LEE Barnard will be out to banish his goalscoring blues when Southend United visit Newport County tonight.

The Shrimpers striker was handed his first league start of the season against Exeter City at the weekend.

But, despite playing well, Barnard remains frustrated not to have converted a fantastic chance he fired against the foot of the left post in the first half.

“I was so disappointed because they are the chances you want in a game,” said the 30-year-old.

“I’ll make no excuses about it and I know I should’ve scored.

“I’m my own biggest critic and drawing the game made me feel worse.

“It’s not just my fault we didn’t win but you do feel responsible because if I had scored then who knows what the result would’ve been.

“But I’ll take the positives from the game and I thought I played OK.”

Barnard hopes to have done enough to stay in the side for this evening’s encounter.

And he is eager to get the games he needs to get back among the goals for the Shrimpers.

“I need a run of games,” said the forward.

“That’s not really happened so far this season and it’s obviously been frustrating for me.

“It was brilliant to start at the weekend though and maybe I can get those games I feel I need now.

“The more minutes I’m on the pitch the more chances I’ll get and hopefully I can put them away to help the team pick up some good results again, starting with Newport.”

However, the Welshmen have triumphed in three of their last four games.

And Barnard is expecting another difficult evening as Blues look to end their three match winless streak.

“The reports have come back in that Newport are a tough side to play against,” said the forward.

“We will have to dig in and hopefully put in a good performance to get three points.

“Saturday felt more like a defeat if I’m being honest and we need to make sure we bounce back from that now.”

Tonight’s game will also see the Shrimpers up against Newport boss Justin Edinburgh, who just like Barnard hails from Billericay and has played for Tottenham Hotspur as well as Blues.

Barnard is full of admiration for the job Edinburgh has done at Rodney Parade.

And the former Mayflower School pupil is looking forward to his first ever visit to the ground.

“I’ve met him a couple of times, he’s really polite, he seems like a nice man and he’s got them playing well,” said Barnard.

“He’s doing a great job with them so it’s not going to be an easy game.

“But we all can’t wait to get out there and I’m certainly looking forward to it as it will be the first time I’ve ever been there.”