DANIEL Bentley will be bidding to become just the second ever Southend United goalkeeper to keep eight successive clean sheets at Roots Hall when the Shrimpers host Accrington Stanley this weekend.

Bentley kept his seventh home shut-out in a row to help Blues beat Cheltenham Town 2-0 on Tuesday night.

And the 21-year-old, who has not conceded a league goal at Roots Hall since October, is now bidding for more of the same tomorrow.

“The number of clean sheets we’ve had in a row at home is a fantastic accolade for the whole team, not just me and it would be great to get another one at the weekend,” said Bentley.

“Keeping a run of clean sheets at home is nothing something you necessarily aim for when someone tells you that you haven’t conceded a goal there in the league since October you realise that’s quite a lot time!

“We’re proud of that and I think that record is making Roots Hall a harder place to come for opposing teams.”

Should Bentley achieve another shut-out at the weekend then he would join Mervyn Cawston as the only other goalkeeper to have ever secured eight clean sheets in a row at Roots Hall.

Cawston managed a perfect 10 during the 1980/81 campaign while Paul Sansome managed seven in the 1989/90 campaign before a combination of Darryl Flahavan and Bart Griemink did the same in 2004/05.

All three of those seasons ended in promotion for the Shrimpers and Bentley is desperate to achieve the same after suffering a heart-breaking play-off semi-final defeat to Burton Albion last term.

“We know what it’s like to miss out on promotion, it’s a real kick in the teeth and we don’t want to suffer that again,” said the Wickford based shot-stopper.

“This is our year to push on into the top three and winning promotion with my home-town club would mean everything to me.”

Blues have triumphed four times in their last five games to move up to fourth in the table, just two points below the automatic promotion places.

But Bentley is still expecting a tough test against 15th placed Accrington.

“This is a very strange league and you saw that again on Tuesday with some of the results in the other matches so we can’t afford to be at all complacent a the weekend,” warned the former Bromfords School pupil.

“We’ve always had very close and hard fought games with Accrington and I’m sure this will be no different.”