Accrington Stanley 1, Southend United 1 (From Echo)

Accrington Stanley 1, Southend United 1

5:53pm Saturday 9th February 2013 in Sport By Chris Phillips

KEVAN Hurst secured 10 man Southend United a 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley this afternoon with a late equaliser from long range.

The Blues winger netted a low shot from 25 yards just eight minutes from time.

And that strike came after Southend centre-back Ryan Cresswell had been off following a clash with Stanley striker James Gray.

Gray had earlier put Stanley in front at the start of the second half.

But such excitement was in stark contrast to a drab first half when both sides struggled to keep hold of possession and create goalscoring chances.

However, Stanley started the second period strongly and went in front in the 58th minute when Romuald Boco latched on to a terrible clearance from Anthony Straker to tee up Gray and he drilled a low, left footed shot in to the bottom right hand corner of the net from 20 yards.

Six minutes later, things get even worse for the Shrimpers when Cresswell saw red after clashing with Gayle right in front of the two dug outs.

That resulted in referee Andy Haines consulting with fourth official Mark Dwyer and brandishing a red card in the direction of the defender.

However, Southend fght hard after being reduced to 10 men and were able to scramble a point eight minutes from time when Hurst sent a skimming 25 yard shot in to the back of the net.