THE town of Cheltenham is better known for horses than its football.

But it was very much Southend United who were not at the races at Whaddon Road on Saturday.

Blues were easily brushed aside by their promotion rivals as Paul Sturrock's side sunk to their first league reverse since September.

And, with Crawley Town winning against Burton Albion, the disappointing 3-0 defeat was also enough for Southend to slip off the top of the table.

The game was initially slow to get going before Cheltenham kick started it in to life by opening the scoring with the first chance of the afternoon after 20 minutes.

Russell Penn was the provider as he out-fought Jean Paul Kalala down Town’s right hand side before also working his way past Peter Gilbert and delivering a low cross which picked out Jimmy Spencer.

The striker then made no mistake with an assured low finish which squirmed past Blues' on loan goalkeeper Luke Daniels from close range for his seventh goal of the season.

Cheltenham then came close to doubling their lead in the 27th minute when centre-back Steve Elliott saw his powerful header from Marlon Pack’s right wing corner tipped over the crossbar by Luke Daniels.

That proved to be the only action of an uneventful opening half which saw Southend remain on the back foot.

And that trend continued at the start of the second period.

Subsequently, the Robins doubled their advantage in the 52nd minute – following an incredible goal-mouth scramble which was started and finished by Penn.

The former Scunthorpe United trainee was initially denied by Daniels before the ball broke to Spencer and his shot which was heading towards a gaping goal was somehow diverted away by a sliding Gilbert.

However, the let off did not last long for Blues as Pack struck the inside of the left post with the outside of his right foot from 20 yards before Mark Phillips failed to clear the rebound and Penn unleashed a six yard shot which was palmed in to the bottom left hand corner of the net by the palm of Daniels.

Cheltenham came close to going even further in front just seven minutes later when Pack unleashed a fantastic 30 yard shot which came back off the inside of the right post with Daniels well beaten.

In reply, Blues almost got back in to the game when Kane Ferdinand’s cross deflected off Robins’ left-back Luke Garbutt and forced Town goalkeeper Jack Butland to tip the ball around the right post.

In a bid to get more involved in the game, Southend soon made two substitutions as they brought on both Anthony Grant and the fit again Ryan Leonard in quick succession.

But they made little difference and Cheltenham sealed their win in the 80th minute when Pack burst through the centre of the park and cut back past Phillips before firing a low, left footed shot from 20 yards in to the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Southend tried to keep going and, three minutes from time, they finally registered their first shot on target as a deflected long range shot from Bilel Mohsni was easily kept out by Butland.

Moments later, Ferdinand shot wide of the left post from six yards after doing well to control Leonard's right wing cross and create the chance.

However, the midfielder's failure to finish summed up a frustrating afternoon for Blues as their winless streak stretched to four matches.