SOUTHEND United manager Chris Powell feels the Shrimpers will have to be ‘clever’ if they are to secure a shock victory at Blackburn Rovers tomorrow.

Blues beat Gillingham 4-0 on Easter Monday, three days after suffering a 4-0 defeat at Plymouth Argyle.

But Powell believes lessons have been learnt from his side’s humbling at Home Park.

And he wants his team to be less open against the League One leaders.

“The onus will be on Blackburn and we can’t afford to be too open,” said Powell.

“We have to have a disciplined team performance and be patient too.

“It’s a learning process for us and will learnt a lot at Plymouth.

“I wanted us to attack them and maybe we were too open at times.

“I’ve got to look at different things and we need to look at when’s the best time to open up and when isn’t.

“We will need to be clever about that

“It’s definitely a real test for us but we have to manage the moments and manage the game too.”

The Shrimpers also need to defend well to pick up all three points as Blackburn boast the best goalscoring at home in the division.

But Powell has been pleased with the majority of his side’s defending and has been particularly impressed by the experienced Michael Turner.

“Michael is showing everyone what a good player he is and has been over the years,” said Powell.

“I’m sure people must look at it and think maybe not anymore but positionally he’s brilliant.

“He very rarely gets exposed and he’s dominant in the air.

“He pops up in both boxes and the amount of headers he gets in both boxes shows he’s very comfortable at this level.

“We have a year’s option on him and we have to look at that.

“That is now something I have to address sooner rather than later.”

At the other end of the field, Blues will also be looking for Stephen McLaughlin to impress.

And the winger will be fit to figure despite picking up a slight injury against Gillingham on Monday.

“Macca had a couple of knocks but he’s trained and he’s fine to play which is good news,” said Powell.

“He can score a goal, he has a good strike on him and has a good eye for a pass too.

“All I ever say to him is affect the game because he’s a player who can definitely do that. He can go inside or out and he’s now shown he can score with his head too.”