Aldershot Town 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.

On a blustery afternoon, Southend took the lead in the 17th minute. Keenan Appiah-Forson’s effort was saved by Marcus Dewhurst, but the Shots keeper could only parry it and Dallas took advantage to turn it in practically on the line.

The Shots nearly got level five minutes later as Josh Barrett’s inswinging corner almost went directly in, but Collin Andeng-Ndi clawed it out, and he and his defence somehow managed to prevent Kwame Thomas from bundling it in.

From there, Southend created an attack of their own, and came close to doubling their advantage as Dallas’s header was well saved by Dewhurst.

A shot from outside the area by Southend’s James Morton had to be saved by Dewhurst in the 29th minute. It fell kindly for Sam Austin but good defending from the Shots got in the way of a golden opportunity.

Aldershot had chances. A couple of minutes later a quick break saw Tristan Abrahams in space down the left, and he did well to pick out Barrett in the middle.

But the Southend defence had recovered well to swarm Barrett, 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 back post just evaded Thomas.

In the 37th minute Dallas forced Dewhurst into another save with a low effort from the edge of the area, but seconds later the Shots were inches away from getting level. Barrett beat his man out on the left before cutting in and curling a shot just past the post that had Andeng-Ndi beaten.

The second half was fairly quiet and it took 11 minutes for Southend to threaten the Shots’ goal, then 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.

There was not much more to report until the 74th minute when Southend scored their second. Harry Boyes made space down the left and crossed to the far post for Spasov to head in.

The hosts scored a third just before the 90 minutes were up. Ralph rose highest from an Oli Coker corner and his header was too powerful for Dewhurst to keep out.

Samuel Carter