Southend manager Steve Tilson hailed Simon Francis after his third goal of the season helped the Shrimpers claim a vital 1-0 win at Swindon.Francis netted the only goal of the game after 18 minutes to leave the club wedged in fifth spot in the scramble for promotion.

And Tilson was relieved to see a defender pitch in with the scoring duties.

"This season we haven't had a striker who is going to score between 15 and 20 goals so it's been important that goals come from other areas," said Tilson. "Thankfully that's happened."

He added: "We should have buried them.

"We should have been out of sight but we are on a positive run and could have had a penalty in the second half but we've got away with the right result."

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