When Shrewsbury Town make a swift return to the Greenhous Meadow tomorrow night, their mission will be clear.

Victory over near rivals Hereford will see Graham Turner’s side head into a 10-day early winter sabbatical in the heart of the promotion race and in prime position to attack the crucial batch of December fixtures.

Anything less and there will be a nagging feeling that Town have failed to truly cash in on a back-to-back home double header after an impressive return on the road during the last month.

As the dust settled on Saturday’s stalemate with a Southend side marshalled well by former Town skipper Graham Coughlan, the statistics still stacked up favourably for Shrewsbury.

Town have all but reached the end of November without tasting defeat in any competition at home and have steadily accumulated an unbeaten four game sequence in the League.

But if last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Stevenage was very much one point gained, the same scoreline on Saturday – exactly 32 years to the day from when Turner began his first spell as Shrewsbury boss and his first foray into management – represented two dropped.

On balance, a draw was just about a fair result. But, having worked themselves into a winning position, there would have been frustration in the home camp that the Southend equaliser should arrive with just three minutes left on the clock.

While this display was solid and workmanlike, it often lacked the tempo, penetration and spark required for the home side to dominate on a day when Southend followed a template increasingly adopted by visitors by packing midfield and attempting to frustrate.

Against such disciplined opponents, achieving the breakthrough was always likely to be the toughest test of the afternoon for the hosts, one which Shrewsbury passed on 47 minutes with a move which illuminated a chilly, gloomy afternoon.

Jake Robinson, who was guilty of wasting two promising first half opportunities, swung in a deep, looping cross which was nodded down intelligently by Matt Harrold and into the path of Mark Wright who controlled his 12 yard half-volley perfectly to angle it into the bottom corner.

With Southend having just one clear opportunity prior to that – Anthony Grant somehow sliding wide with a gilt-edged chance from 10 yards in the first half – the home side would have backed themselves to convert that lead into another home victory.

And they went close to adding to their tally with Wright forcing a fine low save from Morris with a drilled 20 yard shot and returning captain Ian Sharps heading over from a corner.

But as the clock ticked down, so Shrewsbury were guilty of sinking deeper and deeper as a unit in an attempt to preserve their advantage.

That enabled Southend to gain the initiative and enjoy a greater share of territory and possession.

And their reward arrived on 87 minutes when a centre from Craig Easton found Grant as the spare man at the far post, the midfielder atoning for his earlier miss with an expert finish.

That left Shrewsbury searching for a first clean sheet in six games and needing a victory over Hereford tomorrow to head into their 10 day break without a game with momentum.

Match analysis by JAMES GARRISON