SOUTHEND United ended their inaugural season in the National League Under 19 Alliance South Division unbeaten in four matches after Jack Stone rescued a dramatic point for ten-man Blues in a 4-4 draw at Aldershot Town.

Stone converted a Beau MacDonald cross in the third minute of stoppage time to earn a share of the points at River Lane in Leatherhead after the dismissal of goalkeeper Charlie Brown on 58 minutes turned what appeared likely to be a routine Southend victory on its head.

Aldershot took the lead in the second minute, but Joe Poxon equalised six minutes before half-time and, within six minutes of the interval, Blues were 3-1 ahead after goals by Thato Molefi and Stone.

However, Brown’s red card led to a period of three goals in five minutes to edge the Shots in front, until Stone delivered a crucial late blow to their hopes of securing success.

And the game saw coach Danny Heath suffer a wide range of emotions.

“I think we’ve gone through every emotion you can in football in that 93 or 94 minutes,” said Heath.

“I’m disappointed about conceding three goals in five minutes, but really pleased in terms of the character shown after going 4-3 down to then not concede the next goal and build our way back into the game with the equaliser.”

“After that, Harvey Gluckstead has made an unbelievable save and Stoney has had another chance as well, so even at 4-4 either team could have won it with a fifth.

"In the last five minutes of the first half and in the last 20 minutes of the game we produced some of the good stuff that we have in recent games."

A second match in 48 hours meant a host of changes for Blues.

Brown returned from injury in place of Luke Cerullo in goal, while Joshua Jackson replaced Aidon Shehu, who has received another call-up to the Albanian U19 international squad.

Freddie Miller and Poxon started alongside Louis Bragg, MacDonald and Stone, who had been introduced off the substitutes’ bench on Wednesday.

The match started in the worst possible fashion for the visitors when Aldershot took the lead in just the second minute of the match.

Blues gave away possession just outside their own penalty area and Finn Evans curled a 25-yard shot past Brown and into the left-hand portion of the net.

Eleven minutes later Brown failed to claim a swirling corner but, when the ball was recycled into the penalty area by Maddox McMillan, the header was directed wide of the left-hand upright.

Brown made a comfortable save on the half-hour mark from a 25-yard effort before making a superb stop five minutes later to turn away a fierce strike by the Aldershot captain, with Molefi blocking Marc Nouble’s follow-up.

Blues had struggled to put any pressure on their hosts by that stage.

Stone charged down a clearance but was unable to beat the goalkeeper to the loose ball in the ninth minute and Poxon had an effort ruled out after the referee adjudged he had fouled a defender on the edge of the penalty area.

But, as the first period neared its conclusion, they began to step up their intensity.

Stone almost found his way through, but the Aldershot goalkeeper dived at his feet to save before a high press enabled Bragg to intercept a misplaced pass and fire narrowly over.

Seconds later Southend were level as Stone rounded the goalkeeper and, having been pushed out to an acute angle, he sent the ball into the six-yard box for Poxon to tap home from close-range.

A Shots free-kick was curled narrowly wide before the half-time whistle blew, but Heath felt Blues were right back in the game: “After conceding so early in the game, we stayed in it and did what we needed to do in terms of stopping them from scoring,” he said.”

“In terms of defending crosses we were really good, and in particular Thato was good at getting contact on the ball.”

“Maybe you could sense before our goal we were starting to play more of the stuff we’re capable of, and what we expect from the boys, and the goal was probably reward for that. The message at half-time was to build on that positive end to the first half.”

The message was taken on board emphatically.

Four minutes after the restart it was 2-1 following an interchange between Olu Shobowale and Poxon on the left touchline.

Shobowale crossed into the penalty area, where Stone flicked the ball against the crossbar.

Bragg attempted to turn home and Molefi was on hand to sent a sweet half-volley into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Two minutes later, the teenage Shrimpers had stretched their advantage to 3-1.

Ellis Lawson scrapped hard to win possession on the left-hand apex of the penalty area and he managed to work the ball back to Stone, who nonchalantly curled the ball out of the reach of the goalkeeper and into that same right-hand corner of the goal.

