Southend manager Phil Brown feels his side are getting closer to where he wants them to be after a goalless draw at Exeter

The point did little to help the Seasiders in their battle to avoid the drop in League Two, or help Exeter in their quest for a play-off place, but Brown felt his side should have come away from St James Park with all three points.

“My assessment is that we could have won the game comfortably,” he said. “If truth be known, we should have won the game comfortably. But when it came to the closing stages, we were backs to the wall. They were making subs and putting fresh legs on.

“I am delighted with our application, delighted with the way our young players seemed to be taking everything I am saying on board. More so, the senior players as well.

“I witnessed a brutal assault by Barrow (against Exeter) on Tuesday. Did I want to go the same way? No, I just wanted to play a style of football that would get us into areas in the final third where the front four could hurt the opposition.

“The first 15 minutes of the second half was the best we have played since I have been at the club. That needs to be a longer spell, the first-half mentality was spot on.

“We hit the crossbar in the first half, hit the post last week. We are getting closer.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor admits his players are ‘out on their feet’ right now having played two games a week pretty much since Christmas.

“I am pleased with the effort and endeavour, but the game lacked quality and I can’t describe it in any other way,” he said.

“We just didn’t have it in us to really use the ball, or get the ball or tidy the ball, but that’s not for the want of trying. The energy levels are so low, but towards the end, we created some great chances to win that game of football.

“Their goalkeeper made a great save and Jokull (Andresson) made saves, so credit to both goalkeepers in relation to that.

“Towards the end, we have a certain system and structure to go to and we created chances. You could see they were out on their feet and that is because of the effort they put into the first hour of that game.

“It was a very even encounter and could have gone either way, but you just want to hit the target with those chances, or one of those to go in the back of the net.

“My only criticism of the group was that those chances that fell in and around the penalty box, we didn’t react with that killer instinct, which you need to win a game of football.”