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Brown disappointed by draw

Image: Phil Brown: Unhappy with his side's defending

Phil Brown was a frustrated man after seeing Southend's winless streak extended to three games with a 1-1 draw at Exeter.

The Shrimpers went in front in the 33rd minute when David Worrall headed home from close range. But Graham Cummins bagged an equaliser 13 minutes from time for the Grecians - and that disappointed Brown. "We have to defend better than we did for their goal and it's frustrating we haven't won the game," said the Shrimpers boss. "Exeter are a decent side and we had the better of them in the first half. We created a number of good chances and scored a good goal. But the longer it stayed 1-0 the more nervous we seemed to get. "It was nervy on the terraces, in the dug-outs and on the pitch. "Credit to Exeter because they carried on playing and they got an equaliser from that. "They could've got all three points and probably overall a point was a fair result." Brown made six changes to his starting line-up in a bid to get Southend back on track and they had the better of the first half. Lee Barnard wasted a great chance to score in the 28th minute when he struck the left post from close range. But Southend went in front just five minutes later when Will Atkinson's deep, left wing cross was headed home at the far post by Worrall, who was making his first league start since signing for the Shrimpers in the summer. However, Exeter were on top after the break and equalised in the 77th minute when Liam Sercombe's through-ball enabled Cummins to shake off Adam Thompson before lobbing the ball over the advancing Daniel Bentley. Exeter then came close to winning it late on when Jimmy Keohane fired against the foot of the right post from 12 yards. And Grecians boss Paul Tisdale was frustrated not to have won. "Coming off at the end I was pleased with our players but disappointed not to have won the game," said Tisdale. "Being objective, Southend were the better team in the first half and deserved their lead. "We were the better team in the second half and deserved our goal. "We had so much of the play in the final 30 minutes or so we could've scored a second goal and you have to feel disappointed. "We also should've had a penalty 30 seconds before their goal. It was as clear as you're going to get but to come back and get a point at a place like Southend is not too bad. "But we have to go and build on this now." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts

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