Aldershot Town bid to enter the FA Cup first round proper this weekend, making the 26-mile trip to Meadowbank as they face off against National League South outfit, Dorking Wanderers.
Founded in 1999 as a strictly amateur side, the club quickly began a remarkable ascent across tiers 17 through five, reaching the National League in 2022 following play-off promotion. Due to both their rapid rise through the pyramid, and being the subject of popular Youtube documentary series ‘Bunch of Amateurs: Dorking Uncovered’, the side from Surrey have been an exponentially unignorable quantity in non-league across the 21st century, and with co-founder Marc White remaining the side’s only manager to date, they truly are one of English football’s most unique entities.
Relegated from step-one in 2024, the Wanderers are amid their second successive sixth-tier season, and currently find themselves sitting ninth in the National League South table, with 15 points from 10 games. Despite a plethora of achievements to boast across the club’s young history, the side have still yet to reach the First Round of the FA Cup, a record that the Shots will hope to have retained come Monday’s draw.
FA CUP RUN SO FAR
The side have experienced an enjoyable FA Cup run up to now, scoring 12 goals across the second and third qualifying rounds, the second most of any sixth-tier team in this years competition thus far, behind only Tonbridge Angels (13).
- 13/09/25 – Dorking Wanderers 7-2 Wingate & Finchley (Carter 3, Camp, Taylor, Rutherford, Lewis)
- 27/09/25 – Salisbury 1-1 Dorking Wanderers (Storey)
- 30/09/25 – Dorking Wanderers 4-2 Salisbury (Prior, Rutherford 2, Muitt)
An emphatic victory at Meadowbank against seventh-tier Wingate & Finchley saw club captain Charlie Carter steal the show with his third hattrick for the Wanderers in less than a year, earning a third qualifying round tie against National League South strugglers Salisbury.
Their visit to Wiltshire started well, with Louis Storey poking home from close range in the 4th minute to give the visitors an early lead. However, Matt Briggs’ second-half equaliser would finish the afternoon’s scoring, sending the tie back to Surrey.
The replay would begin in extremely controversial fashion, as a first-minute strike from Salisbury’s Noah Coppin squeezed inside the left-hand post, though a ricochet of the goal’s inner framing caused a rightful goal to have been missed by the referee. Jason Prior would officially open the scoring on the night via the penalty spot, a lead that Marc White’s men would retain until the evening’s conclusion, running out 4-2 winners at Meadowbank to secure a further home tie with their nearby rivals.
IN THE DUGOUT
A figure synonymous with Dorking’s rise, and rightly so, Marc White co-founded the club in 1999 and has – without interruption – overseen its remarkable journey from park football all to way to the summit of non-league.
Born and raised in Surrey, the banker and entrepreneur founded the club along with a group of fellow disillusioned Wimbledon supporters, correctly preempting the modern demise of the former FA Cup winners. Entering the Crawley & District League at its lowest level (Step 13), White enacted as player-manager across the first eight years of inception, hanging up his boots in 2007, in order to focus solely on management, as well as various board responsibilities as the club grew in stature.
An animated, outspoken and often polarizing character, entering his 27th season in charge of the club he built, it would be extremely difficult for even his largest critics to refute his unique and impressive achievements in the game thus far.
FORMER SHOTS
Frank Vincent – The Hackney-born midfielder joined the Shots on loan from Notts County in August 2022. Impressing amid what was an initial one-month deal, he would see his time in North Hampshire extended until the end of the calendar year, playing 20 matches and scoring once.
After further National League spells at Dagenham & Redbridge and Woking – the latter for whom he scored at the EBB in a 2-2 draw last campaign – Vincent joined Wanderers in June 2025, already making 12 appearances for the Surrey-based side.
MATCH HISTORY AND LAST TIME OUT
The sides first met competitively in October 2022, following Dorking’s sensational promotion to the fifth-tier six months prior. Close range volleys from Inih Effion and Tyler Cordner, as well as a superb solo effort from Tommy Willard, would secure a 3-0 away victory for the Shots on what was a dominant performance at Meadowbank. The reverse fixture would prove similarly fruitful, as goals at the end of each half from Justin Amaluzor and Ryan Glover wrapped up a 2-0 win at the EBB Stadium, and a convincing league double over the National League newcomers.
Wanderers would return to North Hampshire just one week later for an FA Trophy fifth-round tie, with a place in the competition’s final eight on the line. A closely fought affair would be decided by a solitary goal, Tyler Cordner poking into an empty net in first-half stoppage time to send the Shots into the quarter finals, also cementing the season’s bragging rights with a third win-to-nil in as many attempts against their new rivals.
Despite ultimate relegation, a second and final season at the summit of non-league would see more lucrative results in the match-up for Marc White’s men, claiming their first goals and points against the Shots in October 23. Jason Prior’s headed opener would be cancelled out by coolly taken Cian Harries penalty. However, the afternoon would end in frustration for the defender, after Jimmy Muitt’s 69th-minute strike took a wicked deflection off of Harries’ back, reinstating the host’s lead at 2-1, a scoreline that remained until the tie’s conclusion.
A meeting at the EBB in April 2024 finished all-square, as a play-off chasing Shots side found themselves disappointed to be held to a 1-1 draw. Josh Barrett’s first ever goal in Aldershot Town colours arrived in just the second-minute, though the hosts would fail to add to their lead, frustrated by a magnificent goalkeeping performance from current York City no. 1 Harrison Male. With the slender lead remaining into the final 15-minutes, Alfie Rutherford poked home a chance for the visitors to snatch an unlikely point for the Surrey side.
While this would mark the last competitive meeting between the two until now, Tommy Widdrington and co. have of course visited Dorking extremely recently, emerging 2-0 winners in July as a Josh Barrett brace secured a pre-season victory at Meadowbank.
TICKET INFO
Tickets for The Shots’ Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie away to Dorking Wanderers are now on sale and can be bought online by clicking HERE
Having been previously informed that away tickets for Saturday’s trip to Dorking Wanderers in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round had sold out, we have now been told 100 extra tickets have been made available, raising the total away allocation to 850.
Prices are as follows:
- ADULT – £17
- CONCESSION – £14
- UNDER 18 – £7
- UNDER 8 – £4
- FAMILY (2 Adults & 2 Under 18s) – £38
Please ensure that when purchasing tickets online, you select the ‘Away End’ and a ticket listed as ‘Away’.
There will be no ticket sales on the day of the game and all tickets must be bought in advance.
Meadowbank is operating as a cashless stadium and as a result, all purchases, including refreshments, must be bought with card.
IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT
Live updates will be available from our social media platforms X (@OfficialShots), Instagram (@aldershottownfcofficial), and Facebook. After the game, highlights will be available on our YouTube channel.
There will be live commentary of the game provided by BBC Radio Surrey – listen online HERE
