Jack Bridge: Southend midfielder says Shrimpers can 'still do something this season' despite transfer embargo

Jack Bridge (right) re-joined hometown club Southend from Bromley in the summer of 2021

Jack Bridge insists Southend United "can still do something this season" once a transfer embargo is lifted in the wake of a pending takeover.

Midfielder Bridge scored one of the goals as Southend beat National League leaders Chesterfield 2-1 on Saturday.

They are 14th in the table, despite the docking of 10 points because of the Shrimpers' ongoing financial problems.

"It's not a write-off, it's not like we can just think about next season or anything like that," Bridge said.

"We still want to do something this year and results like that prove that we can," he told BBC Essex Sport.

The takeover by a consortium headed by Australian businessman Justin Rees is said to be 'close' despite a delay in finalising the deal.

A crowd of 8,275 attended Saturday's game at Roots Hall, which was also screened live at a bar in Sydney.

Kevin Maher's side are now only seven points adrift of the play-off places, despite the embargo having been in place for more than a year.

They fell behind against Chesterfield but Bridge levelled from the penalty spot before an own goal by Darren Oldaker sealed the victory.

"Everything that's going on, we can't control, but we know that we're a good squad, we know the players we've got in the building at this moment in time are good enough to compete at the top end of the table," said 29-year-old Bridge.

"It's easy to think everything's against us, but we keep getting results like that which is class. It's obvious that we can still do something this year, even with the 10 points (deduction) we've had."

Southend's next league game is away to fifth-placed Gateshead on Saturday.