Southend United's winning streak against Plymouth Argyle came to a shattering end as the Shrimpers' fortunes nosedived further at Home Park.

The Pilgrims cashed in on sloppy first-half defending from the Seasiders on Saturday to build a commanding two-goal lead, with home duo Darren Bastow and Ian Stonebridge finding the net.

However, Blues fought their way back into the match with a headed goal from winger Gordon Connelly, which installed renewed belief in Southend, before Plymouth sealed their first victory in eight attempts against their visitors with a third strike from Chris Hargreaves.

All of which was tough luck on Alan Little's men, who erased the memory of their scandalous display against Darlington in their previous Third Division outing, which ended in the Quakers taking all three points.

Southend boss Little accused his players of lacking passion in their 2-1 defeat against Darlington, but they certainly had more fire in their bellies at Home Park and could not be knocked for lacking commitment this time.

Straight from the referee's starting whistle at Plymouth, Blues' players threw themselves into crunching challenges and closed down their counterparts, which was a breath of fresh air following last week's pathetic performance.

Every player wearing a Southend shirt did so with pride. They showed the bite and snarl needed to grind out results in the basement league, although they failed to receive the reward their efforts deserved against the Pilgrims.

However, it was the same old story at Home Park, as Southend made the long trip back to Essex empty-handed because of their inability to score goals and plug the leaks in their over-generous defence.

Whereas Plymouth made the most of their opportunities by converting their chances and clinching the maximum three points prize to consolidate seventh place in the league standings.

Which left the sorry Shrimpers sliding even further down the table into 13th position, five points adrift of the play-offs and further away from the promised land of Second Division football.

Little resisted the temptation to make major changes to his team at Home Park following a poor run which had seen his men take one point from their last three games.

Sticking by his 5-3-2 formation, the Seasiders chief made minor tinkerings to his starting 11 for this encounter, bringing two players into the first-team fold.

Mel Capleton was preferred in goal to veteran custodian Mark Prudhoe, who was relegated to the bench, and young stopper David Morley found himself handed a role in Blues' three-man central defence, alongside skipper Simon Coleman and Leo Roget.

Left wing-back Nathan Jones was harshly omitted from the Southend squad to make way for Morley, which saw defender Martyn Booty swap his usual duties at the heart of the Seasiders' rearguard for a wider role, with Mark Beard taking the other wing-back berth.

Southend's midfield had the familiar look of Connelly, Scott Houghton and Mark Tinkler, with Martin Carruthers and Neil Tolson occupying the forward-line.

Before this encounter, Southend had won their previous seven consecutive league meetings with the Pilgrims in Divisions One, Two and Three, including three successive triumphs at Home Park.

And as both teams kicked-off this latest clash, it looked as though the Shrimpers were in the mood to continue their incredible run of results against the Pilgrims.

Following an earful of scathing criticism last week, Southend gave their small band of travelling fans the perfect response by getting stuck into their opponents and fighting for every ball as if their lives depended on it.

In fact, the first 20 minutes of the game were played inside Plymouth's half of the pitch as the Seasiders' hosts struggled to get a touch of the ball, before mustering their own threats on the counter-attack.

Plymouth captain Mick Heathcote handed Carruthers a run at goal after just seven minutes, as Blues' pressure tactics began to pay-off.

Carruthers nicked the ball off the fallen Pilgrim on the left-channel and forced his way into the Plymouth box, but dragged his shot wide of the left-post as he was forced out by covering defenders.

Three minutes later it was Houghton's turn to find some joy down the same flank as he cut inside and hit a well-struck drive from 16 yards, which was blocked by the desperate bodies of Plymouth stoppers Adam Barrett and Craig Taylor.

Blues were playing with confidence now and passing the ball crisply around the large Home Park pitch inspired by Tinkler. But they failed to find a way through which allowed Plymouth to slowly creep back into the game with devastating effect.

Plymouth's Jon Beswethe-rick should have opened the scoring on 16 minutes, when a beautiful reverse ball down the left-wing from midfielder Hargreaves presented him with a free run at the Southend goal.

However, the impressive left wing-back selfishly ignored his vulture-like team-mates Paul McGregor and Stonebridge, who were left waiting on the penalty-spot for a free shot at Capleton, before riding Roget's challenge and firing high over the Southend goal.

Five minutes later, Capleton held onto a tame drive from McGregor, before Plymouth capitalised on their resurgence through midfielder Bastow on 23 minutes.

Stonebridge threaded the ball out wide on the right to wing-back Wayne O'Sullivan, after stumbling past attempted tackles from Roget and Coleman, who in turn whipped a centre to the far-post which Bastow lashed into the net via the underside of the crossbar.

