Nine-man Southend United battled bravely for a point against Exeter City on Saturday as they kept their fourth consecutive clean sheet on home turf.

Carlisle's Steve Finney was the last opposition player to find the net at Roots Hall on January 23, and Blues have now gone 431 minutes without conceding a goal at home.

However, this latest Roots Hall encounter highlighted their problems at the other end of the field as they failed to extend their home run to a hat-trick of league successes.

The Seasiders had plenty of chances to wrap up this lukewarm encounter long before the controversial second-half dismissals of defender Rob Newman and Mark Beard, as they dominated the opening exchanges without reaching second gear.

However, Grecians custodian Ashley Bayes kept Blues at bay with a string of first-half reflex saves which convinced everyone in the ground that Southend would seal another Third Division win during the second period.

That was until referee Mark Warren - a policeman by trade - made himself about as popular as a speeding ticket with a rash of yellow cards.

The Walsall official had taken the names of Newman and Beard within 11 minutes of the restart for a couple of inconspicuous offences.

However, Warren was only warming up for his grand finale where he harshly booked the same two players again within another 23 minutes for late challenges outside the Southend box.

Blues stuck to their guns and stood firm against the aerial bombardment which followed to grind out a hard-earned point, which would have been all three if they had made their first-half superiority count.

Southend boss Alvin Martin kept faith with the same starting 11 which had impressed during Blues' previous match - a 2-0 home win over Swansea City.

The Seasiders conjured up a golden opportunity to stay on the victory trail after only 10 minutes when left-winger Scott Houghton hit a peach of a cross into Exeter's six-yard box, but striker Barry Conlon's point-blank header was somehow turned over the bar by Bayes.

Conlon's partner in crime Neville Roach had an opportunity to get it right five minutes later when Beard intelligently nudged the ball through to the pacey forward.

After drawing Bayes off his line Roach scuffed his effort allowing the keeper to push away his low shot, which was cleared for a corner by defender Jon Gittens as Conlon moved in for the kill.

However, that was not the end of the drama as the resulting Houghton corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the Exeter box to Newman who sent a scorching shot whistling back in towards goal which Bayes again parried to safety.

Having weathered the early storm the visitors began to muscle their way back into the game and finally registered their first shot on target after 26 minutes when Blues keeper Mel Capleton saved Jimmy Gardner's 25-yard free-kick.

This lifted Exeter and Darren Rowbotham should have done much better eight minutes before half-time when he headed Paul Tosh's right-wing cross weakly at Capleton from 12 yards out.

Rowbotham had another chance to open the scoring three minutes after the restart, but this time Blues' defensive colossus Barry Hunter, playing his last game on loan from Reading, blocked the forward's shot inside the six-yard box.

Southend hit back four minutes later following some clever footwork from Conlon inside the Exeter penalty area. The big Irishman twisted and turned his way into the Exeter box before chipping a cross to the far post which Houghton blasted straight at Bayes' chest from a couple of yards.

Newman and Beard picked up their first bookings of the afternoon after 53 and 56 minutes before Capleton denied Exeter with a fine one-handed save, pushing Lee Baddeley's close-range header onto the bar.

Tosh was guilty of missing the chance of the match after 63 minutes when he skinned Blues' full-back Martyn Booty before shooting woefully wide of Capleton's left-post with only the keeper to beat.

However, if he thought he was having a bad day, it got worse for Southend's Newman three minutes later as the big defender trudged off the pitch in disbelief after being shown a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Rowbotham.

Undeterred, Southend continued their search for a winning goal as midfielder Lars Unger fired inches wide of Exeter's left-post from 20 yards before pulling back a by-line cross which Conlon hammered into the side netting.

With 13 minutes left Exeter's Steve Flack shot inches wide of the right-post before Beard was given his marching orders two minutes later after a late challenge on Gardner - who amazingly got straight back on his feet after the Southend full-back had been removed from the field of play.

Blues were not going to be undone however and rallied against Exeter's long-ball assault on their goal.

The Grecians did come close to snatching an undeserved three points during the last two minutes as Rowbotham fired over the bar from six-yards and Capleton saved a 20-yard piledriver from Graham Power.

Neville Roach - hard-working striker did not get sufficient service from Southend's midfield

(Right) Lars Unger - feels the force of this Exeter challenge as he charges down the line at Roots Hall on Saturday

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

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