Southend United right-back Mark Beard said he would be honoured to carry on as captain when Rochdale visit Roots Hall tomorrow.

The tigerish 28-year-old was given the armband for Tuesday evening's 1-0 victory at Shrewsbury Town, inspiring the Seasiders to a first league win in five games.

Regular Shrimpers skipper Kevin Maher is available again tomorrow, following a two match ban, but if the midfielder is not handed an immediate return, Beard said he would relish leading Blues into battle again.

"I felt very proud captaining the team at Shrewsbury and it would be great to do it again, if Kevin doesn't come straight back into the side," said Beard.

"I'd never skippered at first team level before and it was a great honour, especially as I've spent five seasons at Roots Hall and feel such strong links with the club.

"And the performance was excellent. We needed to prove ourselves and I did my best to get the players going before and during the game right up until the final whistle.

"The team needed a positive result at Shrewsbury, but more than anything we wanted to win for the manager who has been under the cosh recently.

"Obviously when you lose a few games there is always a bit of speculation flying around about people. But we are all right behind the gaffer and we don't want anybody else.

"You might be able to bring in a more high profile manager, but you will never get anybody who cares and has as much passion for Southend United as the current boss."

Published Friday, January 17, 2003

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