Cheltenham Town ground out their third win in four matches with a hard-fought victory at what is rapidly becoming one of their favourite Football League grounds.
The Robins have won three times in five league and cup visits to Roots Hall and have also beaten Southend twice in two matches at Whaddon Road.
Although far from a classic encounter, the game witnessed a hard-working and disciplined Cheltenham performance against one of the pre-season promotion favourites.
Manager Steve Cotterill made two changes to the team which lost 1-0 at Rushden & Diamonds on Saturday with loan signing Lee Williams making his first starting appearance in place of Martin Devaney.
With the Robins down to their last four fit defenders, Michael Duff was moved across to the centre of defence with Neil Howarth replacing the injured Richard Walker but slotting in at right-back.
Cheltenham grabbed the early initiative and almost grabbed a seventh minute lead when Russell Milton got free on the left and squared the ball for Tony Naylor. He laid it back for Mark Yates 25 yards from goal and he let fly with a thunderous shot which goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan flew to push around the post.
Cheltenham imposed themselves on the game in the opening half an hour to such an extent that Southend were unable to muster a shot at goal during this period. Their three man forward line struggled to keep possession of the ball and the back four found themselves pressurised as the Robins moved the ball forward quickly to front men Naylor and Julian Alsop.
Their efforts bore fruit after 26 minutes when Alsop supplied his third goal of the season to give the Robins a deserved lead. The big man collected the ball on the left-hand corner of the penalty area and played a one-two with Naylor, who cleverly back-heeled the ball to him, before slipping an eight yard shot beyond Flahavan.
Southend's first chance didn't arrive until the 36th minute when left-back Danny Kerrigan crossed from wide out and Mark Rawle tried his luck with a spectacular overhead kick that flew wide.
Those incidents aside it was a disappointing first half although Cheltenham had the better of it, and almost sneaked a second goal when Alsop reached a high ball from Milton ahead of Flahavan but the ball only trickled towards goal and was cleared by former Forest Green Rovers loan defender Leon Cort.
Having offered so little in the first half it would have been expected that Southend would show more determination after the break.
This they duly did and the Shrimpers came within a whisker of an equalising goal barely 30 seconds after the break. Kevin Maher hoisted a free-kick into the area, Barrington Belgrave headed it down and Rawle, from the edge of the area, crashed a shot against the inside of the post and out again.
Southend squeezed up the pressure as the half went on but the Cheltenham team put their shoulders to the wheel and chased everything that moved. They may have had a makeshift back four but as a team they defended from the front and worked every area of the pitch.
Naylor and Alsop found themselves back defending at times as Southend pressed forward but were unable to carve out clear-cut scoring opportunities.
Howarth moved in sharply to block a shot from Belgrave and Maher had two shots blocked before driving one over the crossbar during a late goalmouth scramble.
However, there was more bad news on the injury front as Mark Yates took a heavy blow on the ankle as he challenged Belgrave and had to limp out of the action six minutes from normal time.
Premiership referee Paul Danson added six minutes of stoppage time to the end of the game, making it a nervous last few minutes for the 139 travelling Cheltenham fans, who made themselves heard until the final whistle.
SOUTHEND UNITED: Flahavan; Hutchings (McSweeney 79), Cort, Whelan, Kerrigan; Thurgood, Maher, Johnson; Belgrave, Harris (Bramble 63), Rawle (Searle 87). Subs: Gay, Broad.
CHELTENHAM TOWN: Book; Howarth, Duff, Banks, Victory; Williams, Yates (Brough 84), Howells, Milton; Naylor (Devaney 89), Alsop. Subs: Jackson, Muggleton, Hopkins.
REFEREE: P.S. Danson (Leicestershire)
ATTENDANCE: 3,709