Southend United suffered a 1-0 defeat against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup Second Round replay at a blustery Boundary Park this evening.

Chris Taylor's second half strike was the decisive goal after Bilel Mohsni received his marching orders in the 38th minute for a second bookable offence leaving the Blues with a huge uphill task.

The solitary strike was enough to send Oldham into the third round meaning Southend missed out on a mouth watering tie away to Liverpool at Anfield.

Blues had the first chance of a game in the 16th minute after Neil Harris managed to find Mohsni in space, giving the Frenchman time to curl an audacious effort from 35 yards which the Alex Cisak tipped over the bar.

Harris then had an effort of his own, trying his luck from 25 yards only to be denied by the outstretched arm of the Oldham keeper as Southend upped the pressure in the opening stages.

Oldham hit back in the 24th minute through Zander Diamond's dangerous flick on from Taylor's free-kick which missed the target by a matter of inches and Dean Furman then rifled a 30 yard swerving strike which Luke Daniels claimed confidently.

Harris thought he had given the away side the lead in the 32nd minute after Ryan Leonard's dangerous long throw found the former Millwall striker whose header was expertly tipped over by the busy Cisak.

The game became end to end with both teams having their chances as Luca Scapuzzi, who terrorised the Southend defence in the draw at Roots Hall volleyed at goal which bounced awkwardly in front of Daniels but the keeper was equal to the strike.

The game took a massive twist as Blues were then reduced to 10 men after Mohsni received his second booking of the game after lunging in on Furman in the centre of the park, leaving Southend with an uphill task as half time approached.

With less than a minute played in the second half Oldham had a goal disallowed after Kieran Lee was adjudged to be in an offside position as he slotted home Daniels' parry from Taylor's left footed effort inside the penalty box.

The Latics made the most of the extra man and took the lead in the 58th minute through the lively Taylor inside the area.

Kuqi crossed the ball from the by-line which James Wesolowski chested down to Taylor, leaving the winger to smash the ball into the roof of the net past the helpless Daniels.

Oldham looked for another goal to kill off their tie and Tom Adeyemi nearly found it, firing a shot which took a deflection off substitute Ryan Hall on the way before Daniels smothered comfortably in the 78th minute.

Southend tried their upmost to find an equaliser in the closing stages but the one man disadvantage seemed to be too much for the away side, leaving Oldham with the lucrative trip to Anfield in the New Year.