Tilson: 'Win, and it would close the gap on the teams just above us'
Blues boss Steve Tilson knows his side have yet to win in 2010, the only side in the Football League yet to do so after 12 games, lucky 13 anyone!
The Shrimpers also have to face Walsall Tuesday with club captain Adam Barrett not in the side after receiving two debatable yellow cards on Saturday, Steve Mildenhall will stepping in to wear the skipper's armband.
Tilly spoke to www.southendunited.co.uk: "We find ourselves in a tough situation and this is our game in hand. If we win, then it would close the gap on the teams just above us, but Walsall are a good side and it will be another hard game."
He can only ask his side to continue with how they performed last weekend, defending a touch better than the first 13 minutes, and hope the breaks go their way this time around.
Tilly concluded: "We showed on Saturday that we are still fighting though and we need to go and show that again this evening."
Hutchings: 'You never win an appeal, it falls on deaf ears'
Like Southend Saddlers boss Chris Hutchings has to cope to-night without his centre back and skipper, in his case the useful Mark Hughes, but the club have decided not to appeal.
Hutchings talked to www.expressandstar.com: "Normally, 99.9 per cent of the time you never win an appeal so it falls on deaf ears. The sending off was a turning point, the referee must have been the only one to deem it as a red. The decision went against us and the less said about it the better. My first reaction was that it was a poor decision."
Hutchings now has to prepare his team without their inspirational captain but still have the satisfaction of looking back on an injury time 1-0 win over ColU last Saturday with only ten men on the field.
Can they continue the commitment they showed against the Farmers?
He continued: "It's a big test and we haven't done it too often this season. The boys were in yesterday and we have to see whether we can do it at Southend. It's hard when you're down to 10 men but we did it on Saturday, can we do it Tuesday and the following Saturday?"