SOUTHEND United captain Adam Barrett will rack up his 350th appearance for the Shrimpers with one his favourite fixtures tomorrow.

Barrett, who will be become just the ninth Blues player to reach the landmark, has scored three goals in his last three games at Northampton Town for his home-town club.

And the 36-year-old would love to add to that tally this weekend.

“I would have preferred my 350th game to be at Roots Hall if I had a choice but Northampton has also been a good ground for me to go to and hopefully it can be again tomorrow,” said the centre-back.

“I’m really proud to be making my 350th appearance because everyone knows what this club means to me.

“Growing up in the area I always wanted to play for the club and to have been able to do it 350 times is a real honour for me.

“But the main thing is making sure we get a good result and building on the great win we got against Millwall last weekend.”

But Barrett is expecting a tough test against the Cobblers, who have adjusted well to life in League One after winning promotion as League Two champions last term.

“Northampton have started the season well and, like every game in this league, it’s going to be a real test for us,” said the defender.

“They have some good players and had been on a hell of a run before losing last weekend.

“They obviously had the big cup game on Wednesday against Manchester United as well, which could have taken something out of them.

“But we’ve had a lot of games there – including LDV Vans and play-off semi-finals - and every time it’s been very difficult, so I’m sure it will be exactly the same on Saturday.”

Northampton - who are likely to include Barrett’s former Blues team-mate Alex Revell in their starting line-up - are currently 11th in the table, 10 places higher than the Shrimpers.

But Barrett is determined to close the gap by helping Phil Brown’s side produce a performance similar to last Saturday’s 3-1 win against Millwall.

“We showed last week what we’re capable of doing against one of the top teams in the league but we need to do it again tomorrow and every week after that too,” said Barrett, who is in his second spell with Southend. “The attitude was spot on and the work-rate of the front three was fantastic.

“The ball was in the opposition’s half far longer than it had been in previous games and that made it much easier for everyone else.

“It was exactly what we needed in response to the disappointment at Scunthorpe and now we want more points to move up the table.”

>Other Blues players to have made 350 appearances with full number of games in brackets: Alan Moody (507), Sandy Anderson (483), Kevin Maher (454), Tony Bentley (419), Roy Pountney (401), Paul Clark (358), Paul Sansome (357) and Darryl Flahavan (351).