AN early effort from Ryan Taylor saw Southend United slump to a 1-0 defeat at Grimsby Town tonight.

Taylor swept the ball home after just three minutes at Blundell Park.

And Blues were unable to work their way back into the game as head coach Kevin Maher suffered his fifth defeat in six games since taking charge.

Grimsby, who were relegated alongside the Shrimpers last season, began brightly and bagged what proved to be the only goal of the game early on with Taylor firing home from 12 yards after some hesitant defending.

Moments later, Giles Coke volleyed over from the edge of the penalty area following a poor defensive header from Nathan Ferguson.

But the Mariners remained on top and only a brilliant last ditch sliding challenge from Will Atkinson stopped Erico Sousa making it 2-0.

After surviving the scares, Southend hit back with Louis Walsh seeing his deflected shot pushed wide of the right post by Grimsby goalkeeper James McKeown.

The hosts soon replied with Sousa having a shot tipped wide of the left post by Blues goalkeeper Steve Arnold and Harry Clifton firing inches wide of the left post from just inside the penalty area.

Arnold then also gathered a looping header from Taylor in the closing action of the first half.

After the break, Blues midfielder Zak Brunt fizzed a 20 yard shot over the crossbar before the visitors made their first change of the night in the 65th minute with Terrell Egbri taking the place of James Dunne.

Grimsby soon came to doubling their lead with Luke Waterfall crashing a header against the top of the crossbar before the Shrimpers made their second change five minutes from time with Matt Dennis taking the place of Atkinson.

However, Blues rarely threatened and remain just one place and one point above the relegation zone.