Southend United's Bilel Mohsni blames himself for Rotherham United's equaliser (From Echo)

Southend United's Bilel Mohsni blames himself for Rotherham United's equaliser

3:52pm Monday 4th March 2013 in Sport By Chris Phillips

BILEL Mohsni insisted he was to blame for Southend United being held to a 1-1 draw by play-off rivals Rotherham at Roots Hall on Saturday.

A stunning strike from Kevan Hurst had given Blues the lead midway through the second half.

But the Millers equalised through Johnny Mullins just two minutes from time with a goal Mohsni felt he should have stopped happening.

“It was disappointing to let the goal in right at the end and it was my fault too,” said the Frenchman.

“When the ball was in the air I called for it, but because I was tired I didn’t jump as high as I thought I would and ended up missing the ball.

“After that it was hard for the players behind me to react in time and it was horrible when their player put it in because we wanted and needed three points not one.”

The share of the spoils pushed Southend up to eighth in the League Two table, but they are now six points behind Rotherham, who occupy the final play off position.

However, Mohsni is already targeting a return to winning ways at Port Vale this weekend.

“The lads are gutted, but we will go again on Saturday against another good side in Port Vale and try and win there,” said the 25-year-old.

“We felt we should’ve won this one, but we played well in the second half and if we keep that up then we can start to get better results.”

Blues boss Paul Sturrock echoed those sentiments and was disappointed to have only taken a point against the Millers.

“I thought we deserved more from the game and this feels more like a loss than a draw if I’m being honest,” said Sturrock.

“We had some good chances in the first half and, after the break, we were really on top.

“But it’s a frustrating time at the moment because we’re not winning the matches we think we should, and it was same against Northampton and Cheltenham.”

Sturrock added he was disappointed by the manner of Rotherham’s equaliser which he felt two of his “bigger defenders” should have done better with.

However, the Scotsman feels there is still time to get things right.

“We still have a quarter of the season to go, the teams above us have to play each other and we have a game in hand on some of them too,” said Sturrock.

“We also need some of our injured players to get back, because if we had them all available I certainly don’t think we would be in the situation we find ourselves in.”