SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown is to take a full strength squad to Ipswich Town for a development team friendly today.

The Blues boss is eager to hand several of his players 90 minutes against the Tractor Boys.

And he is also keen to use the game to help his team recover from Saturday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at Luton Town.

“I will be taking the whole squad across for the game and I’m treating this as a very important match for us too,” said Brown.

“We need to get the negativity from Saturday’s defeat at Luton out of our system and we will be taking a look at one or two things as well.

“We did something similar last season when we took the full strength team over to Colchester for a game and it really helped us.

“We’re hoping this will be the same and I’ll certainly be taking a lot from this game when it comes to picking my team for Saturday’s match with Exeter.”

Blues had originally been due to take on Dagenham & Redbridge this afternoon but waterlogged pitches – at both team’s training grounds – forced the game to be postponed.

However, the Shrimpers were quickly able to organise a clash with Ipswich.

And the game will see the first appearance of the season for the fit-again Michael Timlin who has now recovered from the dislocated elbow he suffered against Tottenham Hotspur during a pre-season friendly in July.

“It will be great to get Tims out there again and hopefully he will be able to last the 90 minutes,” said Brown.

“People like Ryan Leonard, Barry Corr and Lee Barnard also need to get more minutes under their belts and this is a chance for them to do that.

“Ipswich are playing quite a strong test side too so it’s a good test and I’m sure I will learn a lot from the game.”

Brown will then take that in to Saturday’s game against Exeter City, where it seems certain Jack Payne will be restored to the starting line-up after he was selected among the substitutes at Luton Town on Saturday.

“Jack has gone up to the next level for me now after how we played at the weekend,” said Brown.

“I view him as an established professional which is great news for us and him.”

Today’s match at Ipswich kicks off at 1pm.