SOL Campbell watched on from the stands as nine man Southend United slumped to a shocking 7-1 defeat to Doncaster Rovers at Roots Hall tonight.

The Shrimpers had Ethan Hamilton sent off after just six minutes before Stephen McLaughlin was also dismissed at the start of the second half.

And, despite taking the lead through a fine Isaac Hutchinson free-kick, Blues slumped to a horrific home defeat.

Campbell was named Shrimpers boss just 45 minutes before kick off.

But it was caretaker chief Gary Waddock who took charge for the ninth and the final time.

And his hopes of signing off with a win suffered a body blow after just six minutes with Hamilton being shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Rovers’ Jon Taylor.

But the 10 man Shrimpers were still able to take the lead just five minutes later as Hutchinson curled a superb 25 yard free-kick high into the top left hand corner of the net for the first League goal of his career.

However, Blues were only in front for 12 minutes as the visitors levelled the scores when Kieran Sadlier’s fine left wing cross picked out an unmarked Kwame Thomas who headed home from close range.

Rovers remained on top and took the lead just three minutes later when James Coppinger’s left wing cross found Ben Sheaf who netted with a deflected volley at the far post.

Moments later, Sadlier saw a 20 yard shot tipped wide of the left post by Blues goalkeeper Nathan Bishop but seven minutes into the second half the visitors extended their lead when Coppinger’s left wing corner was flicked down into the path of Thomas who netted from close range.

Things soon got even worse for the Shrimpers as, with 53 minutes on the clock, the hosts were reduced to 10 men as McLaughlin was dismissed for a strong tackle on Taylor.

Blues immediately responded by making a double change as Stephen Humphrys and Harry Lennon entered the action in place of Tom Hopper and Timothee Dieng, However, it was Rovers who remained on top with Whiteman curling a 20 yard shot inches wide of the left post before the midfielder made no mistake in the 70th minute as he slammed home from the edge of the penalty area.

Blues replied with Humphrys firing inches wide of the left post from the halfway line.

But Doncaster continued to attack and made it 5-1 in the 82nd minute as Sadlier fired home from close range after Taylor’s low shot had bounced back off the left post.

Alfie May extended Rovers’ lead with a fine, lobbed finish over Bishop in the 89th minute before the visitors completed the rout in stoppage time when Taylor’s right wing cross was deflected into the back of his own net to by Nathan Ralph to pile more misery on the struggling Shrimpers.

Southend United: Bishop, Bwomono, Milligan, Shaughnessy, Ralph, Hutchinson, Dieng (Lennon 56), Hamilton, McLaughlin, Cox, Hopper (Lennon 56) Subs not used: Oxley, Goodship, Kiernan, Demetriou & Acquah