HADLEIGH & Thundersley’s Jack Wagstaff frustrated a Southend & EMT side containing his two brothers at Southchurch Park on Saturday.

Jack scored 69 not out to ensure Hadleigh secured a draw against the promotion pushing home-side.

And the 18-year-old was delighted to help Hadleigh avoid defeat.

“I'm very pleased we held on for the draw and picked up some valuable points at the same time,” said Jack.

“Hopefully they’re vital points in order to save us from relegation.

“When I came to the crease the chase was still on as Olly (Smith) was still out in the middle looking good.

“But when he departed and his brother Luke went quickly after that I felt that I needed to stay in and try and rebuild.

“If I started to go for Southend’s total and threw my wicket away and we ended up losing, I would've taken some of the blame and I didn’t want that to happen.

Instead, Jack dug deep to end the innings unbeaten in what proved to be an intriguing battle against his two older brothers Matt and Oliver, who top scored for Southend with 64.

But Jack found it weird playing against members of his family.

“This is the second time I've played against both my brothers and it does seem strange,” said Jack.

“But at the end of the day they're the opposition and I still want to win against them like I do with every other team.

“Sometimes it's hard as you're so used to wanting them to do well, especially when they used to play for the same club for a long time.

“But when you're playing against them you don't want them to do that well which I think is understandable. “ Seventh placed Hadleigh picked up seven points in the draw and are now 16 points clear of the relegation zone.

However, at the other end of the table, Southend slipped out of the promotion places for the first time this season.

Southend batted first after losing the toss and made 254/7 with Oliver Wagstaff top scoring with 64, Phil Gray hitting 44 and skipper Joe Robbins 41.

In reply, Hadleigh finished on 216/8 with opener Oliver Smith scoring 54.

Ben Wathen and Daniel Ingham both took two wickets for Southend.

And skipper Robbins heaped praise on his side’s performance.

“I'm really pleased with the way we performed, especially with the bat,” said Robbins.

“We got put in on an extremely green wicket so to get 254 was a superb effort and it was made possible by Ollie Wagstaff and Joe Sibbons putting on over 100 for the first wicket.

“We took early wickets regularly, but their middle and lower order made it really difficult to bowl them out, which was very frustrating.

“We tried everything but ultimately weren't quite good enough to get all 10 wickets.”

Third placed Southend are now six points behind Shenfield who they travel to take on in a hugely significant clash this Saturday.