SOUTHEND United centre-back Adam Barrett insists he will not be rushing into any retirement decisions this season.

Barrett shelved plans to hang up his boots at the end of the previous campaign.

And the 36-year-old will not contemplate his future until Phil Brown’s side finish their fixtures.

“I’m only thinking about the games we have coming up and making sure we can finish as up the table as we can,” said the defender.

“I’ll sit down with the manager and talk about it at the end of the season but I still feel good and I’m very happy here.

“I’ve played a lot of games and I still feel as though I have a lot to offer on and off the pitch.

“But all I’m thinking about is the next game at the moment because we’ve got ourselves into a great position now and we need to keep pushing.”

The popular Barrett, who enjoyed a successful six year spell with his home-town towards the start of his career, has started 20 matches for the Shrimpers this season.

And he has been delighted to see Blues get back on track in their last two games having previously suffered three successive defeats.

“The last couple of games have been fantastic and Roots Hall was rocking again for the Coventry game at the weekend,” said Barrett.

“We also looked very strong and solid when getting the point at Peterborough but you are going to get sticky spells in this league when results don’t go your way because of how strong the teams are.

“There’s no need to panic when that happens, you just have to work hard and that’s exactly what we’ve done.

“The manager has been meticulous in his preparations and we’ve been looking really good.”

The Shrimpers – who sit ninth in League One, two points below the play-off positions – have also switched to a five man defence in their last two games.

And Barrett is relishing his role in the new system.

“I’ve played there before and I enjoy it,” said the centre-back.

“I like being in the middle so I can help Cian Bolger and Adam Thompson either side of me and it’s been going well so far.

“We’ve had back to back clean sheets and the wing-backs have been getting forward well too so I certainly don’t think it’s a negative formation.

“But we need to keep the good performances going because we have some very tough games coming up.”

Blues head to Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night for their next fixture and Barrett looks set to captain the side for the third game in succession.

“It’s always an honour to captain the team and I take a lot of pride in it,” said Barrett.

“John White is our captain but if he’s not available then I’m happy to wear the armband whenever the manager asks me to “It’s something I hadn’t done in quite some time and it’s just like old times again really.”