Southend’s play-off push suffered a major setback following a damaging 2-0 defeat at Oldham in the Vanarama National League.
Alex Reid put the Latics ahead two minutes before the break, capitalising on an error from Shrimpers goalkeeper Collin Andeng-Ndi to fire into an unguarded net and score for the second successive match.
Cheltenham loanee Ellis Chapman secured a third consecutive win for the home side by firing left-footed into the right-hand side of the net 14 minutes from time.
Defeat at Boundary Park leaves Southend four points outside the top seven with just two games to go, while Oldham climb to 12th.
