SOUTHEND United’s travel sickness continued with a resounding 3-0 defeat at Rochdale on Saturday.

The heavy setback was the Shrimpers’ third in succession on the road and followed on from 4-0 losses at both Scunthorpe United and Northampton Town.

Despite those drubbings, Blues headed to Spotland with slightly raised spirits having lost just one of their previous five outings.

However, hopes of a good performance were to be short-lived as Southend were easily brushed aside by their in-form hosts who have now secured six victories in succession.

In fairness, Rochdale deserve plenty of praise for their energetic and committed display.

But their passionate performance showed everything the Shrimpers were missing in their own sub-standard showing.

Blues looked poor at the back and were unforgivably undone by two more set pieces in the first half as a long term weakness – which shows no sign of being eradicated – was again exposed.

That said, though, there was far more than just dead ball deliveries separating the two teams at the weekend and Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis will not have an easier 90 minutes all season.

The Shrimpers provided hardly any threat throughout the afternoon and have now gone 357 minutes without scoring away from home.

At the weekend, Southend managed just one effort on target all afternoon and that was a tame header from Ryan Inniss which was easily collected by Lillis.

Such a shot-shy approach is hitting Blues hard and their troubles on their travels show no signs of improving.

In fact, since the turn of the new year the Shrimpers have been beaten 13 times in 18 away games and have picked up just 11 points from a possible 54.

That has seemingly led to a lack of belief and Blues have now not come from behind to win an away game since beating Portsmouth 2-1 at Fratton Park in January 2015.

Somehow or other that has to be rectified as the Shrimpers are currently in a real fight to avoid relegation and a return to League Two.

A settled shape could well help that cause as Southend seem to be shifting from one system to another at this stage and are constantly chopping and changing their team and, even more importantly, the style of their play.

On Saturday alone, Blues seemed to change formation on at least three separate occasions and ended up looking a confused and rather disorganised outfit.

Subsequently, the Shrimpers need to find an identity to be able to move forward and it must happen quickly too.

The pressure is now seriously starting to mount on on Blues boss Phil Brown with a growing number of the club’s supporters now appearing to be rather disgruntled.

Southend’s slump in fortune has now been going on for quite some time and the damning statistics have been well documented already.

Blues have taken just 24 points from their last 28 outings and remain in real danger towards the foot of the table.

As a result, Brown is facing up to a huge couple of weeks in charge and now needs to reveal what his long term plan has been all along.

Injury troubles were often mentioned as a problem during the start to the season.

But Anton Ferdinand and Nile Ranger are now both back fit and all of the other summer signings are also available.

Adding to that, Anthony Wordsworth has recovered from a long term hamstring problem to line up in the centre of the park and Michael Timlin therefore remains the only absentee.

But a sparse treatment room means there are no excuses for any more poor performances and there is now no hiding place for Brown either. It is now time for him and his team to deliver - both home and away - or the consequences could be seriously severe for both the club’s future and his own.