Aldershot Town drew 0-0 at Ebbsfleet United in the National League last Tuesday night (September 10).
Both teams created chances in the opening ten minutes. The first chance fell to the Shots in the fifth minute when Dejan Tetek saw a corner cleared straight to his feet, but his first-time effort was sliced wide.
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Ebbsfleet hit back immediately and a minute later perhaps should have taken an early lead. Rakish Bingham's effort was saved by Marcus Dewhurst and the ball fell straight to Toby Edser, but he couldn't get over the ball and saw his shot fly over.
The Shots came straight back and Olly Scott had to be denied by a smart save from Mark Cousins after smart play between Josh Barrett and Hady Ghandour.
Tetek saw another effort from outside the box miss the target in the tenth minute, but this one was a lot closer and was only just over the bar.
Dewhurst was then forced to race across his goal to tip a Jim Kellerman free kick wide from nearly 30 yards out. Luke O'Neill headed wide from the resulting corner and should have done better.
Dom Poleon won the ball off Lachlan Byrd in Aldershot territory a few minutes later and started a Fleet attack that almost saw them take the lead. Dewhurst pulled off a smart save low down to his right and Scott did well to block the rebound.
In the 36th minute Barrett forced Cousins into a smart stop as he chipped an effort on goal on the turn.
Five minutes later, Poleon sprung forward down the left wing and cut inside. He dragged his effort wide as Dewhurst raced out of his goal and closed the gap.
The Shots immediately sprung forward themselves and Barrett launched another chipped effort at goal, but missed the target on this occasion.
The Shots had the first chance of the second half in the 52nd minute. A superb sliding challenge from Christian Maghoma in his own box turned last-ditch defence into attack as Aldershot broke forward and Ghandour forced Cousins into a save low down.
Aldershot should have taken the lead in the 80th minute. Ashley Akpan led a counter-attack and played it to James Henry, who found Theo Widdrington on the edge of the box, but Widdrington's effort was just over the bar.