PHIL ADMITS RED MISTAKE
PHIL BROWN confessed to fans that he got it wrong after Southend were left to count the cost of Cian Bolger’s five minutes of madness.
The Shrimpers defender capped a personal nightmare start to the match by receiving his marching orders after just 16 minutes.
The summer signing from Bolton Wanderers, who was wasteful in possession in the opening exchanges, had already been booked for hauling back Marvin Morgan when he committed exactly the same offence.
Referee Brendan Malone mysteriously didn’t take any action, much to the dismay of the home supporters and a rather animated Plymouth boss John Sheridan.
But Bolger seemed hell-bent on seeing red and two minutes later foolishly slid in late on Morgan, giving Malone the chance to atone for his earlier error.
Goals from Lewis Alessandra and Reuben Reid piled on the misery for Brown, who was left fuming at the referee for not awarding his side a first-half penalty.
But the Shrimpers boss admitted his biggest regret was not taking off Bolger when it became blatantly obvious he was a red card waiting to happen.
He said:“I went across the supporters and they asked me ‘Why didn’t you take him off?’. They have got a fair point.
“After the second infringement I thought about doing that, but then the third one happened so quickly and he was sent off.
“He has got to learn the hard way. This division is physical and he has got to be able to stand up to that.
“We should have had a penalty and I could bemoan the referee’s performance but I would probably get myself fined.
“I am proud of my players and they wore the shirt with pride. It is just a shame their performance was hindered by someone else.”
After Bolger gave Southend a mountain to climb, Brown’s frus- trations continued after substitute Adam Thompson seemingly had his heels clipped by Morgan as he shaped to shoot.
Plymouth finally made their extra man pay seven minutes into the second half when Kelvin Mellor skipped down the right, cut inside Ryan Leonard and Luke Prosser and pulled the ball back for Alessandra to find the bottom corner.
Alessandra then turned creator as Plymouth deservedly doubled their lead on 68 minutes.
After riding Ben Coker’s challenge, Alessandra supplied an inviting cross for Reid to send a downward header past the despairing dive of Bentley.
Sheridan said: “It’s another home win and if you are going to be successful you have to do well at home.
“I thought we were very good, against a team that will be right up there.
“I thought we started well, and the only downer from the performance is that when Southend went down to ten men, they were the better team.
“I expect Reuben to get 25 goals this season. He should be scoring more headers .”