NOOR Husin feels Southend United’s ‘close knit squad’ can maintain a push for the play-offs - despite the club’s issues off the pitch.

As the Echo went to print, Blues’ players and staff were still waiting to be paid for January.

But Husin says the Shrimpers remain committed to the cause and are eager to get back on track against York City at Roots Hall this weekend.

“We’ve got a great group here and the coaching job do a great group with us too,” said Husin.

“We’re very close knit and we keep everything between us which is good.

“We push each other every day too and our aim is to finish in the play-offs so we want to get out there on Saturday and perform.

“The mood in the camp is good and we just want to play football and get on with it.”

But Husin also knows there can often be no escaping the seriousness of the Shrimpers’ situation as they have until the start of March to pay off a large tax bill following a winding up petition from HMRC.

“You can’t hide away from it and sometimes it can be difficult,” said Husin.

“But we control what we can on the pitch and away from it hopefully it all gets sorted out soon so we can focus on the football.”

The Shrimpers head into tomorrow’s game sitting ninth in the National League standings following last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Eastleigh.

And Husin remains determined to bounce back.

“It was obviously disappointing last week,” said Husin.

“The manner of the goals we gave away were disappointing too but we want to bounce back now and get three important points.

“We’ve been very good at home so we want to get a good run going.”

But Husin is expecting a tricky afternoon against a York side who are 15th in the table.

“They’ll be tough,” said Husin.

“We scored quite early when we went there and scored another one in the second half quite early as well to win 2-0.

“But they were a good team who gave us some problems that day so it will a tough test.”

And Husin also has plenty of knowledge of York, thanks to his team-mate in the Afghanistan squad Maziar Kouhyar - who plays his club football for the Minstermen.

“I might give him a call but he won’t give much away,” said Husin.

“He’s injured at the moment so he won’t be playing but we speak quite a lot.

“He’s just signed a new contract and he’s happy,”

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