Ross Embleton is well aware of Southend United’s attacking threats and know Town will have to be on their toes in order to keep their opposition at bay this evening.
The Reds make the trip to Roots Hall later (7.45pm Kick-Off) looking for a return to winning ways but will come up against a Shrimpers side who are unbeaten in their last six outings in the Sky Bet League One.
Town will also come up against two familiar faces in Simon Cox and Nile Ranger, who have both just started to find their form for Southend.
And Embleton highlighted United’s attacking prowess as one of their biggest weapons heading into tonight’s game.
“Everybody is hurting off the back of the result and performance against Rochdale at the weekend,” he said.
“Southend have got a number of strengths. I saw an interview with Phil Brown a few days back and he was talking about that when he has his best team at his disposal he feels as though they are a match for anybody and I think that is clear to see.
“Having looked at them, they’ve had a slow start to the season but they’ve got some positive results of late.
“They’ve got a number of good players and the front players are a real threat.
“We know what we are going to come up against.
“It is a case of making sure we pay Simon Cox and Nile Ranger the respect they are owed, they are obviously both very, very good players in this league.
“We’ve got to make sure we respect them to the level where we try and stop them but, at the same time, we don’t want to put too much focus on them and miss out on one or two of the other threats that they’ve got.”
Town have fond recent memories when it comes to facing Southend United, having overturned a two-goal deficit to run out 4-2 winners at SN1 in January 2016, a game Embleton is hoping will spur on the current crop of players.
“It is something that we’ve discussed on a number of occasions because we’re aware that when we go a goal up that tends to be a sign of us coming out of the game with a positive result this season,” he added.
“We have talked on a number of occasions about the fact that when we do go a goal down, it is about making sure we have the right response.
“Southend last year was certainly one of those that we look back on with fond memories.
“We went two goals behind after a sloppy start but the boys were fantastic in the second-half, so it is trying to get that attitude and that belief within the group again that they can bounce back from anything.
“Games like that are ones we certainly hang on to.”
