PHIL BROWN returned to where it all started; and the Southend United boss is confident he will be back at Hartlepool United next season.

The Shrimpers inflicted a first defeat in six games on Pools on Easter Monday, but Ronnie Moore’s side remain outside the drop zone after a stunning turnaround in fortunes.

And Brown, a young Pools defender between 1980 and 1985 and who was very close to being appointed manager at Victoria Park when John Hughes got the job in November 2013, is backing his old club to succeed.

Success for Southend this season is promotion, for Pools it’s a different story.

And Brown admitted: “I feel they have enough to stay up and I’m not just saying it because I’m an ex-player here.

“You go to certain stadiums, you go to face certain teams, and you get a feel for the passion there. For a team at the bottom of the table, Hartlepool are absolutely blessed with bags and bags of sprit and that will keep them up, undoubtedly.

“I didn’t want to put a nail in their coffin, but with six games to go I hope there’s enough points to gather to get themselves out of trouble.

“With that sprit and commitment, then there’s every chance.’’

Pools boss Ronnie Moore has engineered the turnaround at Victoria Park, transforming a group of players devoid of spirit and fight into a squad full of effort and energy.

Brown, a long-standing coach and manager, saluted his opposite number at Victoria Park.

He said: “I’m a Ronnie Moore fan, he’s a great character and that gambling thing that came out, I thought that it wasn’t Ronnie Moore.

“I backed him up 100 per cent, he’s back in the game and rightly so. He’s had to take Hartlepool in the predicament they are in and, my word, he is making a fist of it and I have no doubt in my mind he will make the job of it.’’

Pools attracted a good crowd on Easter Monday, with supporters responding to the club’s ticket offer of £10 admission.

They applauded the team off the pitch at the end despite the defeat and Pools will take 2,000 to York for their game on Saturday.

And Brown, who joined Pools as a youngster from Sunday League football in his native South Shields, knows what the area is all about.

“I’ve been here as a player and to see 5,300 here for this game ... I said to the boys before about it,’’ he said. “You can prepare all you want for it, but there’s a hostility at times with the crowd backing their team.

“It’s like that in the North-East, that’s what football means up here.

“I remember the good old days where we used to fight for our lives here, with the old wooden stand and thank goodness that’s long gone!

“But it was brilliant to see the crowd backing the team like they did, the turnout was fantastic and they didn’t leave me alone all day! I expected the pelters, I had a laugh with them – and if I didn’t get it then I would be worried.’’

Brown, who can do Pools a massive favour by beating Tranmere at Roots Hall on Saturday, added: “It’s very pleasing and it was very nervous at the end – the kitchen sink effect against a team fighting for their lives, looking for survival.

“And I think they will have enough about them to stay up.

“First-half I said that the first goal was so important – get it and I felt their crowd would go quiet, and maybe even go home - but instead it was the other way round.’’

“For us, it was a magnificent win. You come to Hartlepool, where it’s about bottle and standing up to the challenge''

Ronnie Moore and Scott Harrison have been shortlisted for League Two honours.

The Pools boss and centre-half are among the nominations for the manager and player of the month awards.

Moore led Pools to four successive victories last month to lift them off the foot of the table, with centre-half Harrison dominant throughout - and even scoring a first career goal to clincg a win overt Cambridge at Victoria Park.

Others shortlisted for the manager gong are Burton Albion’s Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Bury's David Flitcroft and Wycombe Wanderers’ Gareth Ainsworth.

Harrison's competition includes Dagenham’s Billy Bingham, Burton’s Jon McLaughlan and Shrewsbury’s Bobby Grant.

The winners will be announced on Friday.

A public meeting is being held tomorrow night in the Corporation Club, Whitby Street, in Hartlepool regarding the formation of a supporters trust from 7pm.

Following an initial meeting last month, tomorrow's event is organised by the working group of the proposed trust and will also include guest speakers from Supporters Direct, plus representatives from existing trusts. A vote will be taken on the evening to determine if a Pools supporters trust will be formed.