Neither side were able to break the deadlock on a wet Tuesday night at the Kuflink Stadium as a rejuvenated Ebbsfleet United forced Aldershot into sharing the points.
The game started in a fairly open fashion as both teams saw chances come there way within the opening 10 minutes.
The first of those fell to the Shots in the fifth minute as Dejan Tetek saw a corner cleared straight to his feet, but his first-time effort was sliced wide. Ebbsfleet hit back immediately and a minute later perhaps should have taken an early lead as Rakish Bingham’s effort saved by Marcus Dewhurst fell straight to Toby Edser, but he couldn’t get over the ball and saw his shot fly over.
And in true end-to-end fashion, the Shots came straight back and Olly Scott had to be denied by a smart save from Mark Cousins after smart play between Josh Barrett and Hady Ghandour. Tetek saw another effort from outside the box miss the target in the 10th minute, but this one was a lot closer and was only just over the bar.
A slight lull in the attacking intent in relative terms to the opening exchanges saw a massive eight minutes without a chance but Dewhurst was forced to race across his goal to tip a Jim Kellerman free-kick wide from near 30-yards out. Luke O’Neill headed wide from the resulting corner and should have done better.
Dom Poleon nicked the ball off of Lachlan Byrd in Aldershot territory a few minutes later and started a Fleet attacked that almost saw them take the lead. Dewhurst pulled off a smart save low down to his right and Olly Scott did well to block the rebound.
There was a further gap in the action deemed worth of including in a Match Report until the 36th minute where a moment of inspired intuition from Josh Barrett saw him force Cousins into a smart stop as he chipped an effort on goal on the turn and truly creating something out of nothing.
Five minutes later, Poleon sprung forward down his left-wing and cutting inside, he dragged an effort wide as Dewhurst raced out of his goal and closed the gap. The Shots immediately sprung forward themselves and Barrett launched another chipped effort at goal, but missed the target on this occasion.
HALF-TIME
Just as in the first 45, the Shots had the first chance of the second in the 52nd minute. A brilliant sliding challenge from Christian Maghoma in his own box turned last-ditch defence into attack as Aldershot broke forward and Ghandour forced Cousins into a save low down.
Franklin Domi blasted a shot wide from outside the box four minutes later, but it was just before the hour in the 59th minute that the Fleet had another good opportunity to take the lead. Dewhurst couldn’t clear his lines as Ebbsfleet pressed high and a number of their attackers tried to turn the ball in, but the Shots defence stood firm with multiple blocks, interceptions and tackles.
As the game ticked into the final 15 minutes of regular time, Cam Hargreaves was shoved over on the break but a free-kick was given to Ebbsfleet who took it clearly and set Ben Chapman through on goal. Dewhurst raced out and made himself big, and seemed to put off Chapman who could only fluff the ball past Dewhurst but heading wide.
Aldershot should have taken a late lead in the 80th minute as Ashley Akpan led a counter-attack and with a 4-on-3 advantage, played it to James Henry who instantly found Theo Widdrington on the edge of the box, but Widdrington’s effort was just over the bar.
There were chances for either side to win it at the death as Dom Poleon saw an effort from distance deflected just wide off Byrd’s boot and the Shots had a couple of breaks forward that saw efforts blocked but the game finished goalless and the points were shared.
Attendance: 1175 (No away attendance given)
Shots lineup: 28. Marcus Dewhurst, 2. Lachlan Byrd, 3. Ollie Harfield (C), 5. Christian Maghoma, 6. Theo Widdrington, 7. Cameron Hargreaves, 10. Josh Barrett (27. James Henry, 65′), 18. Olly Scott, 21. Ashley Akpan, 23. Hady Ghandour (9. Kai Corbett, 87′), 34. Dejan Tetek (22. Jack Barham, 65′).
Subs not used: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 11. Ryan Jones, 17. Aaron Jones, 25. Rollin Menayese.
Ebbsfleet lineup: 1. Mark Cousins, 2. Luke O’Neill (5. Tyler Cordner, 90+1′), 3. Lewis Page, 8. Jim Kellerman (10. Wes Fonguck, 74′), 9. Rakish Bingham (11. Will Randall, 76′), 14. Dom Poleon, 16. Franklin Domi (27. Craig Tanner, 81′), 17. Toby Edser, 22. Ben Chapman, 24. Mustapha Olagunju, 26. Tom Dallison.
Subs not used: 30. Dylan Berry, 15. Greg Cundle, 19 Jephte Tanga.
