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The two teams are among the bookmakers' favourites to go down and on this evidence it is Southend who have the most to worry about.
Rangers were on top from the start, with new signing Dexter Blackstock at the centre of everything.
The forward, who signed from Southampton in midweek, marked his debut for the club by getting booked in the opening minute for diving, but quickly put that behind him and almost opened the scoring after ten minutes.
The youngster burst in to the box but saw his left-foot shot well saved by Southend goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan.
The Shrimpers goalie had a busy time of it in the opening 20 minutes and did well too keep out two further efforts from Rangers' Lee Cook and Gareth Ainsworth.
But Flahavan could do nothing about the opening goal which came just after the half-hour mark. Rangers' tricky winger Cook was fouled just outside the box and from the resulting free-kick, he touched the ball to Martin Rowlands, who thundered a drive in to the top left-hand corner.
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Rangers continued to dominate proceedings and doubled their lead in the 41st minute.
Ainsworth sent over a deep cross and youngster Ray Jones won the aerial battle with Flahavan. The ball squirmed to Nick Ward, who had the simple task of tapping in with the goalkeeper stranded.
Flahavan suffered a knock to the head in the collision with Ray Jones and was replaced by substitute keeper Steve Collis.
The Shrimpers came to life in the second period and Rangers goalie Paul Jones, who was redundant in the first half, had to make a save from Luke Guttridge.
Southend battled away but the closest they came to scoring was a shot by Jamal Campbell-Ryce in the final minute, which was well saved by Paul Jones.