As expected, centre-half Jean-Yves M'Voto did not recover in time from his hip injury and was replaced by Osei Sankofa who played at right-back, while Simon Francis moved into the centre to partner captain Adam Barrett.
Without the dangerous crosses from the right that Francis has been feeding top scorer Barnard with all season, the Shrimpers main attacking weapon was lost. Far too many balls were being hit aimlessly down the middle and delt with easily by the Latics defence.
With the home side looking lacklustre Oldham nearly took advantage twice in the first half. In fact, Keigan Parker thought he had scored in the 11th minute but the linesman's flag had been raised.
Then, after a rare error by Captain Adam, Pawel Abbott cleverly tried to lob keeper Steve Mildenhall, who got back in time to brilliantly tip the ball over the top.
Big Steve then came to the rescue again, saving well from the corner that followed as panic gripped the Blues defence.
It was not looking good, and only Franck Moussa seemed to show any touches of class as the lack of width continued to frustrate Southend.
Poor Roy O'Donovan seemed lost and a lack of a decent first touch wasn't helping him, though he did force the only real save Latics keeper Dean Brill had to make in the match.
Simon Francis hit a free-kick just wide, while home debutant George Friend also had the ball in the net but the referee had already blown for an
The second 45 was even worse than the first with a double substitution of Lee Sawyer and Francis Laurent for Grant and O'Donavan making little difference.
Oldham nearly took the lead when Parker saw his cross go inches over the bar after a sliced clearance from Francis.
They did take the lead in the 76th minute when an aimless ball was drifting out for a goal-kick being shielded off by Friend from Parker. Down went both men, the referee saw nothing wrong, but the linesman did, and a penalty given.
Personally, if you give those you'd see half a dozen penalties every game but it was as much as the Latics deserved.
Abbott stepped up to drill the ball down the middle as Mildenhall dived to his right.
On came Dougie Freedman for Christophe as the Blues continued to try and find a way through the stubborn Oldham defence.
And Freedman actually did, finding Laurent with a pin-point pass in the last minute, only for the Frenchman to place the ball over the bar from four yards when easier to score.
It summed the afternoon up for Southend.
The small squad would eventually find us out and it only took two injuries, one to the powerful Sunderland loanee M'Voto; the other to Damien Scannell with an ankle injury, for the club to be found out.
Scannell certainly would have given us something to aim out wide if he'd been able to come on. Laurent may think so, but he's no right winger.
Tilly started with the perfect away side, as it showed at Brighton in the second half, able to hold on to what it's got and maybe sneak something on the brake.
Not what you need at Roots Hall with hard working teams packing the midfield and defence, needing a touch of creativity to break it down.
Let's hope any money saved on Walker's wages will be used to good affect in the coming days.
Southend Player Marks: Mildenhall - 7, Sankofa - 5, Francis - 6, Barrett - 6, Friend - 5, Grant - 5 (Sawyer 66 - 5), McCormack - 6, Christophe - 5 (Freedman 76 - 6), Moussa - 7, Barnard - 6, O'Donovan - 5 (Laurent 66 - 5).
Without the dangerous crosses from the right that Francis has been feeding top scorer Barnard with all season, the Shrimpers main attacking weapon was lost. Far too many balls were being hit aimlessly down the middle and delt with easily by the Latics defence.
With the home side looking lacklustre Oldham nearly took advantage twice in the first half. In fact, Keigan Parker thought he had scored in the 11th minute but the linesman's flag had been raised.
Then, after a rare error by Captain Adam, Pawel Abbott cleverly tried to lob keeper Steve Mildenhall, who got back in time to brilliantly tip the ball over the top.
Big Steve then came to the rescue again, saving well from the corner that followed as panic gripped the Blues defence.
It was not looking good, and only Franck Moussa seemed to show any touches of class as the lack of width continued to frustrate Southend.
Poor Roy O'Donovan seemed lost and a lack of a decent first touch wasn't helping him, though he did force the only real save Latics keeper Dean Brill had to make in the match.
Simon Francis hit a free-kick just wide, while home debutant George Friend also had the ball in the net but the referee had already blown for an
infringement.
The second 45 was even worse than the first with a double substitution of Lee Sawyer and Francis Laurent for Grant and O'Donavan making little difference.
Oldham nearly took the lead when Parker saw his cross go inches over the bar after a sliced clearance from Francis.
They did take the lead in the 76th minute when an aimless ball was drifting out for a goal-kick being shielded off by Friend from Parker. Down went both men, the referee saw nothing wrong, but the linesman did, and a penalty given.
Personally, if you give those you'd see half a dozen penalties every game but it was as much as the Latics deserved.
Abbott stepped up to drill the ball down the middle as Mildenhall dived to his right.
On came Dougie Freedman for Christophe as the Blues continued to try and find a way through the stubborn Oldham defence.
And Freedman actually did, finding Laurent with a pin-point pass in the last minute, only for the Frenchman to place the ball over the bar from four yards when easier to score.
It summed the afternoon up for Southend.
The small squad would eventually find us out and it only took two injuries, one to the powerful Sunderland loanee M'Voto; the other to Damien Scannell with an ankle injury, for the club to be found out.
Scannell certainly would have given us something to aim out wide if he'd been able to come on. Laurent may think so, but he's no right winger.
Tilly started with the perfect away side, as it showed at Brighton in the second half, able to hold on to what it's got and maybe sneak something on the brake.
Not what you need at Roots Hall with hard working teams packing the midfield and defence, needing a touch of creativity to break it down.
Let's hope any money saved on Walker's wages will be used to good affect in the coming days.
Southend Player Marks: Mildenhall - 7, Sankofa - 5, Francis - 6, Barrett - 6, Friend - 5, Grant - 5 (Sawyer 66 - 5), McCormack - 6, Christophe - 5 (Freedman 76 - 6), Moussa - 7, Barnard - 6, O'Donovan - 5 (Laurent 66 - 5).
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