Altrincham fell behind in the 9th minute when a poor clearance allowed Coker to score from the edge of the box.

It got worse when another clearance fell, this time, to Ralph who scored through a crowded box making it 2-0 (19 mins). Altrincham got to the interval without conceding further but they had barely threatened the Southend goal themselves.

Early in the second half, Dan Sassi was harshly punished for alleged handball and a penalty was awarded (53 mins). But Hutchinson made a fine-save from Scott-Morriss's spot-kick; it was the keeper's second excellent penalty save this season.

Despitetheir poor performance, Alty looked to be salvaging some honour in defeat by keeping the score at 2-0 with just five minutes of normal time remaining before two ridiculous incidents saw them have a man sent off and then concede a poor goal.

First, the already booked Sassi clattered an opponent in a non-threatening position (86 mins). An inevitable second yellow card saw him sent off.

Moments later, substitute Barnes trod on the ball allowing Walker to score a simple third goal for Southend (88 mins). After seven added minutes a disappointing afternoon ended for the visitors.

After three wins and a draw in four league games, Neil Gibson's first encounter with a club from the top-half table was always likely to be a reality check. So whilst defeat was perhaps not unexpected, its manner was disappointing with defensive errors, attacking bluntness and a red card only alleviated by the memory of a fine penalty save from Luke Hitchinson.

SCORERS:

• 9 mins: Oli COKER (Southend United 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 19 mins: Nathan RALPH (Southend United 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 88 mins: Josh WALKER (Southend United 3 ALTRINCHAM 0)

REFEREE: Mr Harry Wager

ATTENDANCE: 7,883 (42 in away end)

TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham made two changes to their starting eleven for the match at Southend as Kahrel Reddin and James Gale dropped to the bench in favour of Keaton Ward and Jimmy Knowles. On the bench a reportedly ill Olly Crankshaw dropped oiut to be replaced by loanee Jack Hinchy.

There were also two changes for the Shrimpers as Goodliffe and Walker were replaced by Spasov and Gubbins in the starting eleven. On the bench, Morton joined the squad.

LINE-UPS:

SOUTHEND UNITED (Navy blue shirts and shorts, white socks) 1. Nick Hayes, 3. Nathan Ralph (c), 16. Harry Taylor, 33. Harry Boyes, 17. Cav Miley, 15. Joe Gubbins, 10. Sam Austin, 28. Oli Coker. 2. Gus Scott-Morriss, 18. Slavi Spasov, 9. Andrew Dallas. Subs: 30. Collin Andeng-Ndi, 22. Keenan Appiah-Forson, 7. Jack Bridge, 19. Leon Chambers-Parillon, 14. Tom Hopper, 23. James Morton, 11. Josh Walker.

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white pinstripes, black shorts and red socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 34. Dan Sassi, 4. Lewis Baines (c), 5. Jake Cooper, 23. Tylor Golden, 6. Elliot Osborne, 22. Tom Crawford, 40. Charlie Kirk, 14. Matty Kosylo, 10. Keaton Ward, 11. Jimmy Knowles. Subs: 8 Isaac Marriott, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 9. James Gale, 17. Lucas Weaver, 21. Jack Hinchy, 24. Sam Barnes, 41. Max Beddow (gk)

On Altrincham's previous visits to Roots Hall, the results had all been in the Essex club's favour...

• 2021-22: Southend 2-0 Altrincham
• 2022-23: Southend 2-2 Altrincham
• 2023-24: Southend 2-1 Altrincham
• 2024-25: Southend 2-1 Altrincham

REPORT:

In front of by far their biggest audience of the season, nearly 8,000 spectators, Altrincham's Kirk kicked off the game on a dull Essex afternoon. With Reddin surprisingly having been dropped to the bench, Ward was deployed on the Alty right-wing

After a fairly uneventful opening few minutes, Spasov's cross was half-cleared out to Coker who netted from the outer reaches of the penalty area to give the Shrimpers an early lead (9 mins).

Soon after the restart Altrincham just about survived some sustained pressure from the hosts before the ball ended up in Hutchinson's possession (11 mins).

However, Altrincham responded to this rocky spell when a Knowles effort from a Ward cross earned his side a corner, which was taken by Kirk (12 mins). Moments later, Crawford fed Cooper whose shot gained the Robins a second corner (13 mins). However, taken by Osborne, nothing came of this.

