Southend United say they have settled a £400,000 unpaid tax bill owed to Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs and will avoid a winding up order.

The League One strugglers had faced extinction last week when they appeared in the High Court over the debt.

They were given a seven-day extension and have now paid the money, this is on top of £2.1m paid last November.

The club will attend the High Court hearing on Wednesday as a formality but the case will be dismissed.

HMRC said it could not comment ahead of the court case.

The Shrimpers have been consistently late paying wages this season, with February's only paid at the beginning of April, but chairman Ron Martin said the payments were now up to date.

Southend are seven points adrift of safety with three games remaining and manager Steve Tilson believes off-field problems are not helping their form.

"Long-term, I keep saying, it looks rosy but long-term is no good for us at the moment," he stated. "We want to stay in this division and build from that."

Martin said he was keen for the club to move to a new stadium and grow, telling fans on his blog "we are not a club (and I could name many) who are content to stay in the lower echelons of League One or Two."

He added: "To simply be satisfied at playing League football will never be a 'turn-on' for me as chairman."

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