SOUTHEND United’s Liam Dickinson and Peter Gilbert combined to cause yet more misery for their former Plymouth Argyle side at Roots Hall this afternoon.

Dickinson converted a second half penalty while Gilbert bagged a late header.

And that made it 10 successive defeats for the Pilgrims who also had captain Carl Fletcher sent off for violent conduct midway through the second half.

But, before that drama unfolded, there was little to excite the watching supporters and the first period was particularly poor.

With three minutes on the clock the returning Dickinson headed a Ryan Hall free-kick wide of the right post but it was Plymouth who were on top during the opening exchanges.

As a result, Fletcher soon fizzed a long range shot just past the right post before Blues hit back with Blair Sturrock firing over from 18 yards after a Ryan Hall free-kick had ricocheted in to his path.

Moments later, Pilgrims midfielder Ladjie Soukouna sent a looping half volley from 25 yards straight at Southend goalkeeper Glenn Morris and, in the 26th minute, Jamie Griffiths fired over from a similar distance.

However, the remainder of the half was short of action and the game was still goalless at the break.

That almost changed at the start of the second period though, when a left wing free kick from Hall momentarily caused some panic in the Plymouth defence but the visiting custodian Jake Cole dived at the feet of Mark Phillips to keep Blues at bay.

After that, goalscoring chances again remained few and far between and that forced Paul Sturrock in to his first change of the afternoon in the 54th minute with Neil Harris replacing Sturrock in attack.

Seconds after his introduction, Michael Timlin fired a right footed half volley just wide of the right post from 20 yards before Southend made their second change in the 59th minute with Ryan Leonard coming on for Kane Ferdinand to also face his former team.

The switch saw Timlin move in to the middle of the park and that proved key in the 64th minute when the Swindon Town loanee was brought down inside the penalty area by Durrell Berry and referee Michael Naylor immediately pointed to the spot.

That enabled Dickinson to step forward and fire the resulting penalty in to the bottom left hand corner of the net, just past the despairing dive of Cole.

The clinical effort was Dickinson’s fourth goal in six games and Plymouth soon suffered another serious blow just two minutes later when they were reduced to 10 men after Fletcher was shown a straight red card for grabbing Timlin by the throat.

The incident sparked a fracas which included several members from either side.

But, once that died down, Blues remained on top and almost made the most of their numerical advantage in the 75th minute when Hall burst forward before firing wide of the right post with his left foot from 18 yards.

Hall then turned provider as his right wing corner picked out Dickinson but his header was superbly tipped around the right post by Cole.

However, Southend did not have long to wait for a second goal as the resulting Hall corner was headed home by Gilbert for his first goal in eight years.

The left-back rose unchallenged at the near post to direct the ball in to the bottom let hand corner of the net to make sure of successive home wins for his side as they also surged back in to the play-off places.