Maher urges Southend to embrace play-off pressure

Former Southend defender Kevin Maher has been head coach since October 2021

Southend United boss Kevin Maher has backed his team to cope with the demands of knockout football when they take on Rochdale in their National League play-off eliminator on Thursday evening.

The Shrimpers secured the final play-off spot with a goalless draw at Gateshead on 5 May, six points and three places below their opponents.

The winners of the game at the Crown Oil Arena will go on to travel to Forest Green Rovers in the semi-finals on Wednesday next week.

"This is the only game that matters. You can't look too far ahead. For us as a football club to end up in the play-offs this year is a great achievement but the ultimate goal is to win them," Maher told BBC Essex Sport.

"Everyone can dream and absolutely they should. But our job is to focus solely on Thursday and see where that leads.

"Is there pressure? Of course but it's something you should relish. You should enjoy going out on the pitch in big games. If you're a player, coach or manager, they're the ones that should excite you."

Full-back Gus Scott-Morriss is Southend top scorer this season with 17 goals

Southend won 1-0 when the two sides met in Rochdale in October, with Josh Walker scoring the only goal just before half-time.

The return at Roots Hall in February ended in a 1-1 draw as a Liam Hogan own goal enabled the Shrimpers to take a point from it.

"If you look at all the games we've played (against them) recently, there's not been much between the teams. We got a good result up there and then it was very close at our place when we scored really late on," said Maher.

"They're really well organised, really well coached - they've done brilliantly this season, they've had challenges of course. For them to come through that in such good form is a credit to them. We're two good teams, I think, in decent form as well."

The match pits two sides looking to regain English Football League status - Southend were relegated from League Two in 2021 and Rochdale two years later.

For the Essex club, were they to go all the way to Wembley on 1 June and win the promotion final, it would be a major achievement in their first season under new ownership, having been taken over by the COSU (Custodians of Southend United) consortium headed by Australian businessman Justin Rees last summer.

And Maher is happy he has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Rochdale match.

"We've had a break since the Gateshead game so it's about getting the preparation right, the mix of rest but training properly with the right intensity - they're all little challenges you've got to face and make sure you're ready come the game.

"You're at the stage of the season when they should be fit but you've got players who maybe haven't been in the team that probably need topping up (with minutes) at the right time and it's just about getting the balance right with that," he added.

"In terms of consistency, it's been good recently and I think that's important for the players' confidence. We want to get to the level of performance we think we can achieve - and if you do that in big games that's obviously a good thing."