AFC Wimbledon suffered a hell of a Christmas hangover at Southend.
A decent second half after Dons played like turkeys in a woeful first period was scant consolation.
They saw striker Lyle Taylor dismissed for two yellow cards, and seconds later irate boss Neal Ardley was sent to the Roots Hall stands.
A second 45 minutes that introduced former Shrimper Tyrone Barnett and Andy Barcham to the action was a rare positive for the 646 travelling fans.
But a terrific save from Southend keeper Ted Smith to deny Tom Elliott's header seconds after the restart was the nearest it got to a Dons comeback.
Where was the swagger from the 4-0 hammering of Port Vale? It looked as if it had been thrown out with the gift wrappings as Southend called the shots.
Even so, AFC could have been ahead before latecomers took their seats.
A poor Southend header put Dominic Poleon in and his decent dig was on target but keeper Ted Smith stuck out a leg, and then got down to pick up the rebound.
After that, it was pretty much one-way traffic.
A hard flat throw from Ryan Leonard saw the Dons defence go AWOL to leave Simon Cox to make it 1-0 into the roof of the net.
The scorer then got a toe to a Marc-Antoine Fortune deflection to hit the bar and United defender Jason Demetriou saw a shot blocked after a bunch of late Christmas gifts from the Dons defence.
Will Atkinson fired over but did a whole heap better when good work from Fortune and Mike Timlin on the left supplied the second scorer to fire in across the helpless Shea and into the corner on 41 minutes.
AFC came out for the second period like they had been woken from a stupor.
Elliott's header looked destined for the net but keeper Smith got low to his save. Barnett hit the side netting as he spun in the box, and Taylor fired over and dragged a second shot well wide before he git first go of the shower gel.
Cox's late chip over Shea for 3-0 on 83 minutes merely rubbed salt in AFC wounds.
Dons starting XI: Shea, Fuller, Bulman, Robinson, Francomb, Reeves, Elliott, Poleon, Kelly, Taylor, Robertson
