It was fast and furious from the outset and three goals came in a golden seven-minute spell, it may have taken Tranmere over two and a half hours to score against Accrington Stanley but against the Blues defence they had grabbed a brace in the first 14 minutes!
The home side could have been ahead in the fourth minute but Aaron Cresswell was denied a debut goal from a free-kick by a fine diving save from Adam Federici.
Referee Pawson then made a decision that was to haunt him for the rest of the game when Tranmere's Kay nearly cut Harding into two over on the left touchline which should have been a straight red. He was seen smiling as he got away with a yellow and his colleagues then decided it was open season on any Southend player who dared try and go past them but took particular delight in fouling Sawyer who made fools of them on several occasions.
It was ironic that the young Chelsea loanee, in his last game along with HRK for the Shrimpers, (for now I hope), then got booked himself for reacting to yet another cynical challange!
The outstanding Federici though could do nothing about an Ian Moore volley just inside the box from Chris Shuker's cross in the eighth minute, Francis having gone AWOL. (No wonder the Aussie wants to stay, he gets plenty of practice! Tilly, take up that offer of a third month now!)
United responded immediately with Alex Revell somehow flicking a Kevin Betsy cross over keeper Danny Coyne two minutes later after good work by Sawyer.
Tranmere kept roaring forward and Bas Savage was allowed to make ground before beating Federici with an excellent strike from 20 yards.
The Merseysiders should have added to their lead but Moore and Savage missed the target from clear openings and Federici made good saves from Steve Jennings and Antony Kay.
Southend weathered the storm and levelled totally against the run of play in the 35th minute when Betsy fired home for his first goal for Southend after a Hal Robson-Kanu shot had rebounded off a post.
Chris Greenacre fired into the side-netting for Tranmere soon after the break while at the other end Coyne blocked a Robson-Kanu effort.
Tranmere were almost ahead again in the 62nd minute but Kay struck the outside of a post from Shuker's cross.
Kay was always in the thick of the action when, of course, he shouldn't have even been on the pitch, as Tranmere looked dangerous every time they moved forward.
Southend had many anxious moments in defence but stuck to their task admirably, helped by Tranmere missing a couple of real sitters, well led by skipper Adam Barrett.
The Yellows then had Francis Laurent dismissed in the 71st minute for an alleged headbutt on Ryan Shotton during a flare-up. To be honest we had won the free-kick and the French striker should not have got involved.
Christophe, later, had to be held back by Captain Adam as he showed his support for his French speaking colleague by continuing to make a point or two to Pawson, who probably couldn't understand him! (Shouts of 'Come on Christophe' as we entered stoppage time went unheard, don't they know he only scores when we'll losing!)
Snoop came on to shore up the midfield for the now ineffective Betsy and Sawyer was to be replaced by Macca but received a deserved standing ovation from the travelling faithful.
Revell was left on his own up front and though still not really convincing worked his bloody socks off, chasing many lost causes, and deserves applause for that.
Tranmere were also finally reduced to ten men 12 minutes later, chants of 'hallelujah, hallelujah' from the away end, when Steve Jennings picked up a second yellow card as the ref started to lose all control.
He was as happy to blow the final whistle as Southend were to hear it and gain a very good draw, Southend's third on the trot, when they were outplayed for long periods of the game, especially in the first 45 where some poor defending on both flanks, even Harding was affected after he was nearly sent into row H, could have seen us go in one or two goals behind.
Blues boss Steve Tilson acknowledged as much when he told Blues World that it was a 'good point', continuing: "We weren't good enough in the first half and had to improve. We gave Tranmere too much time on the ball and the game could have been over by the half hour mark. I said this to the players at half-time and we got more into them in the second half. We showed character again to twice come back and get a draw. I thought both red card decisions were correct and there could have been one or two more out there. Laurent is now going to miss three games and with Dougie and Barney both injured, we will have to see if other people can take their chance."
Could this mean we'll see the resurrection of Paul Furlong?
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