The promise and application showed, especially defensively, against Norwich and Charlton, gone in the half-hour it took Roy O'Donovan, yes the man from Cork who did bugger all for us, to put the home side two up and then go on and grab a treble.
As ever against sides in the bottom half of the table we seem determined to show why we're down there as well, and though we did compete much better in the second period with Adam Barrett replacing Jean-Yves M'Voto at centre back, there was a general aimlessness about much of Southend's play.
The 200-odd travelling faithful, and Hartlepool is a trip believe me, deserved better. It was also bloody cold!
Then again, if the Francis shot that hit the post had gone in just before O'Donovan scored his late third, he's getting closer, who knows, probably lost 3-1.
Blues boss Steve Tilson decided to bring back Francis Laurent on the right, moving Damien Scannell to the left, and Franck Moussa came into his favoured central midfield position in place of the suspended Christophe.
A gamble, with the French wideboy at the moment bringing him on as a sub is pushing your luck, that ultimately didn't pay-off, away from home two wide men with one of them out of form is a luxury we can ill-afford.
However, the back four.
I really believed M'Voto was looking against Charlton to be returning to his early season form while forming a nice partnership with Pat Baldwin.
Captain Adam is no left back, but for the cause of defensive stability it was worth keeping him there. Oh dear. M'Voto had a shocker, and Pat wasn't that far behind, at least until the Blues skipper joined him.
In central midfield the Moose did OK, with Macca working as hard as ever, until his sending off that is, more on that later, but they created little. Hope Granty doesn't get a knock in that reserve match Tuesday!
Old Borient nemesis Adam Boyd had already brought a good save out of Steve Mildenhall who palmed over the bar a stinging long range volley when on 16 minutes the Monkey Hangers took the lead.
I joked in Friday's preview that former loanee O'Donovan would probably get a brace, what do I know, I was wrong.
Already showing more speed and awareness than in all his appearances as a Shrimper, he has now discovered a first touch, a touch that took a Boyd pass through the centre of an absent M'Voto or Baldwin, and confidently shoot past Mildenhall, who had rushed off his line to narrow the angle, and off the underside of the bar to give Hartlepool the lead.
Vernon than struck well wide for the Essex boys, before Francis improved on that, at least making Pools shot stopper Scott Flinders do his job, palming away a 20-yard effort.
Sadly that was it from an attacking point of view for the first 45, as the team 45 minutes from Newcastle and 20 from Sunderland doubled their lead.
The linesman took some stick after this for keeping his flag down but looking closely when Boyd played the ball forward a Pools player, (Andy Monkhouse?), was running back from an offside position while O'Donovan, again showing a speed of thought we never saw at Roots Hall, ran into the space, Mildenhall was caught flat footed, probably in a state of shock the poor bloke, and shot past the Shrimpers No.1.
Spot on decision or not, only the highlights will show, what was M'Voto doing? This powerful, decisive defender, was falling apart in front of our very eyes, it wasn't good, and Tilly saved any futher embarrassment by taking him off during the break allowing Adam to move back where he belongs, and Scott Malone as left back.
Though we certainly improved the damage was done, two chances two goals, and a Ritchie Jones strike nearly ended the game as a competitive fixture soon after the teams returned for the second half.
The increased pressure finally created chances for the Yellow shirted Blues, Laurent missed another one, with his head this time, the Moose tried his luck from distance which won a corner, and from that Vernon headed over.
Scott Spencer replaced a tired looking Matt Paterson and showed all his usual energy and capacity for hard work, but without a finish this time around.
Then the tall, Scottish, and very bald referee, Mr. Waugh, sent off Alan McCormack for a second yellow.
The first was for kicking the ball away, fair enough, silly Macca, but the official had given the benefit of the doubt earlier to two Hartlepool players, and the latter, well, I'll look at it again, but it seemed a foul on Monkhouse that deserved a stern word, a final warning maybe, but not to give the player an early bath.
Poor in my view, not helped by his strange habit of blowing up late after given a signal that no foul had been committed, he was not playing advantage, he seemed to just change his mind, very strange.
One day I'm going to see Francis score again, other than a long range free-kick that an eagle eyed lino decides has crossed the line somewhere in West London, as he's getting so close you do feel the man's praying to the wrong God.
A great shot beat Flinders but cannoned off the post to safety and to add insult to injury the ball went up the other end, O'Donovan once again found space, and shot low beating Mildy, who actually had little to do in this period.
Three was certainly harsh but have no doubt Hartlepool deserved the points.
They may not be Norwich in disguise, but for a lot of the game they looked sharper, better organised, played as a team who know each other and the job they are meant to do, and not surprisingly got their reward.
It's going to be tough now for Southend. I would see us having to win all of the next three home games, with possibily a point at Bristol, 4-0 winners at Swindon Saturday, to enter April with a decent chance.
Unless the players find something they didn't have yesterday it's hard to see how we are going to beat Exeter, a team the Blues have now joined in the dreaded drop zone, let alone get something from the others.
Southend player markings: Mildenhall 6, Francis 6, Mvoto 4 (Malone h-t - 6), Baldwin 5, Barrett - 6, Laurent 6, Moussa 7, McCormack 6, Scannell 7, Paterson 5 (Spencer 73 - 6), Vernon 5.
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