SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher felt his players blocked out the noise around the club to beat Yeovil Town 1-0 at Roots Hall.

The Shrimpers have hit been hit by a transfer embargo after missing a payment to HMRC while the club’s main sponsor PG Site Services issued a statement on Friday insisting they would be withdrawing their financial support.

But Blues ignored those issues to see off the Glovers and Maher said the side remained fully focused on their jobs.

“They’re a good group and they’re in a great place in terms of the atmosphere in the changing room and the training ground,” said Maher.

“Sub consciously possibly it might get to them.

“You can feed off that and you can feel it in the crowd a little bit too.

“But it’s their job at 3pm on a Saturday to produce for 90 odd minutes.

“Of course there’s been a little bit of noise around us for the last 24 hours but the result was the best thing for the club.

“That’s the main thing for us and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”

Jake Hyde headed home the only goal of the game as Blues bagged back to back victories for the first time this season.

And Maher was pleased with how the Shrimpers secured the win, despite not being at their best.

“Three points is the main thing,” said Maher.

“We’ve had plenty of games this season when we’ve played well and not won.

“The way the game panned out we wanted to make it more comfortable but we weren’t able to do that. “Give them some credit, they’re well organised and have a good spirit about them.

“They looked like we did a few weeks ago and they just need something to go their way.”

Yeovil were reduced to 10 men after just 17 minutes when Gime Toure was sent off for kicking out at Kacper Lopata.

And Maher felt it was the right decision.

“I’ve watched it back and I think he kicks out,” said the Blues boss.

“I think it’s the linesman whose seen it and it’s a red card.”

However, despite Yeovil’s numerical disadvantage, the Shrimpers were unable to add to Hyde’s header.

“We wanted the second goal to free everyone up and there was a lot of tension around the place,” said Maher.

“We looked a bit lethargic in some of our play and a bit sloppy.

“You give them an inkling they can get back in it so I’m disappointed we didn’t add more goals.

“You wanted them to take the shackles off and play some football but we looked like we wanted to just get over the line.

“But a win is a win, we’ve got a clean sheet and we’ve added to the points tally.”

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