SOUTHEND & EMT skipper Joe Robbins was left suffering a familiar feeling following his side’s draw with Colchester & East Essex on Saturday.

The draw was Southend’s second in succession in the Premier League and came after a poor batting display stopped them being able to secure their first victory of the season, much to the frustration of Robbins.

“It was a very similar story for us really,” said Robbins.

“They chose to bat on what looked a really good deck, but we were superb with the ball up front and to have them 35/5 was a brilliant effort.

“They put a really well worked partnership together for the sixth wicket.

“But I didn’t feel we particularly bowled very well and made it too easy for them to score.

“Them scoring 231 wasn’t the end of the world for us on a good deck however, unfortunately again we never gave ourselves a chance with the bat.

“Some silly wickets meant we were always behind it but Drucey batted brilliantly to get us up to over 200.

“Again it’s disappointing not to have won but it’s another game we haven’t lost and we go into next week in good spirits.”

Colchester opted to bat first after winning the toss at Castle Park and initially found runs hard to come by as they slumped to 32/5.

However, the home side’s number seven batsman Ollie Lovejoy then came to the rescue, scoring an unbeaten 114 as Colchester ended their innings on 231/8.

Robbins was the pick of Southend’s bowlers as he took an impressive 6-69 from 19 overs.

Adam Rendall, with 1-23, and Michael Gridley, with 1-63, were Southend’s other wicket takers.

But Southend also started their innings slowly and were reduced to 23/3.

However, Harry Ridgewell steadied the ship with 33 before Matthew Wagstaff (25), Robbins (26) and Joe Sibbons (25 not out) also made contributions.

But it was Callum Druce who caught the eye most for Southend as he scored an impressive 64 from just 38 balls.

Druce scored three sixes and eight fours during his innings before being bowled by Jack Hebron.

Rendall ended on 16 not out as the game ended in a draw to leave Southend second from bottom in the table.

Southend will now be looking to secure their first victory of the season when they host leaders Chelmsford on Saturday.