KEVIN Maher insists Southend United will never stop wanting to play football.

The National League have ordered Saturday’s clash with Chesterfield to go ahead despite three Shrimpers players receiving international call ups.

But Maher is only focusing on this weekend’s match at Roots Hall and not the issues surrounding it.

“We always want to play football at three o’clock on a Saturday and that will never change,” said Maher.

“The rules and the bits around are to be talked about by other people.

“I’ve got my opinion on it all but we want to play.

“We want to go head to head with the best team in the league and see where that takes us.”

Blues will be without on loan striker Daniel Kanu who has been called up by Sierra Leone while midfielder Mauro Vilhete is away with São Tomé and Príncipe.

Noor Husin was also selected in the Afghanistan squad but has been in dispute with his nation’s governing body.

However, Maher will again only be concentrating on what he can control.

“There’s a lot of noise about stuff that’s out of our control,” said Maher.

“What we can put out we will have to wait and see.

“We’ll deal with that in the next couple of days.

“We’ll train today and train tomorrow and see where we’re at. “There’s noise I can’t control but all I can do is try get a team ready to go out and play.”

And Maher is expecting an entertaining fixture against the league leaders.

“They’ve done brilliantly and they’re the best team in the league but we’re looking forward to it,” said Maher.

“It will be a big crowd and I’m sure the fans will be right behind us so it has the makings of a good game.”