SOUTHEND United’s pre-season match against Maidstone United, which was due to take place on Saturday, has been cancelled due to positive Covid-19 tests in the Stones’ squad.

Blues boss Phil Brown was understanding of the situation and, along with his backroom staff, is now working on alternative arrangements to ensure the squad are ready for the start of the season.

"I’d rather not play games and engage the opposition where you run the risk of losing players, not through injury but through Covid," he said.

"We’re not going to lose out. We’re engaging with other clubs in the Football League to see if they want a game on Saturday and we’ve already had a positive response from one of them.

"Albeit we’ve lost Maidstone, we might be able to announce a game that we are going to play behind closed doors.

"We’ll play an in house game if necessary to make sure we have sufficient game time under our belt by the 21 August.

"We’re all in the same boat as football clubs, trying to get to the starting line in a fit and healthy way and in a safe manner.

"We’re doing everything we possibly can to get there and when we do get there, we’ll be ready.

"At the moment everyone is getting tested, and I don’t just mean Covid tested. I mean mentally, physically; we’re getting asked questions by the situation, and we’ve got to find the answers.

"And if we haven’t got a replacement game by the start of kick-off tomorrow night against West Ham it might change my plans for that to a certain extent.

"We’re thinking outside the box and we’re thinking out loud to keep ahead of the curve and get the players ready for the first game."