DISMAL defending meant Southend United’s first ever meeting with Morecambe ended in a 3-2 defeat this afternoon.

Blues conceded a trio of soft strikes at Roots Hall.

And, despite equalising twice, they were eventually undone by James Spencer’s second half strike which saw Morecambe climb off the bottom of the League Two table with their first victory of the season.

The match, which started slowly, exploded in to life with three goals in a crazy five-minute spell.

Morecambe struck first in the 21st minute of the match when a long Tony Capaldi throw from the left hand side was not dealt with by the Southend defence.

That enabled Shuker to push the ball back into the path of Stewart Drummond and he made no mistake with an assured shot from eight yards which flew in to the roof of the net.

Blues were behind for less than a minute though as Anthony Grant continued his amazing form in front of goal.

The midfielder had gone 79 matches without a goal but, after drilling home a fine 25-yard shot after receiving the ball from Chris Barker against the Shrimps, he has now netted four goals in his last four league outings.

However, Grant’s latest celebrations were short-lived as Morecambe regained the lead in the 26th minute when more bad defending from Blues resulted in Mark Duffy delivering a deep, right wing cross which was headed home at the back post by Paul Mullin.

Southend were then angered again when referee Mick Russell showed Chris Shuker just a yellow card after he appeared to kick out at Bilel Mohsni.

But, with the attention soon switching back to the game, Barry Corr headed a Ryan Hall free-kick wide of the left post, before Hall curled another dead ball delivery outside the opposite upright.

Both sides also came close to scoring on the stroke of half time with Blues’ goalkeeper Glenn Morris smothering a Mullin head-er and Roche pushing away a low free kick from Hall which seemed to be flying in to the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Blues were not to be denied an equaliser though and they drew back level in the 50th minute when a deep Michael Timlin free-kick was nodded towards goal by Mohsni, enabling Corr to out-jump Roche and head in to the South Stand net from six yards.

With Blues now bidding to go in front for the first time, Timlin fired inches off target from 25 yards, but Morecambe hit back with Mullin volleying wide of the right post from the edge of the penalty area.

With play then switching back to the other end of the field, Corr’s header from Hall’s right-wing corner was saved by the legs of Roche, but the keeper’s opposite number — Morris — was then also called in to action as he smothered a low shot from substitute Spencer.

Blues threatened again in the 66th minute when a well-struck, long-range shot from Hall was parried to safety by Roche, but it was the visitors who netted what proved to be the game’s decisive goal just six minutes later.

Mullin was this time the provider as he played the ball across in to the path of Spencer who neatly dispatched a low, right-foot shot in to the bottom left-hand corner of the net from 14 yards.

Blues boss Paul Sturrock replied by making a double change in the 76th minute as both Louie Soares and Johnny Herd entered the action.

But neither of them could help Southend conjure up a third equaliser as their defensive frailties again saw them slump to a disappointing defeat.