Paul Sturrock praised Bilel Mohsni after the Frenchman struck a hat-trick in his Southend side's 3-0 win over Barnet on Friday.
Mohsni scored three times in the opening 32 minutes at Roots Hall and that delighted Sturrock, whose side are now guaranteed at least a place in the play-offs.
"That's the Bilel we want to be playing for this football club," he said. "We don't want the one who loses his temper but he's done well with that recently and that's with him playing in an alien position.
"He did very well in the first half and it was an impressive display from the whole team. The second half was a non-event really but we remained disciplined and professional to get the win we needed to make sure of a place in the play-offs.
"I think that's an achievement which the team deserve praise for because we've really improved on our points tally from last season.
"We will wait and see how results [on Saturday] go now and we do still have a slight chance of the top three. It would be exciting if the gap could be closed to three points but we're playing well again now, we're keeping clean sheets and we've won three in a row at home so I'm pleased."
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