Source: FOOTYMAD
Aldershot Town 1 Southend United 0
Aldershot Town 1 Southend United 0 - Just when the game looked to be heading goaless, up popped Marvin Morgan to win the points for the home side on a wet afternoon in Hampshire. Without having your own personal tardis But Morgan popped up nine minutes from time to condemn Paul Sturrock's side to a 1-0 reverse. Blues had earlier shaded the opening exchanges and, with nine minutes on the clock, the recalled Barry Corr intelligently looped the ball back over his head before unleashing a left footed volley which was deflected off target by Shots defender Anthony Charles. Moments later, Josh Simpson dragged a low effort wide of the right post after battling to win possession on the edge of the penalty area and, in the 24th minute, Louie Soares registered the game's first shot on target. The former Aldershot winger drifted in to the centre of the park and fired a skimming 25 yard shot straight at home keeper Jamie Young. Soares was in the thick of the action again just seconds later when his angled drive across the face of goal was volleyed to safety by Aldershot centre-back Darren Jones. And, with Southend continuing to push forward, Simpson then fired just over the crossbar from 20 yards after a deep free-kick from Sean Clohessy had only been half cleared. Aldershot soon replied with the experienced Glen Little teeing up the highly rated Marvin Morgan but the striker's effort was pushed around the left post for a corner by Blues goalkeeper Glenn Morris. Morgan was then causing more problems just before the break as he sped away from both Mark Phillips and Luke Prosser before rolling the ball wide of the far post with an angled left footed shot. Blues immediately hit back with skipper Craig Easton forcing Young in to action with a low volley from 20 yards and, at the start of the second half, Prosser headed a right wing cross from Clohessy wide of the left post. But Aldershot were soon pushing forward themselves as former Southend midfielder Luke Guttridge saw his snap shot from six yards smartly saved by Morris. With the conditions worsening and the rain pouring down, play switched back to the other end of the field with Simpson volleying wide of the target from the edge of the penalty area. Aldershot replied with Morris doing well to claim a deflected effort from Ben Harding and that prompted Blues boss Sturrock in to his first change of the afternoon as Matt Paterson replaced Blair Sturrock in attack with 76 minutes on the clock. But, despite the change, it was the home-start who conjured up a late winner after Morgan reacted quickest to an Anthony Straker shot which has been smothered by Morris. The keeper complained that the ball had been kicked out of his hands, but Morgan made no mistake with a crisp finish in to the gaping goal. Sturrock responded by bringing on both Ryan Hall and Scott Spencer in quick succession but Aldershot held on and should have made it 2-0 late on but Damian Spencer could only fire straight at Morris when clean through on goal.
