KEVAN Hurst surprised everyone except for himself by rescuing a point for 10-man Southend United at Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

The Blues winger bagged an 82nd-minute equaliser as Paul Sturrock’s side recovered from having Ryan Cresswell sent off to pick up a point.

But Hurst always knew he was going to hit the back of the net at the Crown Ground.

“I sometimes just know when I’m going to score a goal and I had that here,” said Hurst, who has now bagged five goals for Southend this season.

“I thought I was going to get one on Tuesday against Leyton Orient, but then when I didn’t I knew one would come today.

“And it was pleasing to see the ball hit the back of the net as it helped us get a point in difficult circumstances.”

Hurst celebrated the goal by running to his family in the stands and he was thrilled to also hit the back of the net with his granddad in attendance.

“My granddad doesn’t get to many of my games now, so it was special to score with him here and that’s why I ran over to him after the goal,” said Hurst.

“It was a nice moment and I think we were all pleased to see it go in because things just didn’t click for us out there.”

The draw pushed Blues down to seventh in the League Two standings and also frustrated manager Sturrock, who was disappointed by his team’s disjointed display.

“I’m just exasperated about that game and our performance,” said Sturrock.

“I don’t know how we can go from playing so well at Leyton Orient to playing like that here because at times we were abysmal.

“The tempo wasn’t there and we only started to improve after Ryan was sent off.

“All of a sudden we seemed to step up three gears, chase things down and get more men forward.

“But I just don’t understand why we couldn’t do that from the start of the game.”