Tuesday 1 January 2013 16:35, UK
Manager Paul Sturrock blamed a poor first-half display for Southend's 1-0 defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls Gillingham.
An early strike from Chris Whelpdale condemned the Shrimpers to a second defeat on the bounce. "The first half just wasn't good enough and we've paid the price for that in the end which is disappointing," said Sturrock. "We had enough chances to get back in to the game in the second half but weren't able to take any of them. "If one of them had gone in then we might have gone on to even win the game but we just couldn't quite do it. "That's two defeats on the trot for us now which means we need to get back on the rails as quickly as we can. "We have two cup games coming up now but I won't be changing the team too much because we want to do well in these competitions and also get back to winning ways."
