SOUTHEND’S town crier showed off his vocal chords prior to the Shrimpers’ clash with Blackpool.

And, despite a nervy and dramatic conclusion to the game, there was ultimately plenty for Blues to be shouting about as Phil Brown’s side recorded their third League One win in the space of just eight days.

To begin with, the latest victory appeared to be quite comfortable with Anthony Wordsworth confirming his return to form and fitness with another smartly taken strike.

The goal was the midfielder’s second in four games since returning from a long term hamstring injury and again underlined his importance to the team.

Last season the Shrimpers boasted a win percentage of 47 per cent when Wordsworth was selected in the starting line-up and just 31 per cent when he was not.

This time around the midfielder has proved equally important as Blues have yet to lose since his return to action.

Three of the four games have ended in victory and Southend have taken 10 points from a possible 12 with Wordsworth in action.

However, prior to his comeback Blues had taken just six points from a possible 21 and had gone nine games without a win in all competitions.

Wordsworth’s well-taken strike came from a well-worked corner, the third time the Shrimpers had scored from a flag-kick this term.

Last season, Southend provided very little threat from dead ball deliveries but Stephen McLaughlin now has four assists in his last six games and all of those have come from set piece situations.

The latest effort was added to by Simon Cox at the start of the second half and, at that stage, victory seemed to have been secured.

But Blackpool clearly had other ideas and were soon able to get back into the game as Jimmy Ryan’s long ball forward enabled Kyle Vassell to get in behind Anton Ferdinand to score.

The goal was fairly similar to Fleetwood’s first last weekend and Ferdinand’s lack of mobility remains something of a concern at the heart of the Blues back four.

As a result, the emergence of Harry Kyprianou has been of huge significance in the past few weeks and the young centre-back again played a prominent part at the weekend.

The 20-year-old may not have been expected to feature quite so regularly this season following the summer arrivals of Rob Kiernan and Michael Turner plus the early season form of John White.

But a succession of injuries handed Kyprianou his chance and it is one he has certainly made the most of.

Saturday’s start was the defender’s fifth in succession and he again caught the eye as Blues battled their way to a third win in the space of eight days.

Kyprianou was the pick of the Shrimpers’ back four but was still left indebted to a fine display from goalkeeper Mark Oxley.

The Shrimpers shot-stopper turned 27 on Thursday but left his celebrations until the weekend with arguably his best display since arriving at Roots Hall last summer.

Oxley did well to tip Vassell’s effort onto the left post in the first half before also denying Clark Robertson as Blackpool laid siege to the Southend goal in the closing stages.

However, the visitors’ best opportunity came deep into stoppage time when they were awarded a penalty following a foul by Jason Demetriou on Scott Quigley.

But Oxley was again equal to the task as he pushed away Ryan’s spot kick to continue his recent fine record with penalties.

Including a pre-season friendly at Cambridge United, Oxley has now saved the last three spot kicks he has faced and his latest effort maintained Blues’ recent momentum and saw them move up to 12th in the League One standings.

Things are therefore starting to look far brighter for the Shrimpers but there is still plenty to be worked on if their season - which again started sluggishly - is to continue on an upward trend and ultimately result in them challenging for a top six finish.