NIGEL Clough is targeting a clean sheet at Southend after citing defensive errors as the main thing holding his team back this season.
The Brewers have kept the opposition out only twice on their League One travels this season and conceded four at Ipswich last Saturday.
The Brewers manager said: “It has been a long a time since we had a clean sheet away from the Pirelli and that’s why we are where we are in the league, so a clean sheet away from home is the foundation we need.
“We think we will create chances and score goals, it’s just defensively where we are not being as secure as we want to be.”
A trip to struggling Southend might seem like a good opportunity but Clough says the Shrimpers are playing better than their results suggest and have become harder to beat since Sol Campbell came in as manager at the end of October.
Clough said: “It might seem like an opportunity, but they will be looking the same at us and saying this team haven’t won for six games so it’s a good chance to get a win. Every game is an opportunity to get three points, but our confidence has been dented in the last six matches with not getting a victory even though it’s only two defeats and we have payed quite well over the course of those games.”
Clough admits that his team is missing the experience of the injured John-Joe O’Toole and Jake Buxton at the heart of the defence.
He said: “It shows how important John-Joe is in that he has featured in every clean sheet we have had. We certainly need to do everything we can to get him on the pitch. When you lose both him and Jake, we look more vulnerable. On Saturday, John Brayford apart, it was a very inexperienced back four to go to Ipswich and the way their strikers played would have caused anyone problems.”