Southend United boss Phil Brown: It was the most one-sided 1-1 draw I've ever seen

The Shrimpers boss was pleased with the response of his side following last weekend’s humiliating 5-0 defeat at Rotherham United.

But Brown was frustrated not to have taken all three points against the Pilgrims at Roots Hall.

“In all my time in management I’ve never seen a more one-sided 1-1 draw and I’ve been involved in hundreds and hundreds of games during my career,” said the 58-year-old.

“People can bemoan the strikers not putting the ball in the back of the net but our creativity was there for everyone to see and I thought it was a great response.

“It was absolutely fantastic but we have to get that clean sheet mentality back now too.

“We haven’t had one yet in four games and that’s not good enough.

“That’s the last five per cent of our game and its missing at the moment.”

Brown selected an unchanged starting line-up for the game and saw his side dominate the majority of the first half.

The Shrimpers went in front after just six minutes when Pilgrims centre-back Sonny Bradley headed Jermaine McGlashan’s right wing cross into his own goal.

But Brown felt his side paid the price for not being able to extend their lead during a sustained spell of pressure.

“I said to Cocko (assistant manager Graham Coughlan) after about 55 minutes that we were going to rue this and regret not putting the chances away,” said the Blues chief.

“But the attitude and mentality was there and that’s the most important thing. Unfortunately, we were lacking that killer instinct.

“Last week was a big low in my career, let alone my time at Southend.

“This was a good response but it’s frustrating not to have put them away.”

Plymouth - who improved in the second half after making a double substitution at half-time - equalised just past the hour mark when Ryan Edwards headed home a left wing corner from Graham Carey.

And Brown felt the size of the Pilgrims side meant they were always going to threaten in dead ball situations.

“Plymouth are a big team and if they were going to score it was probably going to be from a set piece,” said Brown.

“But when I turned round and looked in the stands I saw Nile Ranger, Michael Turner, Rob Kiernan and Anthony Wordsworth who are players over six foot three.

“They’re big players for us but I’ve asked the team to get as many points as we can before everyone is back fit.

“The players certainly stepped up and that bit of sparkle is back too.”

Blues have now taken four points from their opening three games of the League One season and will be hoping to add to that tally when they make the short trip to Gillingham this weekend.