Southend United manager Phil Brown has revealed to the Echo News that the club are set to sign a replacement for Daniel Bentley. Hibs goalkeeper Mark Oxley is set to sign for the club tomorrow after Bentley moved to Championship side Brentford.
Brown is no stranger to Oxley having worked with him whilst at Hull City. It was former Derby manager Brown who took the keeper to the club at the age of 16. He only played once for the Tigers, but has since gone on to have a respectable career.
Whilst at Hull, he had several loan moves away. Oldham Athletic was a productive spell in 2013/14. He started 43 matches for the club during that season. He would link up with Hibernian on loan the following season. After an impressive spell, this was made permanent in July 2015. He helped the club with the Scottish Cup against Rangers last season.
Brown insists he is looking forward to working with Oxley again. He believes he can fill the big void left by Bentley’s departure,
“Mark is due to be at the training ground tomorrow and I would be very pleased to get a deal for him done.
“I paid money for him at Hull City when he was about 16 and was very highly rated.
“It would be great to work with him again now he’s developed into a very good goalkeeper.
“He’s got games under his belt for both Oldham and Hibernian but a change in management there has enabled us to get him which is very good news.”
The 25-year-old will join Southend and hope to sustain a promotion challenge next season. They briefly challenged to a point last season, but ended the season in poor fashion.
