New Southend hero Shaun Goater may have his third strike partner of the season ? or even be forced to play alone ? when Oldham visit Roots Hall tomorrow.

The Goat, who seems to have rapidly endeared himself to the Shrimpers fans by bagging a brace in the Essex derby on Monday, could be paired with upgraded youth player James Lawson or even play the lone forward role due to the absence of Freddy Eastwood (suspended) and Wayne Gray (hamstring).

?Wayne is touch and go but it is not looking good,? a club spokesman told yesterday.

?The boss hasn?t finalised his team yet but Shaun could either player with young James, who?s a third-year Youth Training Scheme player who has been training with the first team and has come off the bench a couple of times, or they might even play him on his own up there.?

Southend, enjoying some early success in their post-promotion year, are suffering from somewhat of a striker shortage with Eastwood missing for another two games following his impetuous sending off and manager Steve Tilson failing in two attempts to lure players before the transfer window closed earlier this week.

The club are still confident of picking up a player on loan, but all post-transfer window loan deals are subject to approval from the Football League ? something that wouldn?t come until next week.

So the fans will once again be relying on the Bermudian, who has already snatched three in his three starts for the side, for their goals.

The Goat, described by Southend Echo reporter and Shrimpers fan James Oxley, as ?one of the biggest names we?ve had round here for some time? is fast winning over the fans with his goalscoring heroics and his hard work for the League One club.

Although he will never reach the level of worship attained at Manchester City ? where his prolonged exploits helped secure promotion and victory over arch-rivals Manchester United ? the early signs are of a very warm relationship.

?We were chanting the ?Feed the Goat? song and the crowd were bowing down to him when he ran past our section,? said Oxley, who is writing a page three profile on Goater and his home Island for the Southend paper.

?He has made a real impression with everyone here. He is a decent, honest, hard-working player and he is banging them in for us.

?The Goat has a massive following already here and he looks to be the best signing we?ve had in a long time.?

And on fans? websites, Goater ? and Bermuda ? are the subject of much discussion, nearly all of it positive, with fans discussing buying Bermuda flags and showing an interest in the Island, including falling for the ?Shaun Goater Day? myth that exists in England.

?We are so glad he decided to come and finish his career at Southend United,? said Matthew Walker, one of the fans behind the Shrimperzone.com website.

?Shaun has already endeared himself greatly to the Shrimpers faithful. He has already become a fans? favourite not merely because of who he is and how he conducts himself (he is truly the model professional) but also because he has now started to do what he does best ? and that is to score goals.

?The Goat is not just scoring goals, but really important goals: the last-minute equaliser at Walsall, and the goals that clinched us our first home win of the season. That fact that it was a win over our fiercest rivals, Colchester United ? thus re-establishing our long lost primacy in the county of Essex ? was just icing on the cake.?

Khano Smith is expected to get a start for the New England Revolution tonight as they travel to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake.

Smith, who was an unused substitute in the Eastern Conference leaders? 2-1 victory over DC United last weekend, is expected to make his eighth start for the club alongside Pat Noonan as the Revolution are without a number of players ? including first-choice striker Taylor Twellman ? away on international duty.

The former Dandy Town striker, who has scored twice for the first team in his rookie year ? banged in five against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in a 7-0 victory earlier this week.