SOUTHEND United head coach Kevin Maher opted to substitute Bim Pepple to ensure his side did not go down to 10 men.

Pepple was shown a yellow card for his challenge on Ben Milnes just five minutes into the second half.

And Maher decided to take the striker off, eight minutes later, despite him scoring the Shrimpers' first goal and setting up the second in a 2-0 win.

"He was on yellow card and with some of the decisions going on I just thought we couldn't take a chance," said Maher.

"If we went to 10 men then all of a sudden they're back in the game.

"There was no need for us to take a chance."

Referee Matthew Russell awarded a number of free-kicks in the second half.

And Maher, who was serving a one match touchline ban, joked being in the directors box might have done him a favour.

"It was probably a good job I wasn’t on the sideline because it was an incredible performance from the ref," said Maher.

"It was the only way they were going to get back into the game so they were buying fouls and putting balls in the box.

"There were no dirty fouls in the game or anything like that but the amount of times the whistle went was incredible."