Sturrock: 'We have to dig in, work hard and get stuck in'
Blues boss Paul Sturrock saw his side sink to their first defeat in six games against Shrewsbury last weekend and will want to return to winning ways as soon as possible.
Not easy when the next match is a long trip somewhere up north.
Sturrock told www.southendunited.co.uk: "On a wet and windy weekend Accrington is probably the last place you would want to go and play but we have to dig in, work hard and get stuck in. They don't have the best of pitches and were a very hard team to break down when they came to Roots Hall earlier on the season so I'm expecting more of the same Saturday. They all work hard and wear their hearts on their sleeve so we can't afford to be lacking in any department and need to be in form."
One thing that is certain is Luggy will be looking to brighten up the Shrimpers starting line-up, especially with star centre-back Bilel Mohsni out for at least six weeks with a bad ankle injury.
Sturrock said: "I need to think things over but we have Mark Phillips and Graham Coughlan available again which helps. Losing Bilel is a huge blow and he's an important member of our team. I think the fact he goes for every ball increases the likeliness of him being injured and he has to learn when not to go for it. However, the proof of the pudding in if we can cope without him will come tomorrow."
The full S24 Preview here:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/roll/ed61/
accrington_stanley_v_southend_united_645202/index.shtml
Bell: 'Their away performances have been good'
Stanley assistant boss Jimmy Bell has along with manager John Coleman been in charge of Accrington's playing affairs since 1999, so there's not much you can tell him about football in the lower levels.
And he's obviously on a high after seeing his side come from two goals down to grab yet another point with two goals in the last two minutes, Stanley are the league's draw specialists, last weekend.
Bell told www.accringtonstanley.co.uk: "Hopefully it was the kind of result that can kick us on. The Chesterfield game was a kick on the teeth and we responded great to that. (Er, were two up before they let in two goals in the last two minutes that time, we better score three.) Now we're looking from the other side of that and we've got to build on that. We've got a tough home game against a Southend team who are going quite well at the minute and have had a good run though they were beaten on Saturday and then we've got two tough away games against the chasing teams in Rotherham and Wycombe."
Fair enough, and Jimmy, with his team back in 17th pace but have games in hand over many above them including Southend, still harbours hopes of a top seven finish.
Bell continued: "If we've got aspirations of making the play-offs now the time to get in there. They're getting a bit away from us at the minute. The seventh placed team is on eleven more points more than us I think altough we've got three or four games in hand on nearly everyone. I don't think we've won three games on the bounce this season so our aim is to go on a little run."
Was it ever thus.
So is he really confident of grabbing three points over the Shrimpers?
Bell revealed all: "Their away performances have been good. It'll be a really tough game but it's one we're really looking forward to. We know we've got to win our home games and we know we've got to win at either Rotherham or Wycombe to be challenging. After that we've got five of the next seven at home."
For the full Reds preview go here:
www.accringtonstanley.co.uk/index.php/newsy/3851