SOUTHEND United’s fine run of away results ended in frustrating fashion at Millwall on Saturday.

The Shrimpers made the short trip to the New Den unbeaten in their last seven games on their travels in League One having not lost on the road since being beaten at Rochdale at October.

Blues were ultimately undone by a second half header from the Lions’ Fred Onyedinma.

But a disgruntled Shrimpers squad was left pointing the finger at referee Andre Marriner at the final whistle.

Marriner first aggravated Blues when deciding to send off Will Atkinson just past the half hour mark.

The red card was shown for an over-exuberant challenge on Millwall skipper Tony Craig which was a little late and saw Atkinson seemingly go in with his studs showing.

The tackle, which was mistimed rather than malicious, gave Marriner a decision to make and he wasted little time in showing Atkinson the first red card of his career.

The challenge was, by the letter of the law, borderline between being a red and yellow card but having a Premier League referee in charge arguably worked against Atkinson.

An official more used to the hustle and bustle of lower league football would probably have shown greater leniency and decided to issue just a booking.

But robust challenges are less common at the highest level of the game and could well have resulted in Atkinson receiving his marching orders.

Going down to 10 men made an already difficult afternoon for Blues far more challenging.

Yet bizarrely, they began to play better with a numerical disadvantage.

With a full allocation of players on the pitch, Millwall had started the game strongly and only poor finishing and good goalkeeping prevented them from going in front.

However, once Atkinson was dismissed Blues began to dig in and the Lions found goalscoring chances hard to create until Onyedinma popped up to score the game’s only game.

Even then, the Shrimpers continued to show spirit and could have hit back to equalise had the game’s most controversial moment not gone against them.

Everyone - apart from the most biased of Millwall fans - would have expected a penalty to be awarded when Jermaine McGlashan went down in the area under pressure from Craig.

But the under-fire Marriner and his assistant somehow opted to wave play on.

The decision quite rightly aggravated Blues, who have now slipped out of the play-off places, and it still remains a mystery just how a spot kick was not given.

The red card, which was questionable to some, could at least be understood due to the untimely manner of Atkinson’s challenge.

However, failing to award a penalty was a huge error of judgement which was far more suited to a Sunday League rather than Premier League official.

The decision compounded a miserable afternoon for Blues against one of their main rivals for a top six finish.

But the manner of the defeat now needs to be forgotten and instead be used as motivation for tomorrow’s trip to Oxford.

Defeat to Scunthorpe at this stage of last season led to Southend falling down the table at an alarming rate but the same cannot be allowed to happen this time around.

Blues need an immediate response and could well be set to call upon Nile Ranger.

The striker is extremely fortunate to still be with the Shrimpers following an FA investigation and now owes the club in a very big way.

Ranger should certainly not be perceived as a returning hero and must avoid any more misdemeanours if his talents are to help Blues bounce back from Saturday’s setback and make the play-offs.