SOUTHEND United manager Mark Molesley was left 'absolutely gutted' after tonight's 3-1 defeat to Bradford City kept the struggling Shrimpers at the foot of the League Two table.

The setback was Blues' third in eight days at Roots Hall.

And Molesley was unable to hide his frustration at the final whistle. 

"We’re absolutely gutted and disappointed," said Molesley.

"It’s a tough feeling but we’ve been in this position before and we know we can get a run going.

"But we need it straight away, starting on Saturday. "

Southend are two points from safety but have now played more games than five of the six teams immediately above them in the standings.

And Molesley know Blues must cut out the errors and start taking more of their chances if they are to stay up.

"We made some errors again, we slipped on two of the goals and they’ve counter attacked us," said the Blues boss.

"The goal on Saturday was on a counter attack too and we’ve got to fix that because our shape went a little bit.

"We had some guilt edged chances we haven’t taken and we’ve been punished.

"We had a penalty shot, Elvis (Bwomono) shot agonisingly past the post and Reeco (Hackett-Fairchild) had a great chance.

"We had a free-kick in a great area too and we didn’t take those chances.

"They took theirs and that’s been the story of the last few games.

"But if we cut out the errors and take our chances then the picture can change very quickly."