ANDY Preece, put aside thoughts of an away clash against Fulham in the Worthington Cup to rue the lost points against Southend on Saturday.

"For the club as a whole, the win at Bolton was more important than today because it took the pressure off financially," he said.

"But for me the three league points is always more important and I would have swapped the Bolton game for a win here any day.

"I wasn't really bothered about who we got in the draw because I was just determined to get the win against Southend.

"I suppose it is another great draw for the club but there are a lot of games between now and then and we have to concentrate on getting some more points in the league."

"It's easy to blame the defence but I thought for 60 minutes they never

looked like scoring," said a defiant Preece.

"We had four really good chances to kill off the game but we didn't take them. We really have to be more ruthless at both ends or we are going to keep yo-yoing up and down the table and not be in a strong position come Christmas."