SOUTHEND United manager Paul Sturrock is sweating on the fitness of Mark Phillips and Gavin Tomlin for Saturday's trip to Fleetwood Town.

The influential duo both missed Tuesday night's Johnstone's Paint Trophy win against Brentford through injury.

And Sturrock is not sure if they will be back in time for this weekend's game.

“We will be working on them to try and get them fit for Saturday,” said Sturrock.

“But they wouldn't have been fit for the Brentford game if it had been played a day later either and both of them are definitely a concern for the Fleetwood match.”

The in-form Tomlin, who has scored seven goals in his last six games, is struggling with a back problem while centre-back Phillips has a leg problem.

However, Blues were able to beat Brentford 2-1 without the influential duo and Sturrock was delighted to see his side beat their in form League One opponents who had been beaten in just one of their last 17 games.

“I’m pleased we’ve progressed to the next round of the JPT because I thought we did well against a top League One side,” said Sturrock.

“ I thought we dealt with them well after we adjusted to their style.

“They started with a slightly different shape to what we thought they might go with but we grew into the game and were on top after that until the final 10 or 15 minutes.

“Thankfully we were able to hang on as we're made of stern stuff now and we'll be looking to build on this when we go to Fleetwood at the weekend.”