JAY Nash will be more excited than most when Great Wakering Rovers host Southend United at Burroughs Park tonight.

Rovers’ goal-getting striker had a season ticket watching the Shrimpers for 10 years before his own career started to gather pace.

And Nash is not sure who his family will be cheering on in this evening’s pre-season friendly.

“I always really look forward to playing Southend and my family are all Blues fans so I don’t know who they will be cheering for tonight to be honest,” laughed the 22-year-old.

“I know my sister, who is actually one of the Bluebelles, will be cheering for Ryan Leonard but my granddad still goes to a lot of Southend games so it’s going to be an interesting match.

“My family are all winding me up about the possibility of playing against Adam Barrett, who is their favourite, and it would certainly be great if he was playing because it’s always good to test yourself against really good players.

“I still have dreams of making it as a footballer myself and games like this show what you need to be working on to try and make the step up.”

Nash will therefore be looking to impress against what is expected to be a young Shrimpers side as he attempts to build on the goalscoring form he found last season.

The 22-year-old, who lives in Shoeburyness, bagged 21 goals for Wakering last time around.

But he wants to be even more prolific in Ryman Division One North this term.

“I want to improve every season so I’ve set myself a target of 25 goals for the year,” said Nash.

“Some people are saying I should be aiming for 30 but I just want to score as many as possible.”