Club captain Neil Cox has told the club's official web-site that the team coach on the way back from Southend was not a pleasant place to be on Saturday night. The Alex were bitterly disappointing at Roots Hall going down 3-0 to a resurgent Southend United side, who have slowly turned their season around after overcoming the hangover of relegation.

With Steven Schumacher ruled out with a tight hamstring for the trip south, Cox returned to the starting line-up and didn't let anyone down in the centre of midfield alongside our other decent performer on the day Ben Rix.

Neil admits that too many of the players are playing below par at the moment: "We have had a real dip in form and some of that has to do with confidence. We were confident at the start of the season after picking up a few decent results, and we need to get back doing that.

"It is about having character and standing up to the challenge. We need to get our heads up because football is filled with ups and downs. What I've learnt is that once another game has kicked off, the past results don't matter. There is no point dwelling on them. We have got to get back to grind out results like we were earlier in the season when we went to Swindon and Bristol.

"At the moment there are too many players playing below their best. You cannot afford to have five or six players doing that at once and we all need to improve. We cannot afford people to go into their shells. We need them to become men.

Neil added: "The bus was very quiet on the way back from Southend. All the lads were hugely disappointed by the performance, because we didn't do ourselves or the fans that travelled down there to support us any justice. Everyone was in their own thoughts and that was good. We know we have to start performing a lot better."