SECOND-HALF headers from Marc-Antoine Fortune and Theo Robinson saw Southend United secure an impressive 2-0 victory at Oxford United tonight.

The in-form U’s had gone into the game on the back of five successive victories and piled on the pressure during a largely one-sided first half at the Kassam Stadium.

But, after surviving the scares, the Shrimpers hit back in the second half with well-taken goals from Fortune and Robinson getting Phil Brown’s side back to winning ways.

The win moved Blues back up to seventh in the League One table but it was Oxford who threatened first with Chris Maguire sending a 20 yard free-kick just inches past the left post.

Moments later, Toni Martinez sent a low effort straight at Blues goalkeeper Ted Smith but, in the 24th minute, the U’s came even closer to taking the lead when centre-back Chey Dunkley headed Chris Maguire’s left wing corner against the crossbar.

With Oxford remaining on top, Martinez then volleyed a good chance over the crossbar from 10 yards before Ryan Ledson fired wide of the left post from the edge of the penalty area.

In a bid to stem the mounting pressure, Blues boss Brown made a tactical change with Jermaine McGlashan and Michael Timlin swapping wings with Timlin featuring more on the right hand side of midfield.

And, after the slight alteration, Southend hit back with Simon Cox having a volleyed effort tipped over by Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood after Ryan Leonard had headed down Anthony Wordsworth’s left wing corner.

At the start of the second half, Blues began to provide far more of a threat in the second half and opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with Fortune scoring his third goal in five games.

The experienced Frenchman was picked out by a pin-point right wing cross from Jason Demetriou and netted with a powerful header from 12 yards.

Six minutes later, the Shrimpers made their first change of the night with Theo Robinson coming on to replace McGlashan before Nile Ranger also entered the action, replacing Fortune in attack with 72 minutes on the clock.

Ranger was appearing for the first time since early January after serving a suspension for a serious breach of club discipline but Oxford soon fought back in search of an equaliser with Dunkley heading Rob Hall’s left wing corner straight at Smith.

The relieved Shrimpers replied by making a third substitution which saw Luke O’Neill replace Cox and made sure of their victory in the 88th minute when Robinson netting his first goal since coming back to Blues, heading home a right wing corner from O’Neill.