Paul Brush admitted that Southend United got the best work-out possible in their 2-1 pre-season defeat at Stevenage Borough.

Blues' assistant manager knew that it was a game of two halves, with Southend disappointing in the first but improving after the interval and Brush preferred to focus on the way the team finished the match.

With three new faces in defence, it was a case of the team needing time to gel, but Brush was delighted with the togetherness the players showed as a group in the second half.

"It was the best work-out we could have got tonight," Paul told Blues Player.

"It was our toughest game of pre-season against a Stevenage side who are one of the favourites for promotion from the Blue Square Premier.

"We were very poor in the first half, but we were very good in the second half. With the same set of players, we gave a completely different performance.

"We had three different faces in defence who have only had an hours training with us, so we don't have that understanding there just yet, but we have over a week to work on it.

"We had the opportunity to look at Peter Gilbert and I think he showed a lot of good quality and he is one for us to consider.

"In the last 30 minutes, we were on top and looked physically ready.

"We know that we need to improve before the start of the season and that's what we will be working on.

"Everyone who played today got 90 minutes and the rest of the players will do the same at Harlow on Saturday.

"As a group we are pulling together and I was certainly satisfied with our second half performance at Stevenage."