Southend United goalkeeper Steve Arnold hurting in more ways than one

Blues have been beaten in their last three outings.

And Arnold has also been playing through the pain with a broken and dislocated finger.

“The finger was better today (Saturday) but on Tuesday night it was really sore,” said Arnold.

“I’ve got the strapping on and the gloves made up so it’s a non event with the finger now.”

But Arnold was initially in too much discomfort to play when he first suffered the injury in training.

“I dived down to my left for a shot,” recalled the summer signing.

“There was no real pace on it but I just felt like something was sticking out so I had a look and there was something sticking out!

“It was worse when they put in back in and there was a fracture as well. It sums me up really.

“If I’m going to do something I seem to do it well!”

After having to miss out against Halifax Town with the finger injury, Arnold returned between the sticks to take on Aldershot and Torquay United.

But the 32-year-old has been unable to stop the rot and was among the players to speak with frustrated Blues fans after the final whistle on Saturday.

“As fans they were hurting clearly,” said Arnold.

“I would be too if I’m travelling five hours down to watch us lose to a last minute goal.

“As players all we can do is apologise and say we really are trying because we are.

“It’s not like we want to lose but we’ve got to be men and stand up to it now.

“People want a piece of Southend.

“The club shouldn’t be in this league but we are and now we’ve got to do something to get out of it.”

The Shrimpers are now without a match until the start of October.

And Arnold wants to make full use of the break.

“We’ve got two weeks now to restart our season and restart it completely.

“But it’s down to us as players.

“It’s not about having flair it’s about winning ugly.”

However, victories are in short supply for the Shrimpers right now.

And Arnold admitted Blues found their latest setback tough to take.

“The atmosphere isn’t great in there,” said the shot-stopper.

“It hurts the boys, it hurts the gaffer and it hurts all of us,” said Arnold.

“But there’s still a long way to go and that’s the saving grace.

“There’s still enough games for us to do something this year and that’s still the objective.

“But first things first we’ve got to be more clinical in both boxes.”

And Arnold felt Blues should have taken at least a point from Saturday’s clash.

“It’s about having mental resilience and minimum we come away with a 0-0,” said Arnold.

“We want to win here and we should win here but it should’ve been at least 0-0 and that’s down to us as players because there’s only so much a manager can do.”