- Southend and Altrincham played out contrasting H2H results in 2025-26 (3-0 and 1-0), suggesting neither side will park the bus.
- Southend were 6th on 81 points in 2025-26, compared to Altrincham's 13th place on 57.
- Altrincham finished 2025-26 with a 3-1 win over Gateshead, while also beating Sutton United and Eastleigh in their final two games.
An old-school National League clash
Southend United have been installed as 69/100 favourites for a victory at Altrincham this Saturday, which has us scratching our heads. The hosts are 321/100 to beat the Shrimpers, while the draw is 137/50, which are all far too long for a fixture that should see a close, competitive game.
Southend and Altrincham produced mirror-image results in their two meetings last season - the Shrimpers ran riot in a 3-0 National League victory on 22 November 2025, while Altrincham got their revenge with a 1-0 success on 21 March 2026. The fact that each team took the points in their respective home games in this fixture points to this being a tough game, where neither side will be comfortable sitting back and hoping to nick a win.
Kieron Dyer has made a real fist of his first senior head-coaching role at Southend United, building his side around a 4-3-3 system where his side try to dominate the ball, impose a tempo and press with high energy. Charley Kendall and Gus Scott-Morriss bring creativity and end product to his team, while Ben Goodliffe gives a steel and aerial power in defence and Andrew Dallas, the 2025-26 top scorer in the club, is his talisman in attack.
Southend should edge a close game
Altrincham won four of their last five competitive games to finish 2025-26 in decent nick, so there is no reason to think they won't be right into this one at home. Neil Gibson's 3-5-2/5-3-2 has brought some stability to his troops after a shaky start to the campaign, while the addition of Oliver Crankshaw gives them an extra bite in the final third and his captain Tom Crawford gives them control, energy and set piece quality in the middle third.
Jimmy Knowles is their main goal threat, after finishing 2025-26 as top scorer with 11 league goals, but his team's game is all about counters, pace on the wings and high-intensity bursts of pressing, so they will want to punish the visitors whenever they can take them on. Southend's system should give them more control if they can get the first 30 minutes under their belt and they finished 2025-26 with some mixed results, including a 0-0 at Wembley in the FA Trophy Final (won on penalties) and a 2-1 league win over Wealdstone.
Southend should win this, but the odds look way too short for a game of this nature, so we're backing a 2-1 away win in the correct score market. There is a chance for both teams to score though, so we're also taking Over 2.5 goals at 33/50 and Both Teams to Score at 63/100, because this has the potential to be a very lively National League contest.
