The Shots fell to a 3-0 defeat at Roots Hall as goals from Andrew Dallas, Slavi Spasov and Nathan Ralph secured the win for Southend United.
An injury-hit Shots side saw four changes from Tuesday night’s draw with Braintree Town as Ryan Jones, Jed Meerholz and Dejan Tetek were missing from the squad and Cameron Hargreaves was on the bench. Keane Anderson returned from his loan spell at Torquay United and went straight into the starting lineup and was joined by Charlie Penman, Kiban Rai and Tristan Abrahams.
On a blustery afternoon at Roots Hall, the hosts had the first opportunities to test a ‘keeper, but Harry Boyes’ effort from the edge of the box was wide of the mark.
Southend took the lead in the 17th minute as Keenan Appiah-Forson’s effort was saved by Marcus Dewhurst, but the Shots ‘keeper could only parry it and Andrew Dallas took advantage to turn it in practically on the line.
The Shots almost got level five minutes later as Josh Barrett’s inswinging corner almost went directly in but Collin Andeng-Ndi clawed it out and him and his defence somehow managed to prevent Kwame Thomas from bundling it in.
From there, Southend created an attack of their own, though, and came close to doubling their advantage as Andrew Dallas almost got his second as his header was well saved by Dewhurst.
A shot form outside the area by Southend’s James Morton had to be saved by Dewhurst in the 29th minute, but his save fell kindly for Sam Austin who had a golden opportunity to score had it not been for good defending from The Shots to get in the way.
Aldershot weren’t without their chances, however, as a couple of minutes later a quick break saw Tristan Abrahams in space down the left and he did well to pick out Josh Barrett in the middle. The Southend defence had recovered well to swarm Barrett, though and as he turned to make space, he saw his shot blocked. It came out to Archy Taylor on the right, but his dangerous cross to the backpost just evaded Kwame Thomas.
Andrew Dallas seemed to be fired up for this game and was a big threat in the first-half. In the 37th minute, he forced Dewhurst into another save with a low effort from the edge of the area.
Just a minute later, The Shots were inches away from getting level as Josh Barrett beat his man out on the left before cutting in and curling a post just past the post that had Andeng-Ndi beaten.
HALF-TIME
The second-half was fairly quiet when it came to chances for either side. It took 11 minutes of action for Southend to threaten the Shots’ goal where three chances came at once as Aldershot’s defence stood firm to make two blocks and Dewhurst was on hand to save the final effort.
And there wasn’t much more to report on until the 74th minute when Southend scored their second. Harry Boyes made space down his left wing and crossed to the far-post for Slavi Spasov to head in.
The hosts scored a third just before the 90 was up. Nathan Ralph rose highest from an Oli Coker corner and his header was too powerful for Dewhurst who couldn’t keep it out.
Slavi Spasov did well to break into the box from the right with good skill and force Dewhurst into a save in stoppage time as Southend ran out comfortable winners in the end.
Attendance: 7754 (295 Away).
Shots lineup: 1. Marcus Dewhurst, 5. Ben Jackson (17. James Henry, 74′), 9. Kwame Thomas, 10. Josh Barrett (C), 12. Keane Anderson (7. Cameron Hargreaves, 74′), 15. Charlie Penman, 18. Kiban Rai (6. Theo Widdrington, 67′), 19. Ryan Hill, 24. Maxwell Mullins (32. James Clarridge, 67′), 28. Archy Taylor, 30. Tristan Abrahams (30. Tristan Abrahams, 74′).
Subs not used: 16. Pat Nash, 27. Toby Nelson.
Southend lineup: 30. Collin Andeng Ndi, 2. Gus Scott-Morriss (7. Jack Bridge, 80′), 3. Nathan Ralph (C), 6. Ben Goodliffe, 9. Andrew Dallas (14. Tom Hopper, 80′), 10. Sam Austin (28. Oli Coker, 70′), 11. Josh Walker (18. Slavi Spasov, 70′), 16. Harry Taylor, 22. Keenan Appiah-Forson, 23. James Morton (17. Cav Miley, 89′), 33. Harry Boyes.
Subs not used: 1. Nick Hayes, 15. Joe Gubbins.
