Tilson: 'It's been a great six years'; Ince: 'We don't need to lift our players'

Tilly: 'Hopefully we can make amends tonight'

Blues boss Steve Tilson looks back over six years in charge to the day Friday evening at Roots Hall.

His first match was the 4-0 win over Rochdale the day England won the Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Tilly spoke to www.southendunited.co.uk: "I remember that Rochdale game well but at the time I didn't expect to be manager for much longer. I was in charge of the youth team and I don't know if I was the first choice for the first team job at that point because it's something I've never asked the chairman. Things went well though which put a bit of pressure on him and he gave me the job, which was great. On the whole it's been a great six years and it would be great to mark it with a win this evening. There have been more ups than downs during my times in charge and I have some great memories from being the manager. Hopefully I can still be in charge for at least another six years too and we can go on to achieve even more success."

However, Tilly knows he'll have no time to celebrate as he attempts to beat the Franchise for the first time, and move on from last weekend's 1-0 loss in Somerset as well as the 2-0 defeat at Stadium:mk earlier this season.

He continued: "That was the game which has disappointed me the most so far this season. There was a real lack of effort from us and it wasn't acceptable. Hopefully we can make amends tonight and bounce back from the frustrating defeat at Yeovil."



Ince: 'We take positives from competing with Charlton over 60 minutes'

Dons boss Paul Ince is still hurting from last night's 5-1 hammering against Charlton, but believes it was the referee that changed the course of events and his players will be well up for to-nights game.

Ince spoke to the Echo: "We don't need to lift our players for the Southend game. I think to compete with a very good Charlton team for 60 minutes we have got to take positives out if it. It was disappointing to lose like that, but we were quietly pleased that for the first hour of the game we were the better side. The outcome of the game was changed by the ref's decisions."