New Southend United boss Steve Wignall admitted he was relishing the challenge ahead after watching Blues bash Torquay 3-0 at Roots Hall on Saturday.

Two cracking Mark Rawle goals and an equally stunning strike from midfielder Neil Jenkins handed the Shrimpers victory over their promotion play-off hunting visitors.

But Wignall, who was unveiled as the Seasiders' new manager before kick-off, said the rampant success against the Devon outfit had little to do with him.

New boss : Steve Wignall saw Blues win after he was introduced to the fans

"I only met the players for the first time just before the game started so Stewart Robson picked the team," said the 48-year-old successor to Rob Newman.

"Stewart has been looking after things here on a caretaker basis over the last few weeks, so I thought it was best to leave things to him.

"I sat up in the stand and watched the match, just popping into the dressing room at half time to put one or two points across.

"But I was pleased with what I saw. The players showed great spirit and scored some excellent goals. And I'm looking forward to getting really involved when I get them on to the training pitch next week."

And Wignall, who travelled with 14th-placed Blues up to Boston United for their latest Third Division fixture, said there was a lot of hard work ahead.

"It's going to be a long summer and we all need to work hard to make Southend successful again."

Published Monday, April 21, 2003

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