DANIEL Bentley is determined to help Southend United avoid their worst run of league results in 10 years when they travel to Bury tomorrow.

Not since 2003 have Blues been beaten in five successive league games in the same season.

And Shrimpers shot-stopper Bentley is calling on the team to show the character needed to stop that happening again by avoiding defeat at Gigg Lane.

“We’ve had some good performances among the last four games we’ve lost but we have to show the right kind of character now,” said the 20-year-old.

“We need to go back to basics really and start doing the little things well again.

“We don’t need to over-complicate things and we need to stop exaggerating the bigger picture because we started the season well and we need to get back to that now.”

Southend, who sit 15th in the League Two table, triumphed in their opening three league games of the season before enduring their run of defeats.

But Bentley has been buoyed by the manner of Blues’ performances and feels they should have picked something up from their previous two away games – at Chesterfield and Wycombe Wanderers – which both ended in defeat.

“We’ve actually been good away from home,” said Bentley.

“We shouldn’t have lost at Chesterfield and we shouldn’t have lost at Wycombe either but we made some silly errors that cost us.

“We need to cut them out and I’ll be doing whatever it takes to stop the ball going in the back of the net because we want to get back to keeping clean sheets.

“We did well to begin with against Scunthorpe last Friday but things went a bit wayward after they went in front and we can’t afford to be like that again tomorrow.”

Bury were relegated from League One last season and were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Shrimpers who triumphed on penalties in a replay at Roots Hall.

Bentley was the hero between the sticks that night as his saves saw Blues reach the next round of the competition.

But he was keen to stress that will count for nothing when the two teams meet again tomorrow.

“The last time we played Bury it was a special night for me and one I’ll never forget but that’s a distant memory now,” said Bentley.

“I won’t be thinking about that tomorrow and it’s all about making sure we go there and get the three points.”