FORMER Southend United manager Paul Sturrock believes Barry Corr will be crucial if the Shrimpers are to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their play-off semi-final against Burton Albion.

Blues head into Saturday’s clash at Roots Hall a goal down after losing an even encounter at the Pirelli Stadium on Sunday.

And Sturrock feels Corr will need to play a significant part if the current Shrimpers side are to work their way to Wembley.

“I think Barry Corr will have a huge part to play in the game on Saturday if Southend are to turn things around,” said the Scotsman, who brought the striker to the club back in 2010.

“Burton have Ian Sharps suspended after he got a soft red card in the first game between the two teams and without him I think they might be lacking a bit of height at the back.

“Sharps is an important player. I think he was their player of the year and whoever comes in for him won’t be as big.

“Barry can capitalise on that because he’s very strong in the air but the service has to be right and crosses need to be coming into the box for him to get on the end of.

“In Kevan Hurst, Southend also have one of the best at getting crosses in at this level, so with that in mind I do still think there is everything to play for.”

Sturrock brought Hurst to the club during his stint in the Roots Hall hot-seat between 2010 and 2013.

The 57-year-old also signed Michael Timlin and Ryan Leonard and is delighted to see them still playing well for the Shrimpers.

“I understand they’ve all had good seasons and it’s great for Tims and Barry after the injury troubles they had,” said Stur-rock.

“Lenny won player of the year and I’m delighted for him too.

“We pushed him on from right-back because we thought he had goals in him and also because Sean (Clohessy) was doing so well.

“Hursty has his usual high number of assists and I hope they can all play well again at the weekend and give the fans another day at Wembley.”

But Sturrock knows only too well how tough it will be for the Shrimpers to fight-back from a 1-0 defeat in the first leg.

His own Southend side lost by the same scoreline at Crewe Alexandra and saw their promotion dreams end when the second leg ended in a 2-2 draw at Roots Hall.

“Sunday’s game did make me think back to when we played Crewe and it’s tough to get the balance right,” said Sturrock.

“At some point you need to push forward to get a goal and then that leaves you open for the counter-attack, so it’s quite difficult.

“However, I was very impressed by Southend’s two young centre-backs at the weekend and they will need to play well again in the second leg now