KEVAN Hurst insists Southend United still have the energy to fight for promotion this season.

The seventh placed Shrimpers, who head to Morecambe tomorrow, have not triumphed in their last nine games.

But, unlike towards the end of the previous campaign, Hurst does not feel fatigue is a factor in the sudden loss of form.

“Being honest I think we did tire out towards the end of last season but that certainly isn’t the case now,” said Hurst, who is Blues’ top scorer with 11 goals this term.

“Last year, mainly because of our run in the JPT and a couple of postponements, we seemed to just be playing game after game at one stage.

“We ended up playing nearly 60 matches but it won’t anywhere near that this year and I think we’re all still feeling good at this stage.

“We definitely have the energy needed to get better results and hopefully that can start with the match at Morecambe tomorrow because we’re still in a good position in the table.”

Blues occupy the final position in the play-offs but are now just two points clear of eighth placed Plymouth Argyle who have also played a game less.

However, Hurst is still confident of the Shrimpers rediscovering their best form.

And the winger hopes that can happen at Morecambe this weekend.

“I don’t think we’ve actually been playing that badly recently so hopefully things can go our way again and we can get the three points tomorrow,” said Hurst.

“If you look at the last few games, we’ve had a couple of deflected goals go in against us, we’ve had worldies flying in and then we had the one which hit the back of Daniel Bentley last week against Wycombe and rolled back over the line.

“When that happened I think we all thought what do we have to do to get a win but we’ve had a good week in training and we’re fired up to get the three points tomorrow.”

Morecambe are currently 16th in the League Two standings and have not won in their last 10 games.