SOUTHEND United striker Henry Sandat wants his goal against Wealdstone to be the sign of things to come.

Sandat volleyed home a left wing cross from Jack Bridge to secure the Shrimpers a share of the spoils against the Stones on Tuesday night.

And Sandat remains eager to start hitting the back of the net on a more regular basis.

“Scoring goals is one thing I’ve got to improve on,” said Sandat.

“As a striker I like to play in the pocket which sometimes means I’m not in the box for the chances.

“But the gaffer has said I need to be in the box to score more goals and I agree with him.

“At the end of the day you’re judged on how many goals you score as a striker.

“I want to add that to my game but I’m still 18 and I’ve got a long way to go.”

Sandat now has two goals in 10 appearances since returning to Blues on loan from Hull City in December.

And he continues to work hard to improve in front of goal.

“I’ve got a lot to learn and the gaffer, Daz (Darren Currie) and Benno (Mark Bentley) are brilliant with me,” said Sandat.

“They’re helping me with my finishing after training most days so I’m only going to get better and improve but I definitely need to get more goals.”

Sandat came off the bench midway through the second half of Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Wealdstone.

And he was disappointed not to make more of a chance he had to score a header before eventually hitting the back of the net late on.

“The header was probably an easier chance so I’ll be going back to the training ground to work on that,” said Sandat.

“It was a big chance and you could hear the crowd getting frustrated it wasn’t going in.

“We probably should have had three or four but we’ll take a point instead of losing all three.

“It was nice to score and I needed a goal but we have to take the positives and go into the Dagenham game on Saturday now.”

Blues will head into the clash sitting 11th in the table and Sandat was pleased to avoid what was nearly another frustrating home defeat.

“There have been a few games like that this season where you think it’s never going to go in and there’s been a few 1-0 scores we’ve been on the wrong end of,” said Sandat.

“It’s important to keep going because you’re going to score if keep on creating that number of chances.

“All the strikers have shown over the last three weeks we can score goals too.

“Before that we were getting a bit of criticism saying we don’t score enough and we’ve had loads of chances tonight we’ve got to score.”

Sandat eventually one count late on after receiving pre-match advice from coach David Martin.

“Dave Martin was showing me their goalkeeper and how he loves to go to his near post,” said Sandat.

“That’s something he showed me before the game and, although I didn’t think of straight away at the time, I realised he couldn’t get the ball.”

Sandat will now be bidding for more of the same against Dagenham & Redbridge at Roots Hall this weekend.

And Sandat is determined to get back to winning ways.

“It’s a big game with Dagenham,” said Sandat.

“It’s a bit of a derby for the fans and for me being local but we’re going it the same as every game.”

Sandat is also looking to end the season strongly but has yet to focus on what will happen when his loan deal expires.

“We’ll have discussions at the end of the season,” said Sandat.

“At the moment I’m on loan and my focus is to score more goals for the team and help as much as possible.”