Paul Sturrock spoke of his excitement about the Southend squad after his side went top of League Two after beating Northampton.
John Johnson and Saido Berahino twice gave the Cobblers the first-half advantage but David Martin and Liam Dickinson, with a second-half penalty, put the visitors back on level terms. Substitute Bilel Mohsni then came off the bench to bag two goals either side of Dickinson grabbing his second.
"I'm very excited about the squad I've got and that showed with players who can come off the bench and have a big influence on the game," said Sturrock.
"We had to show a lot of character to win that game, and I mean the whole squad, including the substitutes. Bilel Mohsni is a quality player and a bit of a character as well. But he's come on and turned the game for us.
"I was very disappointed by the way we conceded the goals in the first half and we had three great chances at the start of the second half.
"We're back on top but we've just got to keep winning games and then other teams have got to try and catch us. But we've got some difficult games coming up, especially away from home, so the more points we can get on the board now the better it will be for us."
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