SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown will be out to lift the spirits of the club’s supporters when Chesterfield visit Roots Hall this weekend.

A growing number of Blues fans are beginning to air their frustrations after seeing the side slip to third from bottom in the League One table.

But Brown remains determined to get the Shrimpers back on track.

“I understand when you’re down towards the bottom and you’re losing games that there are going to be doom and gloom merchants,” said Brown.

“They have a reason to be like that too but we have to eradicate that by our performance.

“If we perform well I know the fans will get off their seats and support us.

“Hard work gets rewarded by support and hard work and quality gets rewarded by results so we need to see both of them this weekend.”

Blues remain in the relegation zone following a 3-0 defeat at Rochdale last weekend.

But, since suffering the disappointing setback, Brown has been buoyed by the reaction of his players in training.

“I’ve had a good week and I’ve enjoyed it,” said the Shrimpers chief. You can only bounce off the players you’ve got and that’s what this week has been like.

“If the players were downing tools and not working hard in training then I would be a worried man.

“But they’re not like that at all.”

Brown also revealed he had been encouraged by meetings he had held with the senior players this week.

And he is now focusing on making sure he gets his team selection spot on, something he felt was not the case at Rochdale.

“I picked the wrong team and system at Rochdale and hopefully I won’t be making that mistake against Chesterfield,” said Brown.

“Hopefully the team and formation I select on Saturday will be brave enough and good enough to win the game.

“I believe in the players we’ve got and if we go out there and win 5-4 then great.

“That’s something people won’t have heard from me before but we just need to get the performance and confidence level right.

“The support from the fans is vitally important too if we are to continue our good home form.

“We haven’t been beaten in our last five games at home and we were one minute away from winning three games in a row before we headed to Rochdale too so there are some positives.”