BLADES ARE BLUNTED BY WOODWORK
penalty area against the left post before his header struck the opposite upright.
Southend hit back with David Worrall firing over from 12 yards, but Sheffield United almost won it three minutes from time when Sharp sent a 20-yard shot against the right post to ensure the two teams drew for the first time in history.
However, Shrimpers assistant manager Graham Coughlan was still not sure if he should be happy to pick up a point.
“When you’re 2-0 up in any game you expect to see it through and you expect to win it,” said Coughlan.
“We always knew it would be tough here but we were different class for 35 minutes. After that the next goal was always going to be huge and unfortunately they got back into it before half-time.
“In the second half it was back to the walls for us but we still had one or two little counter-attacks with David Worrall going close.
“Overall though, I thought it was a thoroughly entertaining game for both sets of fans.
“If you had offered me a point before the game I would’ve taken it but we put ourselves into a good position to have got all three.
“We’re still finding our feet in this division but we seem to get punished for our errors but our opponents don’t so we need to be more ruthless.
“It’s four league games without a win now as well and we want that run to end as quickly as we possibly can.”