HALSTEAD Town claimed a 2-0 win at Southend Manor in the Essex Senior League, writes KEN GILLIARD.

The Humbugs' vital win - and fourth clean sheet of the season - helped the Humbugs move up a place in the table but more importantly increased the gap between them and the bottom two.

Mark McLean took his injury-ravaged squad to rock-bottom Southend Manor knowing that victory would see them put some clear water between them and their hosts.

The centre-back position was of major concern to Halstead with the absence of Robbie Bennett, although the return of Alfie Cleal and Adam Hampson to the starting line-up would have raised spirits.

Halstead were the more prominent from the start and in the first ten minutes Hampson set Joel Older up twice, the latter saw a shot and then a header going just wide of the mark.

It was another 15 minutes before Halstead managed to get ahead and it came from a home mistake.

The home keeper kicked the ball out and it went straight to Tom White who calmly finished from 25 yards, scoring for consecutive games and in a similar fashion both times.

It wasn’t long before another chance came the way of the Humbugs but Jordan Blackwell, after picking up the ball in the box and beating his man, dragged his shot wide.

It wasn’t until almost 40 minutes were on the clock that the hosts posed a threat but Jay Nash lifted his effort over the bar.

There was then a chink of light for the hosts as Hampson was sin binned for the remainder of the half and Halstead were pleased when the whistle went for the break, although they would have been disappointed to be leading by just the one.

The second half started with the assistant pulling up injured; travelling supporter Harry Buckingham, a qualified referee, took over his duties and the game continued.

Halstead made a strong start and a ball in from Blackwell was met by White, but his effort was saved as was Older’s effort from the rebound.

However, the Humbugs didn’t have to wait long for their second as Blackwell again got a cross in and Older headed home to double the visitors' advantage.

Older almost added to his season’s talent just before the hour mark but he was denied by a good save from the home keeper.

As the clock ticked down, the closest either side got was when Blackwell almost latched onto a through ball from Older.

The hosts did almost reduce the arrears but Halstead managed to cut a dangerous ball out before it reached Nash, who would surely have scored.

The recently-introduced Joe Jones then had a close-range effort which caused the home keeper lots of problems before he kept it from going in.

As the minutes ticked away Manor were grateful to a last-ditch challenge which prevented Halstead adding a third.