DANIEL BENTLEY saved a last gasp penalty to earn a dogged Southend United a  0-0 draw at Peterborough this afternoon.

Blues came into the game on the back of three heavy defeats in succession.

But a defensive looking line-up were able to stop the rot by picking up a share of the spoils at London Road as Bentley kept out a stoppage time spot-kick from Chris Forrester.

Posh, the top scorers in League One started brightly and Erhun Oztumer came close to giving them an early lead when he jinked his way past Gary Deegan before having a well struck 25 yard shot impressively tipped over the crossbar by Daniel Bentley.

Moments later, Blues full-back Luke O’Neill fired straight at Posh goalkeeper Ben Alnwick before the shot-stopper palm away Tyrone Barnett’s header from Jack Payne’s right wing corner.

In reply, Peterborough’s in-form striker Conor Washington sent a deflected 20 yard shot wide of the left post before the lively Oztumer saw an effort from a similar distanced parried to safety by Bentley.

After the break, Bentley did superbly well to claw away Lee Angol’s close range header before the Shrimpers shot-stopper impressively tipped over a well struck 20 yard shot from Washington.

Posh continued to push forward with Chris Forrester having a swerving 20 yard shot well held by Bentley but Blues stood firm and hit back in the 75th minute with Ryan Leonard teeing up Jack Payne who dragged his low, left footed shot wide of the right post.

Seven minutes after the change, the Shrimpers made their first change of the game with Noel Hunt replacing Tyrone Barnett in attack.

But it was Posh who squandered a golden chance to win the game right at the death when the hosts were awarded a controversial penalty following a challenge from Adam Thompson.

However, Bentley was not to be beaten as he dived to his left hand side to smother Forrester’s spot-kick.