SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown will need to pick himself up before bidding to breathe life back into Blues’ play-off push.

The Shrimpers suffered a 1-0 defeat at struggling Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

And the manner of the setback left Brown feeling low.

“This is a massive disappointment,” said Brown.

“The smallest man on the pitch (Junior Brown) has scored with a header in the six yard box after being allowed to run free and it’s cost us dearly.

“At the moment, I feel down and low and I will have to pick myself up before I pick the team up which is obviously my job too.”

With Southend’s play-off rivals Millwall losing 3-0 at home to Oxford United, Brown’s side remain just a point behind the top six with just one game to go.

The Shrimpers host Bury at Roots Hall on Sunday.

But Brown knows Blues must improve if they are to push into the top six.

“Going forward, we aren’t showing enough bottle, desire, commitment or character and that will need to change,” said the 57-year-old.

“We’re still in with a chance when really we should be out of sight “It seems the game is giving us a chance but when that happens you have to take it.

“We’ve lost four out of five now but if you go back further than that we’ve won five out of nine so you can look at statistics any way you want.

“The bottom line is it’s still out of our hands but all we can do is try and win the last game against Bury.

“That would give us 18 points from 10 games which isn’t actually bad form but the manner of this defeat has disappointed me and we’re going to have to get over that.”

The Shrimpers rarely threatened at Greenhous Meadow.

But Brown felt they could have been awarded a penalty for a challenge on substitute striker Marc-Antoine Fortune in the second half.

“(Jermaine) McGlashan had half a shout of a penalty but it wasn’t but I still the say the one on Marco was,” said Brown.

“The referee was screaming 100 per cent at me for the first challenge but I’m not too sure he was 100 per cent sure for the second.

“We didn’t deserve to get anything from the first half but we did from the second and it’s a frustrating day because we wanted to send the fans home happy.

“That’s what we will now be hoping to do on Sunday.”

Blues were roared on by close to 1,300 fans at Shrewsbury.