SOUTHEND United moved to within three points of the automatic promotion places with a convincing 3-1 win at Dagenham & Redbridge this afternoon.

Goals from Joe Pigott and Ryan Leonard plus a Barry Corr penalty saw the Shrimpers come out on top at Victoria Road.

And the win was also enough to move Blues closer to the top three.

Despite the final score-line, it was Dagenham who initially posed problems in the opening exchanges with the experienced Jamie Cureton having a close range effort diverted for a corner by Shrimpers’ centre-back Luke Prosser.

But, with 16 minutes on the clock, Blues broke the deadlock with an excellently worked goal from Pigott.

The on loan Charlton Athletic striker swapped passes with Ben Coker down the left hand before collecting the ball in the left hand side of the penalty area.

The youngster then surged past Dagenham defender Scott Doe in the box before netting with a clinical left footed shot in to the bottom right hand side of the net.

However, Blues were ahead for just seven minutes as the hosts equalised when an inswinging free-kick, taken from the right-hand side by Billy Bingham, picked out Ayo Obileye at the far post and he thundered a firm header in to the top left hand corner of the net.

Southend immediately looked to get back in front and soon had strong penalty shouts waved away by referee Fred Graham when Dagenham goalkeeper Liam O’Brien appeared to pull Pigott back in the box.

With Blues remaining on top, an unmarked David Worrall then headed Kevan Hurst’s right wing cross straight at O’Brien before the home-side’s goalkeeper also held Barry Corr’s firm aerial effort from Worrall’s cross.

The Shrimpers then went even closer to making it 2-1 when Pigott tackled Obileye on the edge of the box, only for the on-rushing O’Brien to charge out of his goal and block the striker’s shot.

However, right on the stroke of half-time, Blues did go in front – with a stunning strike from Leonard.

The midfielder chested down a half cleared free-kick before sending a fantastic, looping volley in to the top right hand corner of the net from fully 30 yards.

Blues then extended their lead seven minutes in to the second half when Dagenham full-back Damian Batt raised both of his arms to bizarrely handled Luke Prosser’s header.

Referee Graham this time pointed to the spot and the in-form Corr made no mistake with the penalty, floating his shot in to the centre of the goal with O’Brien diving low down to his right hand side.

The Shrimpers remained in control after extending their advantage before making their first change of the afternoon in the 81st minute when Myles Weston was brought on to replace Hurst.

Moments later, Gary Deegan came on to replace the influential Michael Timlin before Jake Cassidy came on for Pigott in attack.

But, despite the changes, it was Dagenham who almost netted right at the death when an excellent curling shot from substitute Jodi Jones was impressively clawed to safety by Daniel Bentley.