HAVING recovered from the hernia which halted the start of his Southend United career, Alex Revell is desperate to face his former Brighton and Hove Albion side this evening.

The striker swapped the Seagulls for the Shrimpers during the January transfer window but, after just three appearances, he was forced to undergo surgery.

That sidelined him for more than five weeks but he was back on the bench at Crewe Alexandra on Saturday and is keen to make his comeback tonight.

"This is a game I've been looking forward to ever since I signed for Southend," said Revell, who scored 18 goals in 71 appearances for Brighton.

"I had a great time at Brighton and met some fantastic people during my time there. The fans were also brilliant to me. They really gave me a chance and in the end I would like to think I repaid them a bit for the way they were towards me.

"I'm still in touch with loads of people there and it will be strange to play against them but it happens all the time in football.

"That was then and this is now so I'll just have to get on with it and if I'm involved, which I'm really hoping I will be, then I will be concentrating on making sure I play well and that we get the right result."

Revell missed 10 matches with his hernia and was therefore forced to watch on as the Shrimpers mounted their serious push for promotion with an excellent 10-match unbeaten run.

Their latest triumph came at Crewe on Saturday with a 3-1 win but the 24-year-old is expecting a tighter tussle tonight.

"It's a game between two good sides and it's going to be very close, I'm sure of that," he said "I played for Brighton earlier on in the season and although they won 3-2 Southend absolutely battered them.

"At the time it was hard to work out how we won it but you get days like that in football and unfortunately for Southend that was one of theirs that afternoon.

"Hopefully it will be different tonight though because we need the points to maintain our high league position as we go for promotion."

But Brighton are also striving for a place in the play-offs and they too will be desperate for victory.

"It's an important match for both teams but we've been doing really well and if we can keep it going then we're definitely going to get into the play-offs," said Revell.

Southend have no new injury concerns for tonight and striker Hal Robson-Kanu faces a late fitness test on his sore Achilles.

Southend (from): Flahavan, Francis, Clarke, Barrett, Mulgrew, Black, McCormack, Bailey, Gower, Walker, Barnard, MacDonald, Revell, Collis, Moussa, Grant and Robson-Kanu.