SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher will be hoping his side get into the swing of things at local rivals Colchester United tonight.
The U’s are managed by Maher’s close friend and golfing buddy Wayne Brown.
And Maher is looking forward to facing him in this evening’s encounter at the Community Stadium.
“It will be good to see Wayne who I know very well and I’m sure he will have them ready,” said Maher.
“I actually played with Wayne as a youngster when we played district football together so I’ve known him for quite a while now.
“There’s a group of us who all play golf together too, which includes Wayne and I, but we’ll both be focused on getting the most we can from tonight’s game.
“It will be a good game and it’s local as well but it’s pre-season and it’s all about getting the right number of minutes into the players.”
This evening’s match will be the fourth warm up fixture the Shrimpers have played this summer.
But Maher knows Colchester are further ahead with their own preparations for the season ahead.
“They’re ahead of us in their pre-season with their season starting a week before ours,” said the former Blues midfielder.
“They will probably be a week ahead in terms of how long they’ve been back and the minutes they have played and it’s going to be another good test.”
The Shrimpers have already taken on Kings Langley, Canvey Island and Kettering in pre-season friendlies, making League Two side Colchester their toughest test so far.
And the warm weather is likely to make the match even more testing.
“We normally train the afternoon before a night game, especially in pre-season, but we won’t be doing that because of the heat,” said Maher.
“We will be prepared but we’ll adjust things accordingly and see how it is.”
Blues again look set to name trialist striker Ibby Akanbi and winger Maxim Addo in tonight’s squad.
But the Shrimpers are expected to call upon many of those who did not feature at Kettering on Saturday due to concerns surrounding the pitch.
“The ones who didn’t play at the weekend will make up the team to begin with,” said Maher.
“All of the minutes people will play have been planned by our strength and conditioning coaches and we will be sticking to that.”
Tonight’s match kicks off at 7.30pm.
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