Aldershot Town 0 - 1 Leyton Orient
Pre-Season Friendly

RYAN JARVIS' second half goal was enough for Orient to secure a 1-0 victory at League Two new boys Aldershot Town on Saturday afternoon.

The O's had to withstand Aldershot pressure on a warm summer's afternoon at the Recreation Ground, but their more clinical performance gave them the spoils.

Jarvis, who played the second 45 minutes in a front three, converted Loick Pires' low cross with 68 minutes on the clock and that proved the difference between the sides.

Both teams looked to threaten early on, with Adam Chambers shooting straight at home stopper Nikki Bull from range with barely two minutes on the clock.

At the other end, Aldershot's Kirk Hudson brushed the crossbar with a back post header, while Adam Boyd also went close, nearly connecting with Wayne Gray's low cross in front of goal.

Glenn Morris had to make a regulation save on 24 when Aldershot's Marvin Morgan won possession in the O's half and drove goalwards before shooting low at Morris from the edge of the box.

A neat move two minutes later gave Scott Donnelly a shooting opportunity from a tight angle and Morris was again up to the task, blocking the ball down low.

Aldershot were creating the better openings and Louie Soares sliced wide when well placed at the far post 15 minutes before the break.

Orient were operating with a 4-3-3 formation and Chambers got himself into the box five minutes later to take down Wayne Gray's first time cross before shooting across the face of goal and well wide.

But the best chance of the first half fell to home striker Morgan, who looked set to break the deadlock when Hudson got away from Danny Granville and fed the ball into the area. Morgan's touch took the ball past Alton Thelwell, but he couldn't beat Morris from 10 yards, finding the O's stopper's legs with his left-footed effort.

Orient made five changes at the break, but still Aldershot gave them headaches with their strong running from midfield and Danny Hylton got in behind the O's defence on 50 minutes. Jamie Jones stood up well though, to narrow the angle and block.

But the O's got more of a grip on the game as the half wore on and it was the visitors who successfully found the route to goal 22 minutes from time.

Solomon Shields did well to establish possession in midfield before slipping the ball to fellow sub Loick Pires, whose excellent low cross picked out Jarvis for a deft finish in the bottom right corner.

Jones was quick off his line again to deny Hudson when the ball broke to him in the box eight minutes from the end, while 60 seconds later Jarvis nearly confirmed the win when Bradley Gray chased a lost cause to get a cross into the box, only for Bull to stand up and block from the O's striker.

The game had come alive again and as Adershot broke to the other end, Hudson fired a curling shot inches over the O's crossbar.

That was as close as Aldershot came as Orient saw out time to register their third pre-season win from four games.

Aldershot: Nikki Bull; Ben Starosta (Jomo Thomas 57), Chris Blackburn, Anthony Charles (Ricky Newman 61), Dean Howell (Anthony Straker 46); Louie Soares (Lewis Chalmers 46), Scott Donnelly, Ben Harding, Kirk Hudson; Marvin Morgan, Danny Hylton

Orient: Glenn Morris (Jamie Jones 46); Stephen Purches (Andrew Cave-Brown 46), Alton Thelwell (Aiden Palmer 46), Brian Saah (Chris Robson 74), Danny Granville; Adam Chambers (Jason Demetriou 46), Paul Terry, JJ Melligan (Solomon Shields 64); Simon Dawkins (Bradley Gray 81), Adam Boyd (Ryan Jarvis 46), Wayne Gray (Loick Pires 64)

Goal: Jarvis 68

Attendance: 960