Southend United defender Leon Cort paid tribute to his team-mates' battling qualities after Saturday's 1-0 Third Division win against Mansfield Town at Roots Hall.

Goal-getter - Tes Bramble's first-half strike gave Southend United all three points against promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town at Roots Hall. Picture: MAXINE CLARKE 66AYW19C

Blues striker Tes Bramble scored the first-half goal which nudged the Shrimpers two places up the League table to 12th spot -- seven points adrift of the play-off zone.

But Cort admitted that the Seasiders rode their luck as the promotion-chasing Stags piled on the pressure during the second period.

"We all stuck together and defended magnificently," said the 22-year-old centre-half.

"After losing our last two home games on the spin all the lads were desperate to get a result against Mansfield.

"But they made life very tough for us. They are a very dangerous side and played some excellent attacking football. But we defended well and all the lads threw their bodies in the way of Mansfield headers and shots to make sure we got a clean sheet and the three points.

"Mansfield are one of the best teams we have played this year and I'm sure that they will take one of the three automatic promotion spots come the end of the season.

"But we can also take a lot of encouragement from this result and hopefully go on to bigger and better things ourselves."

And Cort revealed that the players had got together for a heart-to-heart before the game to get things back on track.

"We haven't been doing things right recently," he added. "We've lost our last two games at home to Luton in the League and Tranmere in the FA Cup because we've been punished for being sloppy.

"But we had a chat before the Mansfield game and decided we had to get back to basics and do things simple -- which paid off!"

And Shrimpers boss Rob Newman was quick to commend his men, saying: "The commitment and the passion shown by my players against Mansfield was first class.

"We never produced flowing football, but scored a goal worthy of winning any match and defended for our lives.

"The players wanted to win badly against Mansfield because they felt dejected after the midweek cup defeat against Tranmere.

"And they got a deserved lift by fighting their way to three points against a very good Mansfield side."

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Published Monday January 14, 2002