BLUES left-back Johnny Herd wants his home debut to be remembered for all the right reasons at Roots Hall tonight.

The 19-year-old, who is a product of the club’s youth system, will again replace Dan Harding in the Shrimpers back four.

And he is determined to help his side avoid a shock defeat against AFC Telford.

“I’m very excited at the prospect of making my home debut,” said Herd who also played in the first meeting between the two teams 10 days ago.

“It’s something you will always look back on remember and I just hope it’s for the right reasons. We don’t want to become the victims of an FA Cup upset and AFC Telford have already shown us what they are capable of so we have to be on form..”

Only an injury time equaliser from Jean-Francois Christophe stopped Southend suffering a defeat against the Blue Square North side.

But Herd is confident of avoiding similar complications this evening.

“If we play like we can then we will go through,” said Herd who joined the Shrimpers as a 15-year-old.

“Personally I want to go out and play like I did at their place and I want to also show the Southend fans what I am capable of.”

Herd is also keen to win as a cup run would allow him further opportunities to impress.

“It’s my best chance of being involved at the moment,” he insisted.

“If we win tonight then we’re at home again in the second and it would be great if we could get a run going.”

Blues other full-back Simon Francis will also be looking forward to featuring tonight as he makes his 100th appearance for the club.

The 23-year-old signed from Sheffield United in the summer of 2006 and is proud to be clocking up his century.

“It’s a good landmark and one I’m obviously pleased with,” said Francis.

“But we can’t afford to think that just because they are in Blue Square North that we’re going to win tonight.

“We saw in the first game what can happen and there were a lot of other shocks that day.

“Telford drawing with us was probably one of them but if we play like we can then we won’t have a problem.

“It’s a great competition to be in and we want to stay in as long as we can.”

Southend (from): Mildenhall, Francis, Clarke, Barrett, Herd, Betsy, McCormack, Christophe, Grant, Walker, Revell,Scannell, Furlong, Barnard, Sankofa, Ademeno, Joyce, O’Keefe & Hazell