SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown wants his team to display his own DNA when they take on Rochdale at Roots Hall tonight.

Blues were comprehensively beaten 4-2 by Dale towards the end of last season in what was just Brown’s fourth game in charge.

But he now wants to see a noticeable difference this evening.

“I think Rochdale caught us at the wrong time that night but there’s a big difference between that team and the one we have now,” said Brown.

“That team wasn’t mine, I hadn’t got my message across at that stage and I don’t think it had the DNA one of my sides had.

“It was also our first game after losing at Wembley but I think we’re a better team now and hopefully we will see that tonight.”

Blues go in to the game sitting seventh in the League Two table after last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Torquay United.

Victory this evening would see the Shrimpers move back up to third, if only for a few hours.

But Brown is still not concerned by league positions.

“I’m just focusing on the games, performances and getting the team right,” said the Southend chief.

“Positions in the table don’t really matter at this stage and I just want to see the right kind of response from the disappointment we suffered against Torquay.

“It was an uncharacteristic type of performance from us and we now want to get back to playing the way we had been when we went seven matches unbeaten.

“It’s also an important time of year with four games in 13 days and we want to get this little period off to a good start.”

Brown also has a number of selection headaches for the game with Will Atkinson and Ryan Leonard pushing for recalls in midfield and Freddy Eastwood doing likewise in attack.

Cauley Woodrow is also available again after completing a three match suspension which followed his red card at Portsmouth.

And Brown has been impressed by the on loan Fulham forward in training.

“Cauley has looked sharp, he’s done well in a couple of training games we’ve had and he’s certainly in my thoughts for tonight,” said the Blues boss.

“I have a number of things to be thinking over and I just hope I get it right because it’s another important game for us.”