Southend missed a series of chances which left manager Phil Brown bemoaning their inability to clinch victory over Carlisle.
The Shrimpers' boss felt his side had enough opportunities to have won the game and admitted that it could be time to hand some of his players a start instead of a seat on the bench.
"That's five points we've dropped in a week," said Brown. "I thought we had enough chances to win the game today. It's alright playing well, but we did enough to win and we haven't done that."
"You should never bemoan a point, but it was two dropped. I was going to make three changes at half time if we had gone in 1-0 down.
"But we equalised and it calmed down at half time. In the second half it was fairly one way traffic and we had enough chances to win. I think there is a bit of anxiety in the final third and maybe I'm putting too much pressure on them.
"However I don't want to be messing around this season. We need to get in the top six or seven at the start."
Brown admitted: "It's alright playing good football and coming away with a point. The clean sheet mentality has to come back. That's two games where we went behind. I need players 100 per cent from the start and we did not have that today. It's a beautiful pitch but we didn't grab hold of the game as we know we can.
"One or two questions need to be answered before our next game at Plymouth. Maybe it's time for the guys on the bench to get a starting position. We are not relaxing and putting our chances away and it can be a number of players."
Carlisle grabbed the lead just before the interval when teenager Patrick Brough swung over a delightful cross from the left and ex-Hartlepool midfielder Antony Sweeney squeezed between two defenders to head home from six yards.
Although Dan Bentley saved well from David Symington and home debutant Jack Marriott, Southend finished the game much the stronger and would have made the long journey home with three points but for their profligacy in front of goal.
Mark Gillespie made a great double save from Barry Corr and Shaquile Coulthirst, and both Myles Weston and substitute Dave Worrall were unable to put away the sort of chances which only added to Brown's frustration.
Carlisle manager Graham Kavanagh was also concerned about the points that have slipped away and he admitted: "We just need that first win. We should be sitting on six points."
Carlisle were left still looking for their first win and Kavanagh said: "We were the better team in the first half and their goal killed us a little bit. A little bit of fear crept into our players and in the end I was pleased with a point.
"Having got the goal I thought we could have seen it to half time with a clean sheet. Credit to Clifford for a great strike but I'm disappointed because I wanted to keep a clean sheet.
"We were desperate to get the ball forward at times instead of playing the way we can. Maybe a win would give them confidence. We are a team that has not won regularly for a while, but the players are giving their all."