MICHAEL Timlin feels Southend United are in a relegation battle following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Fleetwood Town at Roots Hall.

The defeat - which came in Timlin’s 250th appearance for the Shrimpers - saw Phil Brown’s slip to within two points of the bottom four.

And the midfielder insists Blues must now battle to beat the drop.

“There’s pressure on us to try and avoid a relegation battle because I think people have to realise we’re actually in one now,” said Timlin.

“It’s come upon us very quickly without people taking notice and we have to stand up and be counted.

“We have to be ready to scrap for every point we can get, starting with a big game at Rochdale on Saturday.”

Blues will head to Spotland on the back of eight defeats in their last nine games.

And Timlin was frustrated the poor run of results continued against Fleetwood.

“It was extremely disappointing not to get something from the game but realistically we probably weren’t good enough in the second half,” said Timlin.

“Once they scored it knocked us back and we didn’t seem to recover from it.

“It was a nice occasion for me to get to 250 games and it’s something I’ll always remember but it’s always going to have a negative effect on myself because of the result.”

Fleetwood scored twice in quick succession towards the start of the second half to secure their fifth away win in a row, much to the frustration of the Shrimpers’ fans.

But Timlin fully understands the supporters’ anger.

“We know the fans are raging but they have a right to be because it’s not been good enough,” said the 32-year-old.

“I’ll always listen to the fans and I will always fight for my team-mates, the manager and the club.

“We all need to do that and I do believe every player in the team has that mindset.”

And Timlin also insisted the squad remain right behind Blues’ under-fire manager Phil Brown.

“We’re all fighting for the manager and no-one is going against him but we have to look at ourselves individually because we aren’t really doing it,” said the midfielder.

“The boys are frustrated and so is the manager.”