Blues were dominant, and Poxon misjudged a header at the far post to add a fourth from a Stone cross before the away team were dealt a massive blow. Brown appeared to call to suggest he was going to clear, but Jake Huet nodded it back and the custodian instinctively made to grab the ball.

The referee consulted with his assistant and deemed there were no covering defenders, and therefore he had denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity by handling outside his area.

Poxon was withdrawn to enable Harvey Gluckstead to come on, and although the defensive wall blocked the resultant free-kick, Aldershot were suddenly rampant, with their skipper firing narrowly off-target on the hour.

On 62 minutes, Jackson was adjudged to have committed a foul and McMillan drilled a low free-kick underneath the wall and into the net.

Less than a minute later, the Shots were level. Having regained possession immediately from the kick-off, they burst down the right-hand side and a cross was flicked into the path of a substitute, who slid in to convert into the roof of the net at the far post.

Three minutes later, it was 4-3 to the hosts and the game had turned around completely in the space of eight minutes from the red card being shown.

A through-ball sent an attacker clear of the Blues back-line and he sent a smart finish underneath the advancing Gluckstead and into the bottom left-hand corner.

“What a start to the second half!” Heath recalled.

“We went 3-1 up with two good goals, but as quickly as we experienced the highs, in the blink of an eye Charlie was sent off, which is something that could’ve been prevented, and then we needed to keep it tight for 10 or 15 minutes.”

“We still needed to be positive from an attacking perspective, but we had a 3-1 lead, and we gave them an opportunity within a minute of Charlie being sent off with a set-piece in a shooting position on the edge of the box.

"It went 3-2 and their tails were up, and their second, third and fourth goal were scored within the space of five minutes and that’s not good enough.”

Heath made a tactical tweak and Mikey Faulkner, Cameron Hall and George Pulham provided experience in place of Huet, Jackson and Miller.

Slowly but surely, the momentum turned, and on 73 minutes Faulkner saw an effort charged down before a defender blocked Stone’s attempt from a deep MacDonald free-kick sixty seconds later.

Bragg’s right-wing cross was headed onto the roof of the net by Stone on 75 minutes, but Aldershot could have sealed the win four minutes later when Gluckstead brilliantly tipped a shot around the post during another one-on-one situation.

Evans then nodded wide from the ensuing corner before Gluckstead made a point-blank stop to thwart the forward from a McMillan cross.

It was time for another tactical switch and, shortly after Stone had headed another MacDonald cross over, Heath instructed the first-year scholar to join the forward up front.

With a minute of the regulation ninety remaining, MacDonald saw a shot deflected wide after good build-up play by Pulham and Lawson, and Stone then thumped a half-volley into the side-netting from the resultant corner.

With five minutes of additional time signalled, few opportunities remained for ten-man Southend to snatch a point as they had against champions Dartford in their previous fixture at Roots Hall.

But then came MacDonald’s delivery from the left touchline and Stone arrived to power the ball over the goal-line and it was 4-4 once again.

There was still time for Gluckstead to produce more heroics, making an outstanding save to claw the ball off the line at point-blank range before Molefi scrambled the ball away.

Blues could also have grabbed all three points, only for Stone to send an ambitious long-range effort over, but they could feel content with a draw.

“With about five minutes to go, because there was only a goal in it, we made a decision to go for it, and we could either score the equaliser or lose a fifth goal,” Heath declared. “

We went for it and pushed Beau up with Stoney and went 4-3-2 and the boys have got their rewards because, apart from that 10-minute period where they were on top, the longer it went on the more we grew back into the game.”

“In football you need character, you need resilience and you need personality and the boys have shown that in abundance.

"The last four performances have been really good against good opposition and, because of their work ethic day-in, day-out, they have picked up points from the games, and that’s something they can be pleased with.

"That’s something we’ve got to take into next season.

 

"I’m proud of them and they can be proud of themselves."

Southend United U19s: Brown, Huet (Pulham 68), Lawson,  Jackson (Hall 68), Molefi, Shobowale, Bragg, Miller (Faulkner 68), Stone, MacDonald, Poxon (Gluckstead 58).

Sub not used: Blake.