In our preview on Friday the point was made that the side the Blues boss Steve Tilson picked against Rovers and how they then performed could be a defining moment in the five year history of his management.
And Tilly certainly gambled.
The Clarke/Barrett axis was broken at last as the giant Dervite, on loan from Spurs, made his debut at centre-half. The Moose was kept in the side but placed on the left of midfield as Francis also stayed but moved from centre back to the right hand side. Macca returned to partner Christophe in the middle.
Then the biggest throw of the dice.
The only justification for starting with an obviously less than 100% Freedman, who only started breaking into a trot on Tuesday, over the less than 100% fit Barnard, was that Tilly felt if a chance came, he would take it.
It did and he did.
This should have been a far more comfortable victory over a terribly poor Bristol Rovers side, 20 goal man Lambert especially, who was kept quiet by the exceptional work of Clarke and Dervite, and would have been except for some bizarre referring decisions.
So it was 34-year-old striker Dougie Freedman, he of the dodgy thigh, who netted in the fifty-seventh minute when he latched onto a pass from debutant centre back Dorian Dervitte and looped the ball over goalkeeper Steve Phillips before heading in from a yard out.
The veteran forward's strike gave the Shrimpers their first league victory since the Boxing Day win over Northampton and only their second since late October.
Both sides desperately needed the points as they battled to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight.
Southend started the brighter with on-loan striker Theo Robinson looking dangerous. He forced Phillips to block with his feet, but the hosts saw their other attempts from Robinson in the first half all go off target.
Captain Adam, always playing with more freedom when moved to left-back, was also making inroads from defense into the Pirates final third.
Bristol Rovers were having little joy in front of goal in the whole game with Jeff Hughes driving wide and skipper Stuart Campbell firing over the bar. Rickie Lambert, who bagged four in Rovers' 4-2 win over Southend in October, fired straight at Steve Mildenhall.
Then a turning point. Phillips parried a Jean-Francois Christophe effort for a corner shortly after the interval which seemed to affect the Rovers keeper. After that he became a bag of nerves, running out of his goal like a man possessed with some wild clearances.
After Freedman had bagged the goal, Phillips rushed out again to first push the striker but then to handle the ball that seemed to be heading goalwards. The referee, having already upset home supporters with his inconsistant decision making, sent them into a wild fury by only producing a yellow card. Ludicrous.
To add insult to injury Peter Clarke scored from the resulting free-kick but it was ruled out, one can only believe for offside, though the linesman was seen running back to the half way line. This might have been for his own safety!
So all the domination still only had the Blues leading by a single goal and in form Rovers substitute Darryl Duffy blew a great chance to equalise when he found himself one-on-one with Mildenhall, but the keeper blocked the forward's effort with his right foot with five minutes left.
This though after another referee error that saw him miss a clear push on Clarke which provided the chance in the first place.
Justice was done at the final whistle with Southend picking up all three points, moving up four places to 13th in League One and over the Bristol side as a reward.
Full House Tilly!
The Southend manager quite rightly felt his side deserved the win and you can read his post-match comments here: www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1540131,00.html
Rovers coach Paul Trollope accepted his side were second best on the day: www.bristolrovers.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10328~1539857,00.html