PHIL Brown has revealed Southend United will be taking steps to improve the pitch at Roots Hall.

The state of the surface has been a hot topic on social media following two home games in quick succession at the start of the season.

But Brown is hopeful the pitch will be in better shape when Blues host Plymouth Argyle on Saturday August 19.

“We’re having the pitch drained this week, it’s being re-seeded and having more fertiliser on it so hopefully it will be much better for the Plymouth game,” said Brown.

“I won’t use the pitch as an excuse for the Newport defeat but it is an issue because we want to get the ball down and pass it around this season.

“But work is being done so hopefully it will improve.”