SOUTHEND United’s Jack Payne was left gutted following the Shrimpers failure to secure automatic promotion with a win at Morecambe on Saturday.

Payne was on target for Blues in a 3-1 defeat which saw them slip from third to fifth on the final day of the League Two season.

And Payne admitted the setback had been tough to take.

“Coming here it was all in our own hands and we’re just gutted we haven’t been able to finish it off,” said the 20-year-old, who was recalled to the starting line-up after 14 games on the bench.

“I really did think it was going to be our day when we scored and had all the momentum in our favour.

“I thought we would go on to get the win we needed to go up, especially with how we had been playing but it didn’t turn out that way in the end which hurts us.

“I don’t know why that was but now we have to get ready for the play-offs.”

Blues take on Stevenage in the semi-finals and play the first of those games at Broadhall Way this weekend.

And Payne has urged the Shrimpers to remain positive ahead of the game.

“We’ve taken 22 points out of 27 and have to be the form team going into the play-offs which is how we need to look at it now,” said the attacking midfielder.

“Everyone is hurting but we’ve got to take the positives and we need to use this hurt to our advantage.

“We need to use the anger to fire us up against Stevenage and I’m sure the fans will be right behind us.

“It felt like a home game on Saturday because our fans were better than theirs but now we need to go again in the play-offs and make sure we go up that way now.”