Sturrock: 'Lincoln pitch made it very difficult for anyone to run with the ball'
Shrimpers manager Paul Sturrock refused to admit defeat in his club's promotion challenge after a 2-1 defeat to Steve Tilson's Lincoln City.
Ashley Grimes pounced on a loose ball to give the Imps the lead, but Southend drew level through Blair Sturrock's tap-in. Lincoln sealed victory when Grimes smashed home from inside the box, extending the Shrimpers' winless run to a fourth game.
Sturrock told the Press Association: "It was a bad goal for us to concede in the first half and then we were chasing the game. Once we equalised, maybe I got the tactics wrong. We should have defended and made it difficult for Lincoln, but we got caught on the counter-attack. The pitch was difficult. It made it very difficult for anyone to run with the ball. We're not going to give up on promotion until it is mathematically impossible."
Fair enough Luggs, but is this the end of our play-off challenge?
Sturrock continued: "We are just going to have to roll our sleeves up and work even harder. I'm not giving up. This game and last Saturday have been frustrating. I know we can do better than that but these players have had a lot of games in a short period of time and it has taken its toll."
Enough of the games Luggy, we must get a couple of players in or tell us there's a problem in doing that, one week left!
No more excuses; there's a further two games in four days next week, and Crewe beat Chesterfield on Saturday while Hereford are still not sure of staying up, so God knows what state the players will be like in those then, especially if Peter Gilbert and Craig Easton are out injured!
Shrimpers injury update:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/
southend_united_injury_update_
before_crewe_alexandra_clash_657224/index.shtml
The S24 report:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/rprt/mtch/
lincoln_city_2_southend_united_1_656898/index.shtml