SOUTHEND United’s pre-season friendly at Braintree Town has been called off.

The Shrimpers were due to visit Cressing Road on Saturday.

But Blues boss Phil Brown is now attempting to secure an alternative fixture.

“We went to have a look at the pitch and as far as we’re concerned it would have been too risky to play on it,” said Brown.

“We’re looking for other fixtures now and it could well be that we play a game behind closed doors or we have a match among ourselves at the training ground.”