SOUTHEND United manager Paul Sturrock was again left pointing the finger at his team’s poor finishing following their disappointing 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion.

A solitary strike from Calvin Zola secured the Brewers all three points at Roots Hall on Saturday.

And that infuriated a visibly frustrated Sturrock at the final whistle.

“We just can’t afford to keep on missing these chances because it’s killing us at the moment,” said Sturrock.

“Bilel Mohsni should’ve scored when it was 0-0 in the first half and Neil Harris had a good chance in the second half too.

“It’s costing us dear and I’m very, very disappointed about the result because I’m having to fight with people’s mentality towards the game right now. This is a real kick in the teeth for us.”

The defeat saw Southend slip to a second reverse in five days and Sturrock also admitted he was partly responsible for the bad result.

The Scotsman opted to start with a 4-4-2 formation and, in hindsight, felt that was the wrong thing to do.

“I will hold my hands up and say I didn’t get the system right in the first half,” said Sturrock who changed to a 4-3-3 formation just before the break.

“When we changed things around I thought we looked much better but it shouldn’t take a change of system and a half time rattling to get this team going.”

Southend fans were also angered by the result and booed their team off at the end of the game.

However, Sturrock can understand their frustrations.

“The supporters are entitled to express their views because they pay their money to come and watch us,” he said.

“They did it at the right time too, which is after the game, but we’re just as frustrated as they are."

FULL STORY IN MONDAY'S ECHO