Steve Tilson admitted that Southend United have a fight against relegation on their hands, after seeing his side lose 2-0 at Colchester United.

The Blues chief is now targeting 19 more points from their remaining fixtures in League One to stay up.

"I think we need six more wins and a draw to stay up," Steve told Blues Player.

"We're definitely in a relegation fight and I think we have been for two or three weeks now.

"It's not been an easy season as we have a small squad and we have been lacking continuity.

"But the players have showed again that they have enough fight for the battle ahead.

"I'm pleased with our performance against Colchester, just not the result.

"The chances were there for us, with Francis Laurent, Scott Spencer and Matt Paterson all having opportunities to score, but we need to put them away.

"We also need to cut out the sloppiness at the other end too.

"I think Adam knows he should have done better for the first goal and I'm not sure if the pitch played a part in what happened.

"The second goal was bad marking, which was disappointing, but we played some good stuff and now we need to bounce back on Saturday against Tranmere."