SOUTHEND United surged back to winning ways after cruising to a comfortable 4-0 victory at struggling Chesterfield this afternoon.

Shrimpers striker Simon Cox bagged a brace while Anthony Wordsworth and substitute Marc-Antoine Fortune were also on target as Phil Brown’s side bounced back from two successive defeats to record all three points at the Proact Stadium.

The convincing triumph also means Chesterfield – who had Dion Donohue sent off just before half-time are now all but relegated towards the foot of the table.

In contrast, the seventh placed Shrimpers remain a point outside the play-offs and opened the scoring in the 14th minute, with Cox firing home a penalty.

The spot-kick was given by referee Ross Joyce after Spireites goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann clattered into Will Atkinson and Cox made no mistake from 12 yards as he sent a confident effort into the left hand side of the goal.

Moments later, Stephen McLaughlin’s well-taken header from Jason Demetriou’’s right wing cross was ruled out for offside before the hosts were reduced to 10 men when Donohue was sent off on the stroke of half-time The Welshmen was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Demetriou and Blues attempted to make the most of their extra man right at the start of the second half with Atkinson having a goalbound effort blocked by a siding Dan Gardner.

Atkinson was presented with another goalscoring opportunity in the 54th minute when he cut in off the right flank, only to send a left footed shot well wide of the target from a promising position.

But, three minutes later, Blues doubled their lead with Wordsworth on target for the 12th time this season.

The on-rushing midfielder was picked out by a low, left wing cross from John White and made no mistake with a left footed shot which nestled in the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Ten minutes later, the Shrimpers were celebrating again as Cox lashed the ball into the roof of the net with his left foot from close range after Nile Ranger’s effort had been blocked in front of goal.

Immediately after making it 3-0, Blues made their first change of the game with Zavon Hines replacing Atkinson on the right flank before boss Phil Brown introduced Marc-Antoine Fortune into the action as a replacement for Ranger in attack in the 70th minute.

And, less than a minute after entering the action, Fortune worked his way onto the score-sheet as he sent a crisp low shot past Stuckmann when clean through on goal to complete a memorable afternoon for the play-off pushing Blues