Southend United

Dan Bentley: 'Southend United improvement needed'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 September 2015

Dan Bentley admits that Southend United must 'start taking their chances' if they are to climb out of the League One relegation zone.

Southend United goalkeeper Dan Bentley has urged his teammates to tighten up at the back if they are to turn around their fortunes.

The Shrimpers have picked up just one victory so far this season to leave themselves inside the League One drop zone.

Bentley puts his side's early-season woes down to an inability to capitalise on chances at one end while leaking "sloppy goals" up the other, which Southend will look to put right at Millwall this weekend.

"We have to start taking our chances," he told the club's official website. "We also can't afford to concede sloppy goals and think we can still come out with something from the game.

"Those are the two things I've noticed from the first six or seven games in this league. The Coventry away performance was bitterly disappointing not to win, and we followed that up with a victory against Peterborough. We shouldn't have been scrambling to get the win at the end.

"We couldn't continue that unbeaten run last week but we need to keep looking forward and kicking on now. The quality of strikers has been very good and some of the goals we have conceded have been great finishes and the interplay between wingers, central midfielders and strikers is very quick."

Bentley was the subject of three unsuccessful bids from Queens Park Rangers during the summer transfer window.