Accrington 1-1 Southend
Last updated on .From the section Football
Accrington were denied their first win since New Year's Day as Southend grabbed a late equaliser.
After a lacklustre first half, Stanley took the lead when James Gray slotted past Paul Smith from inside the area.
It got worse for the visitors when Ryan Creswell was sent off for violent conduct after appearing to push Gray.
Despite being a man down, promotion-chasing Southend stole a share of the points when Kevan Hurst's 20-yard drive found the bottom corner.
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Accrington Stanley manager Leam Richardson told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I couldn't tell you have we've not won. They had one half-chance and scored a goal when they were down to 10 men and at their weakest.
"On the positive side, I couldn't be prouder and ask any more of the players. We've put a solid performance in today.
"The Southend staff will be rubbing their hands together knowing they've gone away with a point today."
Southend United manager Paul Sturrock told BBC Essex:
"You can't play at the tempo we tried to play at and win football games. We've come off a real hard game on Tuesday, had to travel a distance and we didn't come out of the traps at all.
"Even then we've had a couple of half-chances we should have done better with.
"Too many of our players [weren't at their best], whatever reason that is, until the sending off and then the temperament changed.
"All of a sudden the hunger came back in the team - ten men were pegging 11 men back."
