The midweek clash between Aldershot Town and Southend United finished goalless as the best chance of the game fell in the opening 90 seconds in a fairly even affair.
The Shots perhaps should have taken the lead in just the second minute after Kai Corbett did brilliantly to continue his high press and beat Southend ‘keeper Collin Andeng-Ndi to the ball and square it across to Jack Barham, but thinking he had more time than he did, allowed Adam Crowther to race back and slide in to make a crucial intervention with the Shrimpers goal wide open.
Though this was the first chance of the match, it was the only time that either side had a clear cut chance to take the lead in a first-half that was devoid of real attacking threat.
In the tenth minute, Southend came close as Oli Coker launched an effort from distance that hit the side netting as it curled in towards goal but in truth it was never seriously threatening Marcus Dewhurst.
Southend enjoyed the majority of the half-chances that were littered throughout the rest of the first-half but the most of those missed the target or were easy for Dewhurst to gather.
HALF-TIME
Dewhurst had to be called into action early into the second-half to spring across his goal and keep out a header from Southend right-back and Vanarama National League third top scorer, Gus Scott-Morriss, in the 53rd minute.
Tommy Widdrington made a triple substitution in the 57th minute changing all three of his attacking combination in the hope that fresh legs would disrupt Southend’s defence and within a few minutes they were causing problems.
Josh Barrett played a smart ball out to Hady Ghandour who advanced down the left side of the Shots attack, but his very dangerous low cross flew across goal with no-one in the middle to meet it.
Barrett was again showing his quality and intuition not long later when he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head as he was able to turn and play a first-time pass out to Ashley Akpan behind him, but Akpan’s ball forward was deflected behind for a corner before the Shots could threaten Southend’s goal.
Just like the first-half, however, it was another 45 minutes in which both goals were rarely threatened and Marcus Dewhurst and Collin Andeng-Ndi certainly had one of the easiest nights of their careers so far.
The Shots defence did well to withstand a barrage of pressure in the final few minutes of the game, standing up well and keeping their shape and structure with Southend unable to get a shot on goal or break into the box despite a fair period of time deep in Aldershot territory.
Attendance: 2557 (539 Away)
Shots lineup: 28. Marcus Dewhurst, 2. Lachlan Byrd, 6. Theo Widdrington, 7. Cameron Hargreaves, 8. Tyler Frost (18. Olly Scott, 81′), 9. Kai Corbett (10. Josh Barrett, 57′), 11. Ryan Jones (27. James Henry, 57′), 17. Aaron Jones (C), 21. Ashley Akpan, 22. Jack Barham (23. Hady Ghandour, 57′), 25. Rollin Menayese.
Subs not used: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 24. Maxwell Mullins, 32. Emmanuel Maja.
Southend lineup: 30. Collin Andeng-Ndi, 2. Gus Scott-Morriss, 3. Nathan Ralph (C), 5. Adam Crowther, 8. Noor Husin, 11. Josh Walker (9. Macauley Bonne, 73′), 15. Joe Gubbins, 16. Harry Taylor, 19. Aribim Pepple (22. Keenan Appiah-Forson, 73′), 23. James Morton, 28. Oli Coker (7. Jack Bridge, 59’).
Subs not used: 1. Zach Jeacock, 4. George Wind, 14. Jack Wood, 18. Taylor Foran.
