PHIL Brown has challenged his Southend United players to show Frank Moussa he was wrong to quit the Shrimpers at the end of last season.

The Belgian midfielder opted to team up with Walsall after rejecting the opportunity to remain at Roots Hall.

But Brown - whose side will face Moussa at the Bescot Stadium this weekend - is keen for Blues to be at their best against the Saddlers.

“In my own opinion Franck jumped quite quickly to join Walsall and he clearly thought they were going to be more successful than us this season but it’s up to us to try and prove him wrong now,” said Brown.

“I wish Franck all the best but there can be no room for sentiment this weekend and we’re going there wanting the three points to keep this run we’re on going.”

Moussa initially started his career with the Shrimpers and came through the youth system at the club before opting to leave in the summer of 2010.

The 27-year-old came back to Blues towards the end of last season but made just one appearance - against Bury on the final day of last term - before again deciding to move on.

However, the 17th placed Saddlers have been unable to find their best form on a consistent basis so far this season and Brown believes any team would take time to adjust after losing the high quality players Walsall did last summer.

“Walsall lost some top, top players after just missing out on promotion last season and it’s hard when you have a turnover like that,” said Brown.

“Romaine Sawyers went, who along with Jack Payne was the best number 10 in the League last season, and they also lost Tom Bradshaw who got a lot of goals for them.

“We got Jason Demetriou from them so they’ve lost a lot of quality but they do still have some good players so they can still make thing difficult for us.

“But if and when we have a spell when we’re on top we have to be able to kill them off.”

Ninth placed Blues head into the game looking to preserve a remarkable record which has seen them not lose a league game in November since 2009, a run of 25 matches.