Southend will be going for goals in this evening's Essex Thameside Challenge Trophy Second Round match at Great Wakering Rovers.

Blues will be sending a strong line-up to the Schweppes Essex Senior League side's Burroughs Park home for the cup clash which kicks off at 7.45pm.

Assistant Shrimpers boss Mick Gooding - in charge of tonight's Southend squad - said his men would be taking the game seriously.

"Ten of the players expected to take part in the match at Great Wakering have been involved with the first team this season which underlines just how important we feel this competition is," explained Gooding.

"This game will give a lot of our fringe players the chance to go out and show me that they should be involved in our next Third Division match at Rotherham on Saturday.

"However, I will be looking especially closely at the strikers - Barry Conlon, Trevor Fitzpatrick and David Whyte.

"We are struggling to score goals at the moment and this game gives them the perfect opportunity to prove that they are better than the forwards who are currently holding down first team places.

"If they hit the back of the net tonight they could find themselves in first team contention again at the weekend. It's up to them to get out there and stake their claim."

Gooding said he was expecting a hard game against a Great Wakering side who are currently sitting fourth in the table in their domestic league.

"There's no doubt about it, we can't afford to take Great Wakering lightly because they are bound to give us a tough match," he added.

"But if my players show the right application and work hard we should be able to progress to the next round.

"We haven't got a reserve team at Roots Hall so it is very important for us to stay in this competition as long as possible.

"These games give players who are out of the first team picture much-needed match practice and also provide invaluable experience for our youth team boys," Gooding added.

Meanwhile, former Wycombe Wanderers midfielder Steve McGavin trained with Southend yesterday and Blues boss Alvin Martin is hoping to know whether the 30-year-old will be committing himself to the Roots Hall club today.

Martin also has not given up hope of signing Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder Lars Unger.

"I've spoken to Lars and there's still an outside chance of him joining us if he decides to be sensible over his personal terms," said the Shrimpers manager.

Southend (from): Capleton, Cross, Dublin, Morrish, Stimson, Jones, Livett, Morley, Conlon, Whyte, Fitzpatrick, Johnson, Hunter, McSweeney, Yemi, McDonald.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.