were quickly extinguished as Southend's Will Atkinson bundled in at the far post and Luke Prosser completed the rout on 82 minutes with a free header.
Oldham manager David Dunn blasted his side after they slumped to a sixth home defeat of the campaign.
Dunn said: "You can't be 3-0 down before you roll your sleeves up and start competing.
"It was nowhere near good enough. We gave it a bit of a go and made it 3-2, but then it was the same old story.
"I will try to protect the players as much as I can, but the goals we conceded were so soft and it's about taking responsibility.
"Basic individual errors have cost us massively. We will be absolutely dissecting this game because we can't just keep making the same mistakes.
"It was basic errors and things I would expect to see from my eight-year-old when he plays on Saturday mornings.
"We had 19 attempts and had to work for our goals. Southend had five attempts and scored five goals, which tells you everything.
"We were easy to play against and easy to score against - this is the worst I have felt in my time in charge."
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