Southend United 2 Bradford City 0: Bantams return empty-handed

The two strikers netted in quick succession to hand the Shrimpers their first victory of the season.

It could have been more for Chris Powell's side, who should have triumphed by a far greater margin following a number of missed chances.

The hosts dominated the majority of the first half with Stephen McLaughlin, Michael Kightly and Jason Demetriou all going close to opening the scoring.

At the start of the second half, John White saw his close range volley tipped onto the crossbar by Bradford goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell, but Powell did not have to wait much longer before the deadlock was finally broken.

It came in the 52nd minute, when Kightly's pin-point cross from the left was met by Hopper and the striker planted a firm header into the left hand side of the net for his second of the season.

Four minutes later, the Shrimpers doubled their lead when Kightly teed up Ben Coker and his cross was nodded into the back of the net by Cox.

The forward should then have added a third but his chipped shot bounced back off the crossbar, but the Shrimpers were comfortably placed to pick up their first win of the league campaign.

City boss Michael Collins said: “I’m not going to defend the performance. They wanted it more than us.

“There was more desire from them, there was more commitment to win second balls and more desire to do the ugly side of the game. That hurts me because it’s a difficult one to take.

“I’m not one of those who will come out and slate the players publicly. But they were told in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable.”