Alexander frustrated by Worrall late show

GRAHAM Alexander tried to look for the positives but admitted his frustrations after substitute David Worrall’s late equalising chip denied Fleetwood Town an opening-day victory.

Fleetwood new boy Declan McManus couldn’t have wished for a better start to his career as he opened the scoring with a 25-yard blockbuster with 33 minutes played.

McManus almost doubled his side’s lead in the second half but was denied by the crossbar before Worrall made Town pay with six minutes remaining.

Joe Pigott found himself one-on-one with Chris Maxwell with the keeper coming out on top only for Worrall to capitalise on the rebound and chip in the equaliser from outside the area - much to the disappointment of Alexander.

“I thought we played some good stuff, but I’m disappointed we got the point because we took the lead with a fantastic strike from Dec and we had other opportunities,” he said.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t extent our lead from 1-0 but we had to stick our tin hats on in the second half because there were a lot of balls coming into our box.

“It was right after halftime and would’ve killed any momentum Southend were trying to get.We still had other opportunities which we needed to take.

“Unfortunately we didn’t. There are positives, it’s a good start but we want to win as many home games as possible.”

Both sides looked threatening early on but it was Fleetwood that set the pace.

Bobby Grant, starting his second spell with the Cod Army, tested David Bentley before Will Atkinson failed to seize on a weak Maxwell pass.

Just before the halfhour mark McManus found his opening and took advantage to give his side the lead heading into the break.

The second-half saw Jamille Matt’s header saved before McManus was denied his second after his close-range effort rattled the woodwork.

Phil Brown responded and made his intentions clear as he sent on Noel Hunt, Worrall and Pigott and the changes paid dividends.

Worrall’s 84th-minute effort saved a point for Brown and he believes it was a display that underlined their character.

“We came to get something and the longer it goes on you start to think there’s something there for you,” said Brown.

“They could’ve killed us off just after half-time with a chance that hit the crossbar.

“We kept on knocking at the door and it eventually opened. It was a quality finish.

“I thought, to be fair, we deserved to get something from the game, we could’ve gone and won”