SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown has urged his side to be better without the ball at Doncaster Rovers tonight.

Blues were strangely below par in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Walsall at Roots Hall.

And Brown is demanding an immediate improvement this evening.

“I’ve watched the DVD of Saturday’s game and what struck me most was how disappointing we were without the ball,” said the Shrimpers boss.

“We weren’t closing the opposition down and it was just very uncharacteristic of us.

“The first two performances were had were acceptable and that was because of how we worked without the ball so that’s definitely going to be my key message ahead of the Doncaster game.

“And it’s also going to be reflected in my team selection.”

Brown hinted at making changes against Doncaster with Michael Timlin, David Worrall, Will Atkinson, Kevan Hurst and Jack Payne all among those the Blues chief insisted were pushing for recalls.

But Brown also revealed he would be relying heavily on Shrimpers coordinator Brian Horton ahead of the game after he spent the last two seasons as assistant manager at Doncaster.

“We’ve tapped into Brian’s knowledge on them,” said Brown.

“A lot of the players are still there from his time and the manager is a key part in how they play so I’ve been asking him all about Paul Dickov rather than the team.

“Richie Wellens and James Coppinger are two key players and they make them tick but we need to go there and put in a much better performance.

“We also want to get three points on board as quickly as we can to show we can compete at this level.”

To help make that happen, Brown is also keen to strengthen his squad.

But he does not expect any signings to be completed in time for them to figure tonight.

“I don’t think anyone will come in before the game but one definitely will before Saturday,” Brown added.