NIGEL Clough has praised another hard-working performance from frontman Stuart Beavon.
The Brewers beat Chesterfield 1-0 on Friday with Beavon leading from the front.
Clough said: “It was a classic Stuart Beavon performance. He never gave the centre halves a minute.
"You talk about defending from the front – he’s as good as anyone at it. He got hold of the ball in the last 10 or 15 minutes and we should have done better in certain situations once he had won it for us.”
The Brewers boss was also pleased with the progress being made by loan signing Mason Bennett.
“You are seeing an improvement week-on-week at the moment. He played 75 minutes against Chesterfield, hopefully at Southend it will be a bit longer again.
“We have other options as well. Lucas Akins couldn’t start against Chesterfield as his heel has been a bit sore but Calum Butcher came in and made his mark
“Shane Cansdell-Sherriff came off as he felt his groin but we have ten days before we go to Southend and we have Anthony O’Connor and Tom Flanagan who can come in and deputise. It’s not too bad when you have people of that quality to come in.”