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MATCH PREVIEW: Shots v Southend (H)

WHO ARE THE SHOTS PLAYING?

The Shots host Southend at the EBB on Saturday, with the visitors currently sat 5th in the National League after nine wins in their opening 20 fixtures. Southend are coming into this fixture off the back of a 3-1 loss at Gateshead, and are looking to return to form having been unbeaten in their pervious 11 fixtures.

HOW DID THEY DO LAST SEASON?

Southend finished 13th last season, having picked up 58 points over the course of the season. The FA Trophy saw them progress to the fourth round after beating Dorking in the third round, before losing the fourth round tie to Dagenham & Redbridge. It was a similar tale in the FA Cup, beating Chertsey Town to make the first round before losing 3-1 to Chesterfield in the subsequent tie.

HOW DID WE GET ON AGAINST THEM LAST SEASON?

Shots got the better of Southend on head-to-head last season, with Shots picking up all 3 points courtesy of an own goal from Jason Demetriou and goals from Mohamed Bettamer and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain in a 3-2 victory. The reverse fixture at the EBB saw the sides share the points in a 1-1 draw, after a late Southend goal from Harry Cardwell cancelled out Ryan Glover’s early strike.

WHO IS THEIR GAFFER?

Current Southend manager is former player Kevin Maher. As a player, Maher played over 300 times for Southend, and made over 500 appearances over the course of his career. Maher played for the Ireland u21’s four times during his playing days, but never got the call up to the senior team. Maher started his management career in Southend’s youth setup, before going on to take caretaker roles at Chelmsford and Bristol Rovers, before going back to Southend’s first team in October 2021, where he has remained since.

SOUTHEND SQUAD UPDATE:

Kevin Maher’s has shown the most trust in Cav Miley, Shaun Hobson and Ollie Kensdale, all of which have played 1,710 minutes, just over 350 more minutes than keeper Collin Andeng-Ndi, who has the second most minutes in the squad with 1,350. The top scorer in the Southend squad is English winger Callum Powell, who has scored seven goals so far this season. The joint second top scorers are all new additions, Chris Wreh from Banbury (permanent), Jake Hyde from Wrexham (loan) and Marcus Dackers from Salford (loan), all of whom are on three goals now this season.

Southend have no missing players through suspension or injury, so Maher will be selecting his best 11 for the fixture tomorrow.

ANY EX-SHOTS?

The only ex-Shot in the Southend side is Nathan Ralph, with the left-back making 12 appearances in a loan spell with Aldershot, scoring one goal and getting one assist during his time at the club.

TICKET INFO:

Tickets for Maidenhead are available via the club shop, online HERE, or by calling 01252320211.

As the early bird has now passed, they are priced as follows:

  • Adult: £20
  • Senior (Over 65): £16
  • Military Personnel: £16
  • Disabled: £16
  • Young person (18-20): £16
  • Junior (11-17): £7
  • Under 11: FREE

HOW TO FOLLOW THE GAME

As always, live updates will be posted on Shots official Twitter @OfficialShots, and you can catch up with highlights of the game on the Aldershot YouTube channel HERE after the final whistle has gone.

There will be live BBC Surrey Sport online commentary of the game with Rob Worrall and a guest summariser.