Southend United boss Chris Powell: We must be on front foot against Portsmouth

Powell has taken 10 points from his first four games in charge.

But the 48-year-old is demanding another committed display against play-off pushing Portsmouth this weekend.

“I can’t argue or grumble with what we’ve done so far, but I want it to continue,” said Powell.

“There’s a really good atmosphere around the club and the town as well I suppose too because we’ve shown we can win games.

“But this is another big game.

“It will be close to a sell-out I would imagine and these are the types of matches you want to be involved in.

“This is what it’s all about, but it’s our patch and our home so we should be taking it to teams.

“We did that against Scunthorpe and Wigan but now we have to make sure we’re on the front foot against Portsmouth in what is going to be another difficult game.”

Portsmouth head into tomorrow’s clash sitting ninth in the League One table, four points below the play-offs.

And Powell believes Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett will make them tough to break down.

“They have a manager who certainly knows how to get out of this League because he’s done it before with both Millwall and Wolves,” said Powell.

“He’s very astute and is someone I know well from our Charlton-Millwall days.

“They’re a big club who are rebuilding for the future but one thing they will never lose is that fervent support they have.

“I’m sure we’ll hear them a lot on Saturday but hopefully our fans will drown them out, so we will be doing all we can to give them plenty to shout about.”

But Powell has already started work on improving Blues behind the scenes too.

“We’re improving the training ground and we deserve that,” said the former England international.

“We are a professional club and I want us to be run as well as any club in the country.

“Financially, we can’t compete with the clubs in the Premier League and Championship, but we can still be run like them and that’s something we will be working on.”