Joe Walsh was worried his goal was never going to come this season

The Welsh defender had only scored in the Checkatrade Trophy this season, but opened the scoring with a 53rd minute header at Roots Hall.

He could have had a second 10 minutes later, but twice saw chances go awry, though Ben Reeves scored the decisive goal in the win.

"I don't really remember it really," said Walsh, discussing his goal. "I just got above my man, got power behind it and the keeper couldn't keep it out. I was getting worried I wasn't going to score in the league all season!

And on his subsequent misses, he added: "I got a flick on the first one, and then it came back to me but I totally mishit it! It would have been nice to score two - maybe next week!"

It was a disciplined performance from the visitors, but while they had the better chances in the first half, looked second best to the Shrimpers. And it prompted a bit of a rollicking from Robbie Neilson, Walsh said afterwards.

"We were sloppy in the first half and we had a kick up the backside at half time. But we were great in the second half, everyone put in a proper shift. I think we should have had even more than two, and put the game out of sight.

"Southend stuck to their game plan, but we dealt with it until the end. You could see they were gutted at the end, but I think they'll just about get into the play-offs.

"As soon we we went two up, we knew they'd throw everyhthing at us. We had some good chances on the counter, but we couldn't get that third goal."