Bradford’s joint interim manager Mark Trueman was delighted to guide the Bantams to a 3-1 win at rock bottom Southend

The victory made it seven matches unbeaten since Trueman and Conor Sellars took charge.

And Trueman was thrilled to bag an important result which moved City up to 18th in the standings.

“I’m delighted to get the three points,” said Trueman.

“It was a big game for us and it takes us further away from the relegation zone.

“We showed we can be adaptable with how we can play but we’re disappointed with the goal we gave away.

“We spoke about more players getting forwards and we did that on the counter-attack well in the second half.

“Danny Rowe is off the mark which is great and Gareth Evans got two himself.

“We know his qualities because we see them every day in training.

“But the more games he gets the more goals he will create and score.

“We need to add more goals though and we’ve worked on that so it was good to get three here along with the three points.”

In-form City went in front after 23 minutes at Roots Hall with Evans firing home after Callum Cooke had been denied by Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley.

The Shrimpers equalised eight minutes later with defender Elvis Bwomono battling his way through before netting with a low shot that hit the back of the net via the inside of the left post.

The goal was Bwomono’s first since February 2020 but he came close to netting another just before the break as he fired wide of the right post from close range.

After the break, Rowe had two spectacular long-range efforts impressively saved by Oxley before he collected Cooke’s pass to stroke home from 12 yards.

Evans made sure of the win with a fine finish following another through ball from Cooke in the 74th minute to condemn the struggling Shrimpers to a third home defeat in the space of eight defeats.

And boss Mark Molesley knows improvements are needed for the Shrimpers to stay up.

“We’re absolutely gutted,” said Molesley.

“It’s a tough feeling but we’ve been here before and we know we can get a run going.

“We need another one straight away now and we have to take our chances.

“We had some gilt-edged chances we haven’t taken and we’ve been punished.

“We didn’t take our opportunities and they took theirs.

“That’s been the story for the last few games and we have to cut out the errors we’re making.

“We’ve slipped for two of their goals and it’s the way it seems to be going for us.”