Orient took the lead against Southend but ended this latest must-win match with nothing.

Victory for rival's Brighton today means the O's have been sucked deeper into the relegation mire.

They are on level points with fourth bottom Seagulls going into 2010.

Adam Chambers fired Orient in front at Brisbane Road with a volley from 18 yards out, near the hour mark.

But Orient have found it hard to hold on to leads this season, and it happened again so very fast.

Shrimper's skipper Adam Barrett equalised a minute after Chambers' strike had sent the Orient fans crazy.

Then with 16 minutes to go, ex-O's loanee Alan McCormak capitalised on poor defending to hit the visitors ahead. Ben Chorley had failed to clear the lines and it proved so costly.

An injury crisis in defence forced Williams to put Tamika Mkandawire at left back with Luke Ashworth in the centre with Ben Chorley .

Orient started the game strongly with Townsend and Melligan supplying passes into the Southend area.

Patulea showed flashes of skill with good touches inside the box.

But the Romanian struggled to impress himself on much apart from McGleish's head near to half time, shortly before he was subbed off for Loick Pires.

This game was one where Ben Chorley demonstrated his skill in attack, as he combined his sliding tackles with pin-point crosses into the box.

Ashworth should have hit the target when he rose to meet one such effort on 49 minutes, but his header cleared the cross-bar.

Ashworth did a good job keeping Lee Barnand subdued in throughout, with memories still fresh in the minds of Orient fans of the hat-trick the Shrimper scored when the pair last met in September.

The young centre-back is improving into a solid first-team performer.

Loick Pires also got a chance to strut his stuff up-front. And he did so with a neat back-flick to Townsend on 51 minutes. But the youngster blazed wastefully over.

Orient more than matched the Shrimpers for swathesof this game. Southend looked a shadow of the convincing winners they were last time. Still the net remained elusive.

That breakthrough finally came for Orient on 57 minutes.

Townend's shot ricocheted off a defender, and McGliesh nodded the ball in Chambers' direction.

The midfielder was lurking at the edge of the area and hammered home his volley from 18 yards into the corner.

In the story of Orient's season, that lead lasted under a minute. They failed to clear a ball and Chorley's fluffed effort fell at Shrimper's skipper Adam Barrett's feet. He sidefooted home from 10 yards.

The hosts enjoyed plenty of possession but the absence of Sean Thornton through suspension showed. His eye for a cutting pass was missing in the final third. Melligan and Smith toiled to little effect.

Then Alan McCormak broke O's hearts with Southend's second on 74 minutes.

The ex-Orient loanee powered home from close range when the ball fell to him after Barnand lost out in a tussle with Mkandawire.

Demetrou added to the attack when he entered the fray with 15 minutes. But he did himself no favours with a corner kick that pea-rolled to Southend keeper Joyce.

Now Orient are the very cusp of the relegation zone after a suffering a Christmas to forget.

Jones, Chorley (booked), Mkandawire, Ashwoth, Melligan (Demetriou 75), Chambers, McGleish, Cave-Brown, Smith, Patulea (Pires 45), Townsend.

Subs: Morris (GK), Demetriou, Pires, Baker, Mike, Beautyman.

Attendance: 5,680 including 1,432 Southend fans.