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Joe Pigott had loan spells at Gillingham and Newport County before joining Southend

A first-half brace from on-loan striker Joe Pigott earned Southend victory over Cheltenham as the Shrimpers extended their unbeaten league run to 10 games.

Pigott, who arrived at Roots Hall from Charlton in January, fired in from close range to put the hosts ahead.

He then placed a superb header into the bottom-left corner from Ben Coker's free-kick to double the lead.

Cheltenham's best chance saw Matt Taylor's second-half header cleared off the line by Michael Timlin.

The win for Phil Brown's men was Southend's first victory in a home midweek game in almost three-and-a-half-years and leaves them in fourth place, just two points off an automatic promotion spot.

Cheltenham manager Paul Buckle told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"It's very hard to take. The overall performance level wasn't that bad and the effort from the players was there.

"But at certain moments there's a bit of weakness in us. It's been happening for a long time.

"We've got to work our socks off to try and cut them out because we're not under severe pressure.

"We just find it really hard to concentrate for 90 minutes."