SOUTHEND United manager Paul Sturrock admitted he had run out of patience with some of his players following a dire 2-0 defeat at Swindon Town.

Blues were well below their best on Sturrock’s return to the County Ground on Saturday.

And the Scotsman will now shake up his starting line-up for tomorrow night’s game with Gillingham.

“Some of the players have played their last game for a long time because that was a very, very disappointing performance,” said Sturrock.

“You can sometimes win matches when you have eight players on form and three not playing well but I think we had it the other way round.

“We were out of sorts and the players were in yesterday morning for training.

“They were told a few home truths and there are certainly a few bruised egos at the moment.”

Blues slipped to 12th in the League Two table after the reverse to the Robins.

But the defeat also left Sturrock puzzled as his side went into the game in good form.

“We played very well last week against Northampton and I can’t put my finger on what went wrong,” said Sturrock.

“We started slowly and that set the tone for the whole 90 minutes. The thought process wasn’t good enough, especially when we didn’t have the ball and that’s why we’ve now conceded four goals in two games.”

FULL STORY IN MONDAY'S ECHO