A second-half strike from midfielder David Worrall has earned Southend United a 1-0 victory over his former club Bury.
Worrall, who began his career at Gigg Lane, netted a free kick 16 minutes from time to take Southend above Bury in the League Two table.
The first opportunity fell to Bury's Andrew Tutte but his shot was always drifting wide of the post, before Daniel Nardiello saw a strike deflected wide for a corner.
Nathan Cameron should have done better with a close-range header, while Tutte missed the target on two more occasions as Bury continued to push for the opening goal of the match.
Southend had barely registered a threat in the final third, but they did enough to frustrate the hosts for the remainder of the half.
Soon after the restart, Joe Riley curled a free kick wide for the home side, before substitute Worrall finally made Bury stopper Nick Pope work with a free kick, but it was comfortably dealt with by the on-loan Charlton Athletic goalkeeper.
However, in the 74th minute, Worrall took his second chance from a set piece, curling the ball over the wall and into the top corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Bury pushed for an equaliser but they couldn't break down a resilient Southend defence as the visitors registered their 12th away success of the season.
Darren Plant
