Resurgent Southend moved off the foot of the Sky Bet League Two table with a 2-0 win against Essex rivals Colchester at Roots Hall.

First-half goals from Simeon Akinola and Timothee Dieng saw the Shrimpers come out on top as Mark Molesley’s side extended their unbeaten run to five games.

Southend opened the scoring after just 10 minutes, with Akinola bagging his first goal for Southend as he headed home a fine left-wing cross from Sam Hart from 12 yards out.

The Shrimpers remained on top and doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Kyle Taylor charged forward before rolling a fine pass into the path of Dieng, who fired home with an excellent first-time finish.

Colchester came close to scoring just before the break, with Kwame Poku curling an effort against a post.

But the Shrimpers held on to make it nine Boxing Day games without defeat.