BARELY a week goes by nowadays without a new weird and wonderful suggestion to brighten football’s future.

Many of them have blighted the Checkatrade Trophy this season while others are being thought up in a bid to improve the fortunes of the flagging national team.

But next time Southend United are invited to attend any brainstorming sessions with the Football League there should be just one topic on their mind – playing more matches in November.

Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Walsall continued the Shrimpers’ remarkable run of results during the 11th month of the year and means they have still not lost a league game in November since suffering a 2-0 defeat at Tranmere Rovers in 2009.

During that time, Blues have avoided defeat in 28 league outings and have picked up an impressive 64 points from the 84 on offer.

To emphasise the impressive run even further the last seven Novembers have seen Chelsea take 42 points from 78, Manchester United 57 from 75, Arsenal 41 from 75 and Liverpool 37 from 75 in their own league campaigns.

However, the Shrimpers’ remarkable run could and probably should have been better than it actually is.

Last Tuesday, Blues battered Swindon Town late on before eventually having to settle for a share of the spoils.

And, although Phil Brown’s side were not quite so dominant against Walsall at the weekend, they still probably deserved to pick up the three points.

But the fact they didn’t came down to poor finishing, good goalkeeping and arguably bad refereeing.

Southend looked incredibly unfortunate not to be awarded a first half penalty when a marauding run forward from Nile Ranger was crudely upended by a sliding Adam Chambers.

Yet, referee Carl Boyeson opted to wave play on and then did exactly the same after the break when Ranger again appeared to be upended inside the penalty area.

Of course any such spot kick would have had to be converted and the officials should certainly not be seen as a convenient get out clause as both Anthony Wordsworth and Stephen McLaughlin - two of Blues more reliable finishers - both wasted clear cut chances to hit the back of the net.

In turn, that resulted in the Shrimpers securing their first 0-0 draw of the season and just their second in the whole of 2016.

But the disappointment which greeted the final whistle also underlined the giant strides forward Southend have taken in the past few weeks.

Not so long ago, Blues suffered three convincing defeats on the road in quick succession and seemed destined for a season of struggle towards the foot of the table with their League One status seemingly in jeopardy.

But the Shrimpers now suddenly find themselves 10th in the standings, just a point outside the play-off positions after going eight League One games without suffering defeat.

Having a settled starting line-up with a number of key players back fit has made a huge difference and, as a result, there is now far more positivity and confidence around the club.

Keeping the spine of the current side fit will ultimately prove key during the remainder of the campaign and so too will finding the quality to kill teams off when on top, something which has been severely lacking in Southend’s last two outings.

Despite that however, Blues are beginning to build momentum at a crucial stage of the season and a number of weaknesses have now be eradicated.

The Shrimpers look far stronger at the back and showed that again on Saturday with a second clean sheet in three games.

Their organisation all over the pitch has also significantly improved along with the creativity.

And the only real area of concern right now is that November is about to come to an end!