Southend United's Freddy Eastwood: Play-off aim is not dead yet (From Echo)

Southend United's Freddy Eastwood: Play-off aim is not dead yet

1:32pm Monday 18th March 2013 in Sport By Chris Phillips

FREDDY Eastwood is not giving up hope of Southend United finishing in the play-offs this season, despite Saturday's disappointing 1-1 draw with struggling Torquay United.

The 29-year-old striker was on target for the first time since November during the stalemate at Roots Hall.

And he now has his sights set on firing Blues back in to the top seven.

“We're six points behind at the moment but you can never say never in football so we need to keep on pushing and I want to play a part in that,” said Eastwood.

“It's been a disappointing season for me because I came back here to play, not sit on the bench.

“But for whatever reason that hasn't happened and other players have been given a go ahead of me.

“It's just been one of those years but I thought I played well on Saturday and was pleased to score so I should stay in the side for Tuesday's game with Plymouth.

“It's then up to me to keep on playing well and get more goals to help the team get the points and wins we need to make the play-offs.”

Eastwood's well taken goal against Torquay was just his fourth of the season but he has been restricted to just five starts during the current campaign.

The last of those came against Bury in the FA Cup back in December.

And the striker only worked his way back in to the side at the weekend after shrugging off a bout of flu.

“I didn't train for a couple of days in the build up to the game and I think it was adrenaline that got me through the 70 minutes I played,” said Eastwood.

“But now I want to build on this and start to get more goals but it was disappointing we didn't win at the weekend.

“I thought we played well and passed it around nicely, which is what the fans like to see.

“They don't want us to lump it and we have the ability to be a footballing side if we keep on being brave when we have the ball.”

The draw against Torquay pushed Southend up to eighth in the League Two table.

However, Blues manager Paul Sturrock was encouraged by his side's display.

“I thought the performance was much better than it was against AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday and we got the reaction if not the result we wanted,” said Sturrock.

“It’s obviously frustrating not to have won but I don’t think Torquay are a bad side and they’re in a false league position.

“We’re still six points away from the play-offs and will have to go hell for leather to get in them now because one point from these two home games we've had isn't really good enough.”