Aldershot Town centre-back Michael Stickland praised his partnership with fellow centre-half Kiki Oshilaja after the duo kept a second clean sheet of the season.

Stickland and Oshilaja kept a clean sheet in the Shots’ 1-0 home win against FC Halifax Town, and Aldershot have now only conceded five goals in their first seven league games.

“As co-captains, Kiki and I formed a good relationship as soon as we came in this summer,” said Stickland.

“Kiki is my partner and my skipper. I’m really happy with how it's going.

“As a defender, it's probably the ideal situation to win 1-0 at home with a clean sheet. I don't think it gets any better than that.

“We've got a good group here. We've got the grit and determination to defend – I think that is something that's lost a little bit these days as defenders are looking to play on the ball more than keep the ball out the net.

“If you keep the ball out the net and keep the scores low you give yourself as a team a really good chance of getting three points.

“As a unit, we wanted to see the game out and get the clean sheet.”

The Shots had to remain patient against Halifax until substitute Marcus Wyllie scored Aldershot’s winner in the 80th minute, and Stickland was delighted with his side’s performance.

“We felt we were on top,” said Stickland.

“Coming in at half-time, we were just waiting for the chance to come.

“I thought Marcus came on and made a real impact. All the substitutes were excellent. Brody Peart and Alfonso Tenconi were really good – they changed the game and impacted it.

“We're in a good place but we don't want to get too excited or too ahead of ourselves. We know there is a long way to go this season.”