Southend United put their play-off rivals Sheffield United to the sword on Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory at Roots Hall, putting them back within six points of the top six, keeping their season alive in the process.

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Goals from Tyrone Barnett, David Worrall, and a late individual goal from the impressive Jack Payne were enough to see off the Blades, who's equaliser from Dean Hammond in the first half was one of few things to shout about for the Bramall Lane club.

It was a determined and gutsy performance from Phil Brown's men, while for Nigel Adkins in the opposite dugout, it was another performance which about summed up the season as a whole for the Blades.

The result leaves them nine points adrift of the top six and down in 13th place, simply not acceptable for United this season.

Here at FLW, we take a look at THREE things learnt from the game last night......

1) Jack Payne looks a player

The little attacking midfielder was a threat all game long and he capped his performance with a stunning individual goal in the 90th minute to seal the win.

The 21-year-old put in an assured performance after being bigged up by the Sky commentators, and it will no doubt have caught the attention of a wealth of clubs who are scouring the lower leagues for talent.

Payne will be in demand in the summer if he continues to put in performances like this between now and the end of the season.

2) Blades dead and buried?

Defeat last night left United nine points off the play-offs with only seven games remaining, and it seems nigh on impossible now that they will make the top six.

They failed to deal with anything Southend threw at them all evening, and looked a poor side in all honestly.

Defensively a shambles and with little urgency going through the midfield, it looks like the season is over for the Blades and is one United fans will be keen to forget.

3) The end for Adkins?

Blades manager Nigel Adkins must surely be clinging on to his job by a thread now.

With the same squad plus a few new faces added to the squad which Nigel Clough guided to the play-offs last term, the players and management have failed to deliver across the board.

It can only go on for so long with Adkins not taking any blame, and his endless positivity in interviews is wearing thin with a lot of fans now.

Adkins has previously had a good record in the league of taking teams to promotion, but it just seems something is not quite right between him and the club at the moment, and it will be amazing if Adkins sees out the season with the way things are going.