A LATE own goal from Stewart Drummond rescued a deserved share of the spoils for Southend United against Morecambe at a packed Roots Hall this afternoon.

Blues seemed to be heading for defeat when Phil Jevons fired the visitors ahead at the start of the second half.

But, after Jevons was sent off for pushing out at substitute Anthony Grant in the 75th minute, Southend secured a 1-1 draw when Drummond sliced a goalbound effort from Sean Clohessy past his own goalkeeper.

A point was the very least Blues deserved but Morecambe were initially on top early on as Lewis Alessandra teed up Garry Hunter and his chipped left footed shot from 20 yards was easily saved by Blues goalkeeper Glenn Morris.

Southend soon hit back with Neil Harris diverting a drilled Jean-Paul Kalala half volley wide of the right post.

But, in the 11th minute, it was the Shrimps pushing forward again as Laurence Wilson’s left wing cross was volleyed over at the back post by an unmarked Andy Parrish.

In reply, Peter Gilbert fired an ambitious 40 yard effort over the crossbar following a poor clearance from visiting keeper Barry Roche.

However, the defender should then have done better in the 33rd when he failed to connect with a left wing corner from Hall when left unmarked eight yards from goal.

Moments later, an off balance Ryan Leonard volleyed wide of the right post from 25 yards and, on the stroke of half-time, the recalled Hall worked his way past two defenders before forcing Roche in to action with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area.

At the start of the second half, Hall flashed a shot across the face of goal from a narrow angle but, in the 48th minute, the visitors wasted a golden chance to open the scoring as an unmarked Alessandra failed to make any contact with an excellent right wing cross from Hunter.

Looking to make amends, Allesandra then fired straight at Morris from 20 yards but in the 53rd minute the striker turned provider as he charged through the centre of the park before rolling the ball through to Jevons.

The striker then advanced in on Morris and cooly beat the advancing keeper with an assured finish from 12 yards for his fourth career goal against Southend.

Three minutes later Blues thought they were back level when Dickinson tapped home from close range after Roche had impressively parried out a deflected long range free-kick from Leonard.

But the close range shot was ruled out for offside.

In a bid to get his side back in to the game, Southend boss Paul Sturrock made a double substitution in the 63rd minute as Grant and Bilel Mohsni entered the action in place of Kalala and Leonard.

And just moments after Grant’s introduction the midfielder fired just past the left post with his left foot from 20 yards.

With Blues still pushing forward for an equaliser, Hall shot wide of the opposite upright from a similar distance and, in the 69th minute, Roche did brilliantly to divert Harris’ header from Gilbert’s left wing cross wide of the target with his outstretched left boot.

Timlin then fired inches wide of the left post with a measured left footed shot from 20 yards before the visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute after Jevons was sent off for raising both of his hands to Grant who immediately fell to the floor.

Southend tried to make the most of their extra man with Mohsni volleying a left wing corner from Hall wide of the left post.

And they eventually equalised in the 83rd minute when Clohessy cut in off the right hand side hand and unleashed a well struck left footed shot which Drummond sliced past his own goalkeeper with a miscued volley.

Blues remained on top after the goal but, despite six minutes of added on time, they were unable to conjure up a late winner as they slipped to second in the table.