Southend United 0 Oxford United 1

That however is not to say that Southend, defying their lowly League ranking, didn't match their opponents, as except for maybe the opening fifteen minutes Steve Tilson's side were probably the better of the two sides.

Unfortunately the Seasiders visibly missed Bramble and Gower more than anybody else as they lacked real fire power upfront.

Jamie Fullarton, who wasn't expected to be back for at least another month after rupturing his groin in October, returned to the starting line-up alongside Jamie Stuart and Duncan Jupp who have also been suffering long term injuries. None of the trio were fully fit, but it was all Southend had left to turn to in a desperate bid to find eleven available players.

As previously stated it was the visitors who dominated the opening exchanges and Paul McCarthy came close when he headed a Scott McNiven cross just off target. Minutes later the Shrimpers failed to clear a McNiven centre and Lewis Hunt did well to direct a Steve Basham effort just wide of Darryl Flahavan's upright.

Flahavan then bravely dived to gather the ball at the feet of Basham before Dean Whitehead, seemingly yards offside, directed a Matthew Robinson shot over the crossbar.

From that moment on however it was the home side, fresh on the back of an impressive victory at Cambridge United two days earlier, who bossed proceedings. Indeed the Shrimpers very nearly grabbed the lead with their first meaningful attack on 26 minutes when a low rasping drive from Leon Constantine thumped against the foot of the left hand post before bouncing to safety.

Nine minutes later a Jupp cross saw U's former Southend goalkeeper Andy Woodman drop the ball under pressure from Constantine, but just as Drewe Broughton smashed the ball into the unguarded net, incompetent referee Iain Williamson blew up for a foul that nobody else appeared to see.

The last action of a less than highly entertaining first half then saw Broughton stab an effort off target following a low through ball by Neil Jenkins.

The second period, despite being rather viod of chances, saw Southend continue to dominate the game and just four minutes after the re-start an outswinging Maher corner saw Leon Cort's bullet of a header fumbled by Woodman before McNiven desperately hacked the ball away from underneath the crossbar. Three further minutes later and another Maher delivery, just time from a left flank free kick saw Constantine send a header wide of Woodman's left hand post.

A neat run by Maher brough a 25 yard shot which drifted straight into the arms of Woodman before a fine sprint by Che Wilson saw the ex-Cambridge City man cut into the penalty area before firing just over the top.

Then, the introduction of Mark Rawle as an Oxford substitute on the hour mark brough a torrent of abuse from the Southend faithful - just as the ex-Shrimper had experienced at the Kassam Stadium back in early September - but within eight minutes the nippy forward had stolen the game from his former Club with the only goal of the game.

Quite how referee Williamson failed to award a free-kick after Paul Wanless launched an assault on Shrimpers midfielder Kevin Maher is simply astounding, but Wanless, still rather surprised himself, then picked out Rawle - completely unmarked - who had the simple task of lifting a lobbed shot over the head of the advancing Flahavan and into the unguarded net.

Southend of course still had time to reply, but once they'd been denied a blatant penalty after Broughton was wrestled to the floor by Whitehead, but with Williamson oblivious Jenkins fired a low shot off target.

Duncan Jupp shot just over the top with two minutes left before Broughton was amazingly sent-off for a second booking after kicking the ball against McNiven in an attempt to win a last gasp corner.

Then, with the two minutes of injury time ticking well into the third even Flahavan came forward to try and steal a late leveller, but despite all their trying, Southend just couldn't find the breakthrough.

It was a must-win game for Blues who remain firmly in relegation mire and with the Shrimpers in FA Cup action next week, Tilson's men could well drop back into the drop zone in six days time.