Blues' Youths appeared to have sealed the win when George Smith made the scoreline 4-1 just before the hour mark, but two set-pieces on a boggy pitch next to the garrison town's Military Stadium meant that Ricky Duncan's charges ended the fixture grimly clinging onto the lead.
With Adetayo Osifuwa suspended following his dismissal at Leyton Orient, Teddy Nesbitt returned to the starting line-up along with Alex Woodyard, who replaced the sidelined Jamie Dennis in midfield. Goalkeeper Daniel Bentley was named between the sticks having warmed the bench for the first-team on Friday night, whilst Kyle Asante was amongst the substitutes.
It was the hosts who made the brighter start as their left-sided midfielder enjoyed early success against John Owinja. From a third minute corner won down that flank, a near-post delivery was not cut out and Smith could not stop a header from being converted.
It took some time for the Shrimpers to react as Aldershot adapted to the conditions quickly, but finally on eight minutes the visitors showed some attacking intent with Marcus Milner getting in behind the Shots defence, although he failed to pick out the oncoming Harry Crawford with his centre.
Shortly afterwards, Milner again raced down the right wing to latch onto Woodyard's pass and this time he elected to shoot himself from an acute angle, his drilled attempt clipping the outside of the left-hand upright.
Southend levelled in the 12th minute as James Stevens' excellent dead ball delivery from the left-hand touchline found the head of Callum Whittaker, the central defender planting his header into the bottom right-hand corner.
Despite this, the match remained scrappy and Bentley continued to be overworked, clutching an exocet of a shot from 25 yards to his chest before gathering a driven effort from the opposite flank. Town were also guilty of wasting good opportunities as a right-sided free-kick was not cleared and a shot was side-footed into Bentley's gloves by a midfielder before another effort was sliced wide six yards out.
However, Blues took the lead just after the half-hour mark. Asante had been brought on for the injured Milner on 21 minutes, and it was the confident front man who this time connected with a Stevens corner to power a header in off of the underside of the crossbar.
Whittaker earned himself a reprieve when he recovered from gifting a forward possession by blocking the ensuing shot, but it was the Shrimpers who came closest to scoring again before half-time as Crawford's vicious attempt was masterfully finger-tipped onto the crossbar by the goalkeeper.
The Seasiders did manage to add two goals in a frenetic beginning to the second half. Duran Reynolds had already misdirected a header wide of the post by the time that Owinja's swinging cross from the right was controlled by Harry Crawford. The marksman equalled Asante's tally of eight goals for the season by turning and firing the ball between the goalkeeper and his left-hand post.
Crawford also smashed a shot straight at the 'keeper before play switched to the other end where Bentley threw himself to his right-hand side to push out a fierce effort, allowing Owinja to clear.
Midfielder Smith should have netted Southend's fourth in the 56th minute, but he slashed over having collected a pass from Crawford. He made no mistake three minutes later after Asante chased down Teddy Nesbitt's pass down the left. The second-year scholar held off a challenge to search out Smith, who raced into the penalty box to hit a curling shot into the bottom right-hand corner with the aid of a deflection.
That hard work was undone midway through the period when the Shots pulled a goal back. The homesters' flying winger was brought down on the edge of the box and Town's set-piece specialist curled around the wall past a motionless Bentley.
A forward held off the challenge of substitute Kane Ferdinand, only to unleash his shot within the range of Bentley on 82 minutes. The next time that he rampaged forward, he was adjudged to have been shoved to the ground inside the area by Reynolds and the penalty was calmly slotted into the right-hand corner to make it 4-3 with ninety seconds remaining.
There were a few worrying moments as Aldershot surged forward in numbers in an attempt to find an equaliser, but ultimately Blues' goal was not threatened again during three minutes of stoppage time, keeping the club top of the Football League Youth Alliance South-East Conference.
Southend United: Daniel Bentley; John Owinja, Callum Whittaker, Duran Reynolds, Teddy Nesbitt; Alex Woodyard, James Stevens, Merrick James-Lewis (Akim 87), George Smith (Kane Ferdinand 77); Marcus Milner (Kyle Asante 21); Harry Crawford.
Unused substitute: Duane Ofon-Acheampong. Goals: Whittaker (12), Asante (31), Crawford (53), Smith (59).
Thanks to the Shrimpers Trust website for the reprinting of these reports, for the Trust's own youth section, go here:
www.shrimperstrust.co.uk/home.asp?page_id=10 |
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