No let-up from Southend after reaching play-offs

Southend United captain Gus Scott-Morriss has ruled out the team taking a breather in their three remaining National League games after securing a play-off place for the second consecutive year.

The Shrimpers made certain of a top-seven finish with a 2-0 win at Aldershot Town on Tuesday, extending their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.

Full-back Scott-Morriss scored his 16th goal of the season from a free-kick and only needs two more to exceed his tally in the 2024-25 campaign, which ultimately ended in disappointment when they lost to Oldham Athletic at Wembley.

And he hopes a continuation of their current form in the past three games will have a "snowball effect" on the team.

"We showed last year that anything can happen in the play-offs and we want to go one better this year," he told BBC Essex.

"We want to go into the play-offs with the most momentum we can possibly have."

Asked about taking time to enjoy the achievement of reaching the play-offs again, the 28-year-old said: "We can enjoy it when we're in League Two."

Southend lost their English Football League (EFL) place in 2021 but have been moving forward on the pitch under boss Kevin Maher since the club were taken over by the COSU (Custodians of Southend United) consortium two summers ago.

They have already guaranteed one trip to Wembley by reaching the FA Trophy final and changes are continuing off the pitch, with Oliver Gage last week appointed director of football.

Southend have been boosted by players returning from injury and Scott-Morriss said: "It's always nice to look over your shoulder and see the quality that's coming back.

"Lads will not want to be giving their shirt up, and lads that are coming back will be wanting to get their shirt back. It can only stand us in good stead and hopefully we can get everyone firing."

He said he was "ecstatic" to have scored 46 goals for the club since joining them from Hemel Hempstead in the summer of 2022 and added: "Let's see if I can get to 50 [this season]."

His goal broke the deadlock at Aldershot and they held on in the second half after Charley Kendall added the second in first-half stoppage time.

Scott-Morriss said of his free-kick: "I've been over-complicating things and trying to be too perfect, so I just picked a nice area and thought 'as long as I get a good strike, what will be will be' - and thankfully it went in.

"It's [all about] a bit of maturity and understanding my own game. When I joined Hemel I was pushed more into a midfielder or right wing-back role and from there I found my goalscoring knack - and I've tried to keep doing that."