SOUTHEND United manager Chris Powell will be aiming for more progress when the Shrimpers face Leeds United in a ‘bonus’ pre-season friendly on Sunday.

Leeds, who will again be lining up in the Championship this season, have not visited Blues’ home since 2009.

And Powell is pleased to be facing a different opponent during his side’s preparations for the forthcoming League One campaign.

“I think it’s always a bit of a bonus if you play a side that hasn’t been to Roots Hall for a long time during pre-season for a game,” said Powell.

“It’s good to have Leeds coming here and it will be a good test for our players.

“They will see the level they’re striving for. It’s only one League at the moment even though Leeds’ support is massive and world-renowned.

“It’s definitely a good game for us and it would be nice to get a few fans for it.

“But the main thing for us is to keep on making progress and a few of the players could start to play for an hour now as we continue to build things up.”

And Powell also wants his new look team to become accustomed to playing at Roots Hall where he suffered just one defeat in nine outings following his appointment last January.

“It will be good for our players to get on the Roots Hall pitch again,” said the Blues boss.

“We know how it was last year but now it’s looking brilliant and hopefully the players, particularly the new ones, will get used to the surroundings.

“I don’t know whether or not we’ll train on it before this game.

“But we definitely will in the lead up to Doncaster because the players need to know what it’s like playing at Roots Hall.”

Sunday’s clash, which kicks off at 2pm, will be the Shrimpers’ fourth pre-season fixture of the summer.

The game comes just four days after Blues were beaten 6-0 by a strong Tottenham Hotspur side in a behind closed doors friendly.

But Powell wants his team to be continually tested.

“I don’t want to be playing games where we’re winning by five, six or seven goals all the time because that doesn’t really help us much,” said Powell.

“We want to be tested and see if our players can solve issues, solve problems and at times we did that against Spurs but they showed their class.”

“This will be another intense game.”

Blues midfielder Timothee Dieng faces a late check on a slight knock.