Southend United 1 Bristol Rovers 0

There have been times this season when Bristol Rovers have suffered an away defeat and felt justifiably aggrieved not to have taken something from the game.

They could not harbour similar emotions after this setback at Roots Hall. Rovers were second best for most of the game and looked a pallid version of the outfit that came from behind to beat Cheltenham four days earlier.

Indeed, the damage could have been greater – not only in terms of the scoreline, but also because the visitors benefited from at least a couple of refereeing decisions which could easily have gone against them.

Southend were already a goal to the good when Rovers keeper Steve Phillips came out of his box to make a clearance, which was nodded back upfield by former Pirates skipper Adam Barrett.

Still out of his box, Phillips tried unsuccessfully to get in a clearing header. But when the ball finally fell to Dougie Freedman, who had already found the back of the net once, Phillips dived to save his shot and promptly had the home crowd screaming for his dismissal.

Referee Gavin Ward showed a yellow card and then achieved what seemed impossible – he made himself even more unpopular with the Southend fans.

From the resulting free-kick, defender Peter Clarke headed into the net – but the attempt was ruled out for a push on Phillips.

"I'd been coming out of my box well all game because their striker Liam Robinson has tremendous pace," said Phillips.

"I made sure I was on the front foot so if there was a ball over the top, I could kick it out or back up the field. I had a good touch and tried to lift it over Adam Barrett, but he played it back in.

"There was a bit of a melée and it was do or die because I had to do something to get the ball out of play. I even tried a header.

"Freedman had a shot, which was going wide, but I saved it out of instinct. I could have let it go because Steve Elliott was on the goal-line and Craig Hinton was back as well.

"You can only be sent off if you are stopping a goalscoring opportunity. Well … the ball wasn't going in and we had two players back on the line, so the referee made the right decision.

"My heart was in my mouth a bit but he was a decent referee – although I don't think Southend's manager would agree.

Phillips was right there.

"I don't think the referee had a good game," said Shrimpers boss Steve Tilson afterwards, leaving plenty to the imagination.

Phillips, however, insisted the decisions to issue a yellow and disallow the goal were correct.

"Their lad just took me clean out of the game and I don't know why their fans were moaning because it was a blatant foul," he said.

The debate would doubtless have been even fiercer had the Pirates emerged with some tangible reward, but that rarely looked like being on the agenda – especially once the Shrimpers had made a spell of pressure pay dividends early in the second half.

The home side had offered the bigger threat in the opening period, thanks mainly to the lively Robinson who was a nuisance throughout the 90 minutes.

He forced a low smothering save from Phillips after 12 minutes and was close to scoring just before the interval but fired a shot on the turn just wide of the far post after Jean-Francois Christophe had created the opportunity.

The best Bristol Rovers could muster in that time was a left-foot shot from Jeff Hughes which flew wide and a wayward header by Rickie Lambert from a Jo Kuffour cross.

Southend upped the tempo after the interval and signalled their intent when Christophe unleashed a 25-yarder which bobbled nastily before striking Phillips and going behind for a corner. Then, a downward header by Robinson got stuck in a soggy goalmouth and allowed Phillips to gather.

Southend's backline had been bolstered by the considerable presence of former French youth international Dorian Dervite, signed on loan from Spurs, who enjoyed an impressive debut and also helped set up the winner.

His incisive pass allowed the veteran Freedman to pounce, knocking the ball over Phillips before diving acrobatically to head home from close range.

As the game wore on, Rovers made changes from the bench to try to fashion another fightback and, although they did show more of the urgency missing from a generally tepid display, they were unable to take their clearest opportunity of the match when Darryl Duffy saw keeper Steve Mildenhall block his shot from 16 yards.

"We were below par," acknowledged Phillips.

"We've had a run of difficult games – a lot in a short space of time – and we had a couple of players who were struggling with injuries. We weren't our normal selves.

"I made a few decent stops but Southend played well and had some decent possession. They didn't bombard us, but we didn't get up to speed like we normally do.

"Now we have to prepare for another very tough game at Oldham on Tuesday where, hopefully, we will get back on track."