HARRY Kewell put Oldham’s drab draw with struggling Southend down to an off day in the final third.

Latics registered their only shot on target in the 88th minute with Carl Piergianni also putting a header over in stoppage time.

But that was about that from the hosts and a late winner would have been harsh on the Shrimpers, back in the bottom two at the end of play, after they hit the woodwork twice, and also saw other chances come and go.

Kewell tried to look to the positives as Latics picked up just their second clean sheet in League Two this season against the lowest scorers in the EFL.

“I think people have underestimated Southend,” he said.

“They had a terrible start and so did we. We’re trying to pick up the pieces now and we’re rebuilding and our home form hasn’t been great.

“A clean sheet for us is fantastic, we knew they were going to go long and direct, they’re a physical team.

“We had to deal with that today and I felt we did. Law of averages says they’re going to have one chance, which they did, other than that they didn’t cause us too many problems.

“For me it was just our final third where it’s the creative side. I put a lot of pressure on my attacking players to create and it just wasn’t there today.”

The first-half was a turgid affair with the visitors having the best of a chances.

Emile Acquah sent a half-volley over Ian Lawlor’s crossbar early in the piece before testing the Latics ‘keeper with a header 10 minutes before the interval.

From the very next attack the Shrimpers came close to breaking the deadlock, Reeco Hackett-Fairchild’s effort coming back off the crossbar.

For Latics, Bobby Grant sent a header wide of the mark after a burst from Dylan Fage down the right while Marcel Hilssner tried his luck from distance on more than one occasion with no success.

After a bad first half, things should have got a whole lot worse for Kewell in the early stages of the second half.

First Acquah thumped a header against the crossbar and then when through on goal the big striker sliced wide when he should have a least brought a save out of Lawlor.

Things settled into similar pattern as the first half with returning top scorer Conor McAleny brought on for the injured Serhat Tasdemir with half an hour to play.  

But it would take until two minutes from time for Latics to test James Montgomery, Grant heading tamely at the keeper.

Piergianni then arguably had Oldham’s best chance of the afternoon when he powered a header from a Nicky Adams free-kick over the crossbar.

“Defensively we looked solid, we worked the ball well and had an idea of what we wanted,” Kewell added.

“We failed to execute at certain times and ultimately I felt our delivery in the final third wasn’t good enough today.

“Our first decent delivery today was our last free-kick and he’s just misguided his header.

“I felt we were in control of the game, don’t get me wrong, both teams are fighting. They’re fighting for everything, we’re fighting to put our performances right at home.

“If we flip it and look at the positives, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of criticism but it’s a clean sheet and there were chances at both ends, so ultimately it’s probably a fair result.”