CHERRIES target man Lee Bradbury is eager to get one over on his old pals tomorrow - but has warned of Southend's goalscoring threat from midfield.

Bradbury, who had mixed fortunes in his season-and-a-half at Roots Hall, went through promotion and relegation during his time with the Essex outfit.

The former Portsmouth and Manchester City striker, who is still in touch with a number of his former team-mates at Southend, expects tomorrow's visitors to Dean Court to be in the League One promotion mix come the end of the season.

He said: "They're a decent side, they've slipped a bit of late but I think they will be there or thereabouts in the play-offs, if not they'll be disappointed with that.

"They should be in around nicking in the last spot of the play-offs.

"They started the season well but have had a bit of a dip lately and we need to take advantage of that and get three points at home."

Bradbury is confident he knows where the Seasiders' threat will come from - their trio of attacking midfielders.

"They've got a few in midfield who can break on and score goals," he told the Daily Echo.

"Nick Bailey, Alan McCormack and Mark Gower are all goalscoring midfielders. I know they've got a couple of strikers out, so they will be looking to break on and get goals from midfield. We've got to watch them."

The 32-year-old, who signed permanently for Cherries at the end of August after a brief spell on loan from Southend, wants to carry on his success when facing former teams.

He said: "I always want to score and it's always nice to get one back on your old team-mates.

"I've got a decent record against my old clubs and have always done all right against them, so I'm looking to keep that record intact on Saturday."

The Isle-of-Wight-born forward added: "I had good times at Southend, I enjoyed it. But it was just too far away and a lot of travelling.

"The manager was brilliant and understood I had family commitments at home and couldn't be away four nights a week, so he let me go to a club closer to home - Bournemouth."

Bradbury is hoping to keep his place in the Cherries side having lined up from the off at Cheltenham last weekend, but he admitted there was tough competition for a starting berth, with Jo Kuffour, Brett Pitman and Sam Vokes also in contention.

Striker James Walker, a 200,000 capture from Charlton Athletic this week, is likely to start up front for 11th-placed Southend, who are without Matt Harold (suspension) and possibly Charlie Macdonald because of injury.

Cherries will be wary of 20-year-old Walker after he scored against them in December when on loan at Yeovil Town.

Cherries: (from) Stewart, Young, Gowling, Perrett, Pearce, Cummings, Cooper, Hollands, Tessem, Pitman, Kuffour, Bradbury, Vokes, Bartley, McQuoid, Partington, Pryce.

Southend United: (from) Flahavan, Hunt, Clarke, Barrett, Hammell, Francis, Bailey, McCormack, Gower, Scannell, MacDonald, Black, Collis, Maher, Moussa, Walker.