Southend United's chief executive Peter Storrie has thanked Blues fans for staying loyal to the club despite the recent price rises at Roots Hall.

Saturday's 2-1 home defeat against Darlington attracted a crowd of 4,134 spectators, high above the Third Division average, which Storrie praised.

"To have more than 4,000 of our own supporters at the Darlington game, following the £1 admission rise, was excellent," said Storrie.

"I know the decision to increase prices at the turnstiles hasn't been popular among all of our fans, which isn't helped by the way we are performing on the pitch at the moment, but the additional revenue will be used wisely.

"This extra money will be invested in new players, who we hope to bring to Roots Hall in the near future to help us achieve our aim of getting Southend out of this division."

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