Southend United skipper Kevin Maher is urging his side to keep their cool at Swansea City tonight.

The Shrimpers have been handed seven red cards in their last six visits to the volatile Vetch Field.

But the former Tottenham Hotspur trainee is hoping his team-mates can stay out of trouble this evening.

"With the game being on a Friday night I think there will be a very big crowd and they are going to make a lot of noise," said Maher.

"That makes it an intimidating place to go but we have to ignore all that, concentrate on playing our game and hopefully the ref will deal with any aggro in the right way."

But Maher, who was sent off against City in 1998, is confident Blues can win to extend their winning run of form against their promotion rivals.

"Swansea are second in the table and we know they're a good team," said the 28-year-old.

"We're playing well at the moment though.

"We've won two games against good sides on the trot and our confidence is high.

"Hopefully that will stand us in good stead and we are definitely going there looking for a win because we want to close that gap to the automatic promotion places."