Southend United 0 - 1 Shrewsbury Town : Percival header enough for Shrewsbury to beat Southend

Posted Sunday, September 13, 2015 by PA

Nathaniel Knight-Percival's second half header secured Shrewsbury a 1-0 win at Southend.

The Shrews centre-back nodded home Liam Lawrence's left wing free-kick in the 56th minute of the match to give the visitors a well-deserved win.

Shrewsbury, who were promoted along with Southend from League Two last season, edged an uneventful first half with Larnell Cole slicing their best chance wide of the right from 10 yards.

But Knight-Percival showed far more composure 11 minutes after the break when he rose well to head home from 12 yards.

Southend came close to netting an immediate equaliser when Anthony Wordsworth thundered a 20 yard shot against the top of the left post before David Mooney's effort from the resulting rebound was deflected over the crossbar.

Shrimpers boss Phil Brown made a trio of substitutions and changed to a more attacking formation in a bid to get back into the game.

But Shrewsbury never looked troubled and only three excellent saves from Daniel Bentley stopped them securing a more convincing win as the highly rated shot-stopper twice denied Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro before he also denied James Collins.