Southend manager Phil Brown was delighted with the result on Saturday after his side went down to ten men.
He said, “It was a strange old day and to win it being down to 10 men is perfect. If we had gone 3-0 up and then got the red card then it wouldn't have been a statement, but this really is. Hats off to the players for what they've done, including the substitutes who played a massive part when they came on. I thought the first 45 minutes were dire if I'm honest. I said to the players that I was bored at half-time so imagine how the fans are feeling, but we got there in the end. We needed something to spark us and it happened with the red card. I thought there was only one team trying to win the game all afternoon and when we went down to 10 men it caused Oldham a problem. They weren't trying to win the game, but then had an opportunity to do so with an extra man. But they didn't change gear and consequently we got three goals.”