JORDAN Brown may have grown up watching Southend United, but that will not stop him wanting to end their push for promotion.

For the 20-year-old ex-King John School pupil is now on the books of Crewe Alexandra.

And he is therefore desperate to help the Railwaymen get back in to League One by beating Blues in their play-off semi-final.

“It’s funny how things have worked out and that we’re playing Southend in these games because they’ve always been my local team,” said Brown, who grew up in Benfleet.

“I would often go and watch them when I was younger as I used to go to Alf Bilby’s Soccer Schools where we would get tickets to go to Roots Hall.

“It was something I used to enjoy. But obviously I’m with Crewe now and we’re confident of being able to get through to the final at Wembley because we have been playing well.”

Left-back Brown was snapped up by West Ham United when he was only six years old.

And he spent close to 14 years with the Hammers before being allowed to leave in January.

“I was with West Ham a very long time and leaving there was quite hard for me,” said Brown.

“But sometimes when you’re not getting on you have to move on to get games and that was the case with me.”

Brown, who had previously spent two months on loan at Aldershot, therefore opted to join Crewe.

He made his debut for the club against Rotherham United in March and has now made seven appearances for the Railwaymen.

However, he looks set to be on the bench against Blues this weekend.

“I’m not sure if I’ll play or not but it will be a really good experience for me to be involved in something like this,” said Brown.

“I’ve enjoyed my time at Crewe so far, even though I would liked to have played more games, but hopefully we can get promotion.

“Southend are one of the strongest sides we could be playing and they’ve had a good season as well, but hopefully we can get through.”

If that is to happen then Crewe will need to succeed at Roots Hall next Wednesday.

And Brown is already looking forward to the second leg.

“When I was younger my friends all played in the cup finals at Roots Hall and I never could because I was at West Ham,” said Brown.

“It would be great to play there next week, especially as I’m sure my friends and family will be watching, and I just hope we can get through.”