Southend United boss Alvin Martin promised to ring the changes after watching his shot-shy Shrimpers slump to a disappointing 3-1 Auto Windscreens Shield defeat at Exeter City.

Martin is finally losing patience with his players' inability to finish opposition teams off and said he will be stepping up his search to bring in new men who can do the job properly and revive Blues' flagging promotion hopes.

"The players that we've got here have had a fair crack of the whip," explained Martin, who is meeting Shrimpers chairman John Main for crunch transfer talks today.

"I thought we were starting to turn the corner following some of our recent results and performances, but tonight's match has proved me wrong.

"My players have had half a season to get things right, but it hasn't happened for them.

"So now I need to try and bring in some new personnel who can help push us back in the right direction.

"However, I still believe we have the nucleus of a good squad here - we just need to strengthen in one or two areas."

Yet again, Martin was left thinking of what might have been as he watched his team create a hatful of chances against a very ordinary-looking Exeter side.

However, his players failed to cash in and were made to pay the ultimate price of defeat as the Grecians became the latest in a long line of teams to punish Blues' sloppy defending.

"We've created numerous goal-scoring opportunities inside their six yard box tonight," added Martin.

"We could have had five goals here, but we failed to take the chances we created and have come away from another match with nothing to show for our efforts.

"However, we were very naive in some of our play tonight which we showed in the way we gifted Exeter three easy goals.

"We got off to an awful start when one of their players was the quickest to a loose ball in the box to put them ahead after only five minutes.

"Then we give them a free header for the second goal and let them push past us to score a third.

"This has been happening all season, but it has to be stopped now because we can't keep going down the same road if we want to be successful."

Southend skipper Simon Coleman was left stunned by his side's latest collapse.

"I honestly don't know what to say," said the central defender.

"It's the same old story - we go a goal down and give ourselves an uphill struggle, but we still manage to create enough chances to win the game without taking them.

"We're better than most of these teams, but we need to start proving it by beating them and turning things around fast if we are going to save our season."

Back off - Southend United full-back Mark Beard, right, thwarts his opposite number during his side's Worthington Cup exit at Exeter last night

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