TWO goals inside the opening 27 minutes saw Southend United surge back to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph against Mansfield Town at Roots Hall on Good Friday.

Barry Corr and Will Atkinson were both on target for the Shrimpers as they brushed aside the struggling Stags to end a frustration run of fortune.

And the victory also saw Blues close the gap on third placed Wycombe Wanderers to eight points, with a game in hand.

It was not all positive for Southend though as they were forced into making an early change when centre-back Adam Thompson suffered a shoulder injury after landing awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Stags striker Vadaine Oliver.

After a short period playing with 10 men, Thompson was eventually replaced in the 11th minute by Cian Bolger for just the Irishman’s second appearance since December.

But just 10 minutes, Blues broke the deadlock with Corr bagging his eighth goal in his last nine games.

The in-form Irishman was picked out at the back post by a fine Michael Timlin pass and composed himself well before impressively chipping the ball over Mansfield goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley and into the roof of the net from eight yards.

Moments later, Ryan Leonard’s skimming 20 yard shot was smartly smothered by Pidgeley but the midfielder was involved in Blues’ doubling their lead in the 27th minute of the match when his scorching effort could only be parried out by Pidgeley and that enabled Atkinson to fire home the rebound from close range.

The effort was Atkinson’s first of the season and the Shrimpers could have been celebrating again on the stroke of half-time when Simon Heslop’s weak back-pass was intercepted by Corr.

But the striker was unable to adjust his feet in time to gain full control of the ball, enabling Pidgeley to snuff out any potential threat.

After the break, Corr wasted an even clearer chance to score when he fired over from 12 yards after John White’s long ball forward had dropped invitingly into his path.

However, with 65 minutes on the clock, Mansfield came close to halving Blues’ lead when Oliver rose high to head Terry Hawkridge’s left wing corner against the crossbar.

Blues responded by soon making their second change of the afternoon as Jake Cassidy replaced Joe Pigott in attack but the Stags continued to attack and only a well timed, last ditch challenge from the impressive Adam Barrett stopped Reggie Lambe racing clean through on goal.

After surviving the scare, the Shrimpers made their final substitution of the game in the 87th minute when Myles Weston replaced Stephen McLaughlin on the left flank.

But it was still Mansfield who still nearly netted right at the death with Rakish Bingham stabbed the ball wide of the right post after being teed up by Matt Rhead.