Southend manager Steve Tilson expressed anger at his defence after their 4-3 defeat to Hartlepool at Victoria Park on Tuesday night.Mark Gower, Tommy Black and Steve Hammell were all on target for the Shrimpers at Victoria Park but a James Brown brace helped the hosts claim a thrilling win.

"You shouldn't lose when you score three away," said Tilson. "But our defending wasn't good enough on the night. We looked good going forward, and looked good enough to score almost every time we went forward.

"We are supposed to have a forward crisis, but it was our defending that was our undoing this time. I'm disappointed with the result because we should have got something from the game.

"In the first half we looked all right and we expected more with the wind behind us in the second half.

"But giving two goals away early in the second half appeared to kill us off. We came back well - but not well enough."

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