A SECOND-HALF header from Nathaniel Knight-Percival condemned Southend United to a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Shrewsbury Town at Roots Hall this afternoon.

The Shrews centre-back nodded home the only goal of the game 11 minutes after the break.

And the below par Blues very rarely looked like getting back into the game.

Shrewsbury, who were promoted from League Two with the Shrimpers last season, edged an uneventful first half and threatened to score in the 37th minute when Larnell Cole collected Matt Tootle’s pass before slicing a right footed shot wide of the right post from 10 yards.

After the break, Blues initially stepped things up with Anthony Wordsworth firing over from 25 yards before David Worrall goalbound effort, after a neat pass from Noel Hunt, was brilliantly blocked by Nathaniel Knight-Percival.

But, with 56 minutes on the clock, the Shrews broke the deadlock with Knight-Percival on target.

The visiting centre-back was picked out by Liam Lawrence’s left wing free-kick and made no mistake with a firm, downward header from 10 yards.

The Shrimpers came close to netting an immediate equaliser when Anthony Wordsworth thundered a 20 yard shot against the top of the left post before David Mooney’s effort from the resulting rebound was deflected over the crossbar.

In a further bid to draw back level, Blues boss Phil Brown made his first change of the game on the hour mark with Stephen McLaughlin replacing Michael Timlin.

Six minutes later, Jack Payne came on for Ben Coker in a switch which saw the Shrimpers revert to playing three at the back.

Moments later, Joe Pigott also replaced Hunt in attack but Blues never looked like scoring in the closing stages.

And only a trio of stunning late saves from Daniel Bentley kept the score-line down as the shot-stopper twice did well to deny Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro before also tipping away a low shot from James Collins.