Spirits have remained high at the EBB Stadium this week as Shots manager Kevin Dillon continued to prepare for his side's opening League Two 'home' fixture, and although the side have hit the ground running since the opening day, Dillon has highlighted that the key to gaining success will not only come from come from the positives, but also by highlighting his side's mistakes.
"I'm going to highlight everything this season," the boss told The Stray Shots.
"I felt that last season, the players thought we were 'picking' on them when we showed them what was going wrong, but we show them the good things and they get the rewards when they're doing well, but ninety-nine percent of clubs in this country analyse games and show players where they've gone wrong so as they can put it right the next time.
"I'm really pleased with the way that the game [against Watford] went, but we've shown the players where the mistakes were made - not to criticise them, but to help them see what they should have done and they will learn from it and hopefully, not make the mistakes again.
"Our performance against Watford was good and I have been encouraged by what I've seen so far. I gave a run out to [Jermaine] McGlashan and [Wade] Small looks sharp and Spencie [Damian Spencer] got on and if Aaron Morris had been here, he would have played the ninety minutes. He had a full game for Wales though."
Shots team news
While The Shots may well have crashed out of the Carling Cup on Tuesday evening, the 3-0 score line certainly did not reflect the performance and manager Dillon will head into the match against the Shrimpers in fine fettle, confident that his side can go one better than the result gained at Accrington last weekend.
Speaking about the visitors ahead of the match, Shots boss Kevin Dillon told us: "It looks like they can come back from goals behind - they did it against Stockport and they did it on Tuesday [against Bristol City], so they've got a good spirit there."
Indeed, with another tough test in store for The Shots, Dillon will be hoping that his side can begin to convert some of their chances into goals and with their attacking prowess, it's certainly only a matter of time until things fall into place and players are certainly chomping at the bit to make that happen.
Jack Randall continues to miss out [fractured fibula] as does John Halls, who began training on Thursday following his closed season groin operation. Aaron Morris returns to the squad following his midweek appearance for the Welsh Under-21 side in Malta and Dillon has also confirmed that all the players who were suffering from a virus at the start of the week, have recovered sufficiently and will be available for selection.
Shots from: Jamie Young, Jordan Clement, Ben Herd, Anthony Straker, Glen Little, Anthony Charles, Darren Jones, Jamie Vincent, Ben Harding, Aaron Morris, Luke Guttridge, Reece Connolly, Danny Hylton, Marvin Morgan, Manny Panther, Jermaine McGlashan, Wade Small, Damian Spencer and Clayton Fortune.
The opposition
Paul Sturrock has seen his side make a confident start to life in League Two gaining a creditable 1-1 draw at fellow relegated side Stockport County on the opening day of the new campaign followed up with a decent 3-2 victory against Championship side Bristol City in the League Cup mid-week, prompting Sturrock to tell his side's official website: "I am pleased for the players because we showed that we are a squad rather than just a team.
"There were a lot of players who didn't let us down and got that extra bit of fitness and then the substitutions went on and did fantastic as well.
"We went 2-1 down which I thought was a sucker blow because we had controlled the 20 minutes before they scored."
Speaking to Echo reporter Chris Phillips following their mid-week League Cup victory, 20-year old striker Matt Paterson who grabbed a brace in the game said: "I was delighted to get a couple of goals and hopefully we can get more good results starting with Aldershot on Saturday".
Former Shot Louie Soares is expected to feature having joined the Essex- based side during the close season following his rejection of the offer made by Kevin Dillon, while Sturrock also expects to be able to select centre-half Bilel Mohsni bar any complications in his registration from the French Football Federation. Sturrock does however have major doubts that the registration of Adam Bouzid will be completed in time having recently told the media that he has been left in the dark as he waits for the player's clearance to arrive from Morocco.
Shrimpers from: Glenn Morris, Rhys Evans, Sean Clohessy, Peter Gilbert, Josh Simpson, Graham Coughlan, Bilel Mohsni, Anthony Grant, Craig Easton, Matthew Paterson, Barry Corr, Sofiene Zaaboub, Ryan Hall, Mark Phillips, Luke Prosser, Louie Soares, Johnny Herd, Harry Crawford, Blair Sturrock, Chris Barker, Scott Spencer and Merrick James-Lewis.
- You can visit the official Southend United website here.
Taking charge
Graham Horwood will be taking charge of the match and he will be assisted by Andy Laver and Adrian Tranter. Tim Robinson is the fourth official.
Ticket news
Tickets for the match are set at:
Adult seats: £19, terrace: £17.
Concession (Over 60s, Military and students (both on production of ID cards only) seats: £15, terrace: £13.
Under 16s seats: £8, terrace £6.
For information on Family and Disabled ticket prices, please click here.
The match is not all ticket and supporters can pay on the turnstiles on the day.
There are also 39 Premium Seating tickets available for the match at a cost of just £39 + VAT each. Please click here to find out more.
Hospitality Tickets are also available for the match at a cost of £60 + VAT each. To find out more, call Nicky Banger on 07717 828 803, email him at nicky@theshots.co.uk or read more here.
Other news
- Coach travel to Shrewsbury Town
Supporters wishing to travel to the club's League Two fixture against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday 21st August 2010, are reminded that they can book their place on the Aldershot Town Supporters Trust coach this Saturday afternoon. The Trust will be at their usual spot at the front of the ground as well as in their office (at the High Street end of the North Bank) and will be happy to take bookings and as always, any 2010-11 season membership applications.Coach places are the bargain price of just £15 per seat for this match - so why not get yourself up to Greenhous Meadow to help cheer on the side, in what will certainly be another tough test?
Supporters can also book and pay for their coach place online here.
- BBC Radio Surrey
Supporters unable to make the match can listen to live match commentary on BBC Radio Surrey on 104.6FM where Gavin Denison and Shotsweb's Steve Gibbs will be kicking off their coverage, live after the 2pm news. - Bar facilities
The new Phoenix Lounge (formally Wally's Bar), will be open once again before the match, during half-time and again at the final whistle.To ease the half-time rush, supporters will be able to pre-order any drinks ahead of the match so there will be less of a need to queue up.
For those that wish to eat in welcoming and comfortable surroundings, there is also a range of fast food options available to eat-in or take-away and there will also be tea and coffee available in the restaurant area.
- Aldershot Town XI vs Nepal United
Supporters are invited to the EBB Stadium on Sunday afternoon when the club, in association with the Aldershot Town Supporters Trust host their first ever 'community' game when players from the Nepalese community assemble to form Nepal United which includes a selection of current and former players who have featured for the Nepalese National side.The bar will be open and there will also be a Nepalese buffet on offer from 1pm - with the match kicking off at 3pm.
Entry is priced at just £5 per adult (terrace) or £7 seated (South Stand) or £10 seated (North Stand). 11s and under (with adult) are just £2 each.
Supporters and their friends and family are all invited to attend for what will be a great day out, so please make the effort to attend the event and lend your support, we'll look forward to seeing you!