Altrincham's respite was short as a Sassi foul yielded a home freekick, taken by Miley. From this the home side's pressure continued as a half-clearance came to Ralph who scored through a crowded penalty area with Hutchinson possibly deceived by a deflection (19 mins). So Southend, as in all four previous matches at home to Altrincham had scored a brace of goals.

At this stage, with more than 70 minutes to play, an embarrassing scoreline looked a distinct possibility. The Shrimpers were proving themselves able to convert defence to attack with disarming regularity and ease. With Alty under pressure Sassi was shown his fifth yellow card of the season. Fortunately, the cut-off for five yellows signalling a suspension, rather oddly applies after game 19 and this was fixture number 20.

As the half-hour mark passed, Alty had yet to produce a serious threat to the Southend goal. Indeed, the deficit might have increased when Kosylo ran into trouble and Dallas was allowed to advance from left to right before firing comfortably wide (35 mins).

Altrincham's best offering so far arrived in the 39th minute when Kirk fed Kosylo whose shot cleared the bar (39 mins).

Sassi then conceded an unnecessary corner which was followed by a second flagkick (42 mins). Alty then survived another close shave when Hutchinson rose to collect the ball but it escaped his grasp and Golden had to clear off the line (43 mins).

A single added-minute was decreed during which Hutchinson had to parry away a shot from Austin but it felt like a minor victory for Altrincham to have reached the interval without a deficit greater in margin than Southend's two early goals.

With the floodlights on, Southend kicked off the second half and, inside forty seconds, an overhit back pass from Sassi caused Hutchinson to react smartly to clear.

That set the tome for a shaky start to the second half for the Robins. Having survived a Southend corner (51 mins )an Austin effort, on target, was harshly judged by Mr Wager to have been handled by Sassi. However, for the second time in three weeks, Hutchinson made a superb save from the resulting penalty, taken by Scott-Morriss (55 mins). A home corner followed, and a freekick, but neither came to much.

Gubbins was now booked for a foul on Kosylo (57 mins) and, from Kirk's freekick, the ball came off Ralph for a rare Altrincham corner from which Hayes saved a header at the back post from Sassi. There followed an equally rare flowing move from Altrincham with a freekick being the end result for a foul on Ward. His freekick was poor and went straight to Hayes (62 mins).

Southend soon reimposed themselves by winning two corners in as many minutes (64 mins).

Dallas was soon booked, presumably for dissent (67 mins) as the game drifted on with Southend seemingly comfortably with their lead and Altincham lacking the guile to pose any serious threat to reduce the deficit. Like Dallas, Taylor got himself unnecessarily booked, in his case for a foul on Golden (73 mins)

Neil Gibson them made a triple substitution as Weaver, Gale and Reddin replaced Kosylo, Knowles and Kirk respectively (74 mins). Weaver soon impressed with a blocked shot and then assiduous tackling-back (75 mins)

Next, Hutchinson came to his side's rescue once again as he made a fine save from Boyes at the near post, the Southend player having been played in by Austin (76 mins).

This signalled a double swap for the Shrimpers with Dallas and Spasov withdrawn in favour of Walker and Hopper (76 mins).

Osborne, not for the first or the last time, committed a petty foul and, when he transgressed again four minutes later, Mr Wager's patience had expired and he booked the midfielder (81 mins).

With play drifting, there were three stoppages in as many minutes as, first Barnes replaced Cooper (82 mins) before Marriott came on for Crawford (83 mins) and, finally, Southend introduced Bridge for Austin and Appiah-Forson for Scot-Morris (85 mins).

It had seemed highly unlikely after 19 minutes that Altrincham would still be just two goals down more than an hour of playing-time later but that was the case and it felt like an achievement, however small, amid an otherwise deeply disappointing performance.

But two more disasters were to befall the hapless Robins in a two-minute spell.

First of all, Sassi clattered an opponent in an unthreatening area of the pitch to merit a second yellow card and the inevitable red as a consequence (86 mins).

Play had barely restarted when, inside the box, Barnes seemed to tread on the ball rather than clear it, allowing Walker a simple task of making it 3-0 (88 mins).

Southend then brought on Morton for Miley (89 mins) before Weaver won his side a corner (90 mins). Seven minutes of added time had been computed during which Gale fired over the bar (90+4 mins) and a Ward freekick led to a goal-line clearance but, in truth, Altrincham had been well beaten.

Neil Gibson's four-match unbeaten league run had ended in disappointing fashion in his team's first encounter with a club from the top half of the table. Another such clash follows next Saturday when Scunthorpe United visit the J. Davison Stadium.