Southend 1-2 Shrewsbury: Paul Hurst's side close gap on Wigan

High-flying Shrewsbury moved to within two points of Sky Bet League One leaders Wigan with a 2-1 win at Southend.

The second-placed Shrews opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Alex Rodman sped down the left flank and delivered a cross which Shrimpers defender Ben Coker headed past his own goalkeeper Mark Oxley from close range.

Shrewsbury doubled their lead five minutes before the break when on-loan Norwich midfielder Ben Godfrey latched onto Ryan Leonard's attempted clearance from Shaun Whalley's right-wing corner and sent a superb long-range shot into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Southend got back into the game five minutes into the second half, with Leonard heading home Stephen McLaughlin's left-wing corner at the near post.

And the home side should have levelled in the 74th minute when Shrews goalkeeper Dean Henderson parried out an effort from Simon Cox, only for Nile Ranger to fire the rebound straight at the on-loan Manchester United shot-stopper as Southend slipped to a fourth defeat in five games.