Southend fought straight back, with Carruthers guiding a Connelly cross wide of the right-post and Houghton blasting a 25-yard free-kick on target, which Plymouth keeper Jon Sheffield spilled, before smothering Tolson's acute-angled follow-up on 30 minutes.

Three minutes later, though, Plymouth had doubled their advantage, when Connelly's edge-of-the-box tackle on Chris Leadbitter took a wicked deflection into the path of an unmarked Stonebridge, who slotted the ball past Capleton from 12 yards.

Both sides came close to adding further goals just before the break as Capleton kept out a Beswetherick effort and Carruthers forced Sheffield into another save.

Two minutes into the second period England under-18 front-runner Stonebridge hit the left-angle of the Southend goal, before Booty found Sheffield's midriff from 35 yards.

On 56 minutes Roget fell over in the box, allowing Stone-bridge a point-blank shot at Capleton, which the Southend custodian was equal to, before Blues struck back.

Houghton, who was a constant thorn in Plymouth's side, hit a pin-point cross into the Pilgrims' six-yard box on 58 minutes, which Connelly headed low into the bottom-corner of the net for his first Southend goal.

Southend were far from dead and buried and continued to press forward with Carruthers stretching to nod another Houghton centre just wide minutes later.

Houghton then curled another free-kick over Plymouth's bar, before Booty and Tolson, just failed to connect with quick balls into the box from Beard and then Houghton.

However, Plymouth broke away to find the net a flattering third time as Hargreaves stole in at the far-post on 68 minutes and steered Beswetherick's cross out of the reach of Capleton's despairing dive.

Blues still believed they had a chance, though, and should have reduced the deficit within seconds as Connelly's long-ball beat everyone except Carruthers, who somehow lobbed wide of an open goal from 12 yards.

But Southend continued to give their all and Houghton curled a sweetly-struck 20-yard effort against the right-angle of the Plymouth goal with four minutes left, before Tinkler saw his close-range drive tipped to safety by Plymouth's replacement keeper Ken Veysey.

(Right) Right leg in - Martin Carruthers missed a sitter but had his usual busy match up front for Southend

Eyes down looking - Blues forward Neil Tolson gets the better of this tussle

(Below right) Shin like flint - Leo Roget feels the force of this challenge while Mark Tinkler looks on

Match facts

Shots/headers on target: Plymouth 5, Southend 7.

Corners: Plymouth 1, Southend 3.

Bookings: Southend - Carruthers (39 mins, dissent), Connelly(72 mins, foul). Plymouth - none.

Sheffield 7 (Veysey 6), O'Sullivan 6, BES-WETHERICK 8, Lead-bitter 6, Barrett 7, Taylor 7, Bastow 6, Stonebridge 7 (Gritton 5), Heathcote 6, McGregor 7 (McCarthy 5), Hargreaves 7. Subs not used: Wotton and Phillips.

Plymouth Argyle

(In 5-3-2 formation with ratings out of 10):

Capleton 7 - reinstated and made a string of fine saves.

Morley 6 - fairly comfortable, but tried to be too cool at times.

Beard 6 - worked hard and gave his all.

Booty 7 - solid display in the left-channel.

Roget 6 - steady performance.

Coleman 7 - another good game for the skipper, who was dominant in the air.

Tinkler 7 - more like his old self.

HOUGHTON 8 - devastating performance from the winger.

Connelly 6 - scored a quality goal, but was still in and out of the match.

Tolson 5 - struggled to get involved and desperately needs a goal from open play.

Carruthers 6 - busy as ever, but missed a sitter.

Subs:

Roach 5 - failed to make much impression after replacing Tolson on 73 minutes.

Kerrigan 6 - came on for Booty with six minutes left, but still managed to get involved.

Subs not used: Newman, Campbell and Prudhoe.

Plymouth Argyle (2) (3) (Bastow 23, Stone-bridge 33, Hargreaves 68)

Southend United (0) 1 (Connelly 58)

Attendance: 4,679

Referee: P Danson (Leicester) 6 out of 10.

Division 3 results

Barnet 2 Chester 0

Darlington 4 Halifax 0

Hartlepool 1 Peterborough 0

Hull City 4 Exeter 0

Leyton Orient 0 Carlisle 1

Mansfield P Brighton P

North'ton 2 Macclesfield 0

Rochdale 0 Cheltenham 0

Rotherham 1 Lincoln 1

Swansea 1 York 0

Torquay 3 Shrewsbury 1

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.