BLUES boss Phil Brown was left experiencing a familiar feeling of frustration following his side's 1-1 draw at Carlisle United on Saturday.

The Shrimpers had to settle for a share of the spoils at Brunton Park after failing to convert a number of clear cut chances.

And that aggravated Brown, whose side also struggled in front of goal against AFC Wimbledon in their previous outing.

“I'm just going to be repeating myself here and say exactly the same as I did after the Wimbledon game because we should have won and didn't take the chances we made,” said the Southend United chief.

“You can throw the Walsall game in to that as well and three times now this season we've been the better team and haven't won.

“I'm really going to have to sit down, take a look at things and try to address what the issues are and why we're not able to find the back of the net.

“Maybe I've been putting too much pressure on them and I need to try and make them more relaxed.

“I'm not really not too sure but it could also be time to give these players on the bench an opportunity.

“They're doing in everything in training to deserve being given more of a chance and maybe it's time for some of them to come in.”

The attack minded David Worrall, Lee Barnard and Jack Payne were all among the substitutes at Carlisle on Saturday.

They could well be in Brown's thinking for this Saturday's trip to Plymouth Argyle.

And some of them were also close to coming on quite early at Brunton Park.

“I wasn't very pleased at all with the first half and if we had come in 1-0 down then I was going to make three substitutions at half-time,” said Brown.

“Conor Clifford's goal calmed me down a little bit but we can't let going a goal behind be the factor that gets us going.

“We were the dominant team for the second half and I'm disappointed not to have won because I wanted us to be right up there from the start.

“I wanted to send that message out that we meant business but not taking our chances is costing us.”