For the hosts it was a vital point to stop a run of defeats and assistant manager Alan Knill felt the introduction of three new loan signings gave his side a boost.
"We knew what sort of characters they are and we know what they can do for us," he said after a whirlwind of transfer activity at Sixfields towards the end of last week saw boss Chris Wilder draft in midfielders Jason Taylor and Ricky Holmes and defender Brendan Moloney.
Southend manager Phil Brown was disappointed to have conceded an equaliser but praised the hosts for getting the game on in the first place and then contributing to an entertaining match.
"We kept asking questions of them but I think you had two teams who wanted to play and who wanted to get at each other as well."