SOUTHEND United’s performance at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday may not live long in the memory but the result certainly will as the Shrimpers secured a vital 2-0 victory.

A blustery wind and a bobbly pitch meant the clash at Kingsmeadow was never going to be one for footballing purists.

But teams pushing for promotion must be able to win matches in a variety of ways and Blues deserve credit for the battling qualities they displayed at the weekend.

The Shrimpers continuously hassled and harried the Dons to ultimately pick up a deserved three points on Phil Brown’s fourth anniversary as Blues boss.

Brown is now chasing his second promotion in three seasons with Southend and has helped the club progress considerably during his spell is charge.

The Shrimpers have, on the whole, been well organised and hard to break down during Brown’s four years.

But the current side boasts his best ever set of strikers and that showed on Saturday as both Nile Ranger and Simon Cox scored goals of supreme quality.

Ranger’s excellent individual effort broke the deadlock midway through the first half and the striker is now enjoying the best goalscoring run of his career.

The forward has now netted four goals in his last five games and has also scored in three successive outings for the first time ever to significantly boost Blues’ bid for the play-offs.

Ranger remains incredibly fortunate to still be with the Shrimpers after his off the field misdemeanours earlier on this season.

But the 25-year-old is clearly keen to repay Blues’ faith and is now starting to show the extreme talent he possesses on a more consistent basis.

Alongside him, the crafty and clever Cox also provides a real threat and bagged another excellent effort at the weekend.

The experienced striker blasted a rising right foot shot into the roof of the net and the Shrimpers could easily have scored more in the closing stages.

But the convincing nature of the win is to be commended as AFC Wimbledon had been beaten just once in their previous 10 home games, a run stretching back until mid-November.

However, on Saturday the Dons never looked like continuing their own good run of results as they failed to register a single shot on target, much to the delight of Blues goalkeeper Ted Smith who must be wishing he could face AFC Wimbledon more often.

The 21-year-old shot stopper has secured seven league clean sheets in his career and three of those have come against the Dons.

The latest shut out played a huge part in making sure the Shrimpers stayed sixth in the League One standings and Brown’s side now sit three points clear of seventh placed Millwall.

The Lions do still have a game in hand on Southend but three wins in succession shows Blues are finding form at the perfect stage of the season and Saturday’s win was another big step in the right direction.