Southend United boss Alan Little promised to stick to his beliefs following his side's latest setback at Plymouth Argyle which saw the Devon outfit triumph 3-1.

Defeat at Home Park on Saturday increased the Shrimpers' glum Third Division run to four matches without a win, during which time they have earned one miserable point.

However, Little said there was no need to sound the alarm bells, despite watching his team slip out of the promotion race in recent weeks to 13th in the league standings.

"There's no crisis at Southend and we certainly don't need to go out and buy half-a-dozen new players to put things right," said the Shrimpers' manager.

"We just need to stick at what we're doing and work our way through this difficult period, which the players we have at this club are more than capable of doing."

Little believes his men are due a change of luck and was adamant that the Shrimpers did not enjoy the rub of the green at Home Park.

"We had a lot of possession against Plymouth and created enough chances to get something out of this game, but we've returned home empty handed," he added.

"Right from the off we pressed Plymouth and put them under pressure making numerous opportunities.

"But we also need to learn how to clear our lines properly, because we didn't against Plymouth, which handed them a two-goal lead and gave us a mountain to climb.

"Although, I was pleased with the way my players refused to give up the fight, following their disappointing performance in our last outing against Darlington."

Blues' lacklustre display against Darlington at Roots Hall in their previous game helped the Quakers to a 2-1 success, a passionless exhibition which Southend's players have not been allowed to forget.

Disappointed winger Scott Houghton, who was a revelation at Home Park, said: "The gaffer hammered us after the way we played against Darlington and there was never going to be a repeat performance against Plymouth.

"We got stuck into Plymouth and all the players are gutted that we're going home pointless because we've played as well at Home Park as we've played anywhere in recent weeks.

"Even a blind man can see that we're on a bad run of form, but all the lads believe we are still good enough to win promotion."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.