Southend United crashed to their first home defeat in four games, after being undone 3-0 by Norwich City at Roots Hall.
The first half was short of incident with little between the two sides, but Norwich showed the cutting edge needed after the interval, which has taken them into the top six of League One, to score three times without reply.
The first half saw both teams resorting to trying their luck from long range and it was a quick attack from Southend's own penalty area that saw Lee Barnard come close in the early stages.
Debutant Jabo Ibehre laid the ball into his path before he drilled it narrowly over the top of the right-hand upright.
It was then the visitors turn to attack and Grant Holt's shot forced Steve Mildenhall into making a low save.
His team-mates Simon Lappin and Chris Martin soon followed suit, as they both took aim from 25 yards, with efforts that sailed off target.
The most enterprising attack came from Southend though, when Ibehre's quick feet allowed him to find the space to curl the ball goalwards from 20 yards, only for goalkeeper Fraser Forster to react and make a smart save in pushing the ball around the left-hand post.
Ibehre headed an early second half cross over from Scott Malone before play switched to the other end of the field with Wes Hoolahan drilling a low shot, which had Mildenhall scrambling to make an important save.
Barnard fed Damian Scannell for a decent opening, but the winger blazed over the top when well positioned and it wasn't long before the deadlock was broken when Holt scored in the 68th minute.
Hoolahan's cross from the left wing was flicked on by Korey Smith for Holt to pick up possession and arrow a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
Southend did their best to find a response, with Barnard first to meet Simon Francis' cross, only to head over, but Norwich were soon celebrating a second strike in the 77th minute.
Another counter attack allowed Chris Martin to charge forward and as he laid the ball into the path of Smith, his shot took a deflection off Malone as it sailed into the net.
The Blues again looked for a late reply, with Barnard forcing a save from Forster before Jean-Francois Christophe saw a close range effort cleared away from goal.
Such was the way it was going for Southend in front of goal, even when they had the ball in the net, as Ibehre turned in Francis' cross, it was ruled out for handball.
Norwich went on to add a further seal to the scoreline, as Alan McCormack was penalised for a foul on Luke Daley in the penalty box and Holt stepped up to complete the scoring from the spot in injury time.
Southend: Mildenhall, Francis, Morrison, Barrett, Malone, Scannell (Walker 78), Christophe, McCormack, Moussa (Freedman 78), Ibehre, Barnard.
Norwich: Forster, Drury (Adeyemi 46), R Martin, Hughes, Holt, Doherty, Hoolahan (Daley 80), C Martin, Lappin, Smith (Nelson 90), Berthel-Askou.
