Woking continued their good form as they picked up a valuable point at Southend United in a competitive 0-0 draw in the National League on Saturday.
Woking were unchanged from the side victorious against Barnet last Saturday, but new signings Alan Judge and Lee Angol, the latter joining on loan from Sutton United, both made the bench alongside the returning Josh Casey.
After a fairly even opening ten minutes, a corner from Curtis Edwards was met at the back post by the head of Luke Wilkinson, who couldn’t direct the ball past Shrimpers keeper Colin Andeng-Ndi, who smothered the ball after parrying the initial effort.
It took until 28 minutes for Southend to test Will Jaaskelainen, after a long throw was only half cleared and former Card Nathan Ralph fired an effort at the Finn’s near post, but he saved comfortably down to his left.
After a Woking free kick fell to the feet of Jermaine Anderson at the back post with 42 minutes gone, he couldn’t quite sort his feet and his scuffed effort was easy for Andeng-Ndi to deal with. A Dan Moss block at the back post was all that followed from a first half of few chances.
The sides went into the break on level terms at 0-0.
Four minutes into the second half, good work from Jack Bridge down the left hand side saw him find Noor Husin on the edge of the box, but his shot rose just over the crossbar.
A mix up at the back between Andeng-Ndi and his defence after 57 minutes saw Jayden Luker intercept the ball, but the keeper recovered well to save the low effort from Kevin Berkoe.
Despite six minutes of injury time, nothing notable happened after that, and Woking made it back-to-back clean sheets. With both sides among the top defences in the division, it was a likely outcome, but positives can be taken from a solid performance, even if neither side really came that close to scoring a winning goal.
Woking have now picked up 13 points from the last 18 available in the National League, after winning four and drawing one of their past six league games.
Woking will now host Eastleigh on Good Friday (3pm) in their next National League game, when they will be looking to make it four home wins on the bounce. Woking then travel to play-off chasing Bromley on Easter Monday (3pm) in what promises to be a stern test.
Woking: Will Jaaskelainen, Dan Moss, Kevin Berkoe, Timi Odusina, Jermaine Anderson (Judge 70), Luke Wilkinson, Scott Cuthbert, Alfie Pavey (Angol 69 (Ince 84)), Curtis Edwards, Charley Kendall, Jayden Luker.
Unused substitutes: Casey, Delap.
Bookings: Will Jaaskelainen (90).
Southend: Colin Andeng-Ndi, Nathan Ralph, Adam Crowther, Ollie Kensdale, Jack Bridge, Noor Husin, Harry Cardwell, Danny Waldron (Wood 57), Cav Miley, Wes Fonguck (Coker 78), Jason Demetriou (Scott-Morriss 70).
Unused substitutes: Dackers, Taylor.
Bookings: Ollie Kensdale (65).
Attendance: 7,251 (338 Woking).
Man of the Match: Luke Wilkinson was faultless at the back, playing in the middle of the back three.