Aldershot Town were beaten 1-0 by A.F.C. Fylde at Mill Farm after an early rebound effort from Danny Philliskirk on Saturday.
In tough playing conditions, it was A.F.C. Fylde who come away with all three points after making the most of a loose ball mid-way through the first-half.
A brilliant penalty save from Mitch Walker in the 20th minute that unfortunately saw penalty taker Danny Philliskirk respond quickest to smash home the rebound, after Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong brought down fellow midfielder Mark Yeates.
Despite Aldershot Town’s relentless pressure they were unable to find the equaliser that would’ve helped them on their push away from the relegation places.
Danny Searle made just the one change to the side that lost away to Notts County last Tuesday with new signing Reece Grant starting upfront alongside Harrison Panayiotou, with recent signing Yannis Drais keeping his place in the side replacing James Rowe in central midfield.
It was a tight 10 minutes with neither side creating too many chances to score early on.
However, as the game carried on and the rain started to pour, A.F.C. Fylde would begin to threaten more, as had it not been for a fantastic save one-on-one from Mitch Walker to deny A.F.C. Fylde forward Jamie Proctor in the 11th minute, the home side would’ve taken the early advantage.
A.F.C. Fylde would eventually score the game’s opening goal nine minutes later, after Aldershot Town midfielder Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong conceded a penalty after bringing down Mark Yeates.
Danny Philliskirk stepped up to take the penalty which Walker again did fantastically to save the midfielder’s penalty, but the 28 year-old was quickest to react to the loose ball and smashed home the rebound from just a couple of yards out.
Aldershot Town did look to respond to falling behind as Harrison Panayiotou looked to threaten Josh Lillis in the A.F.C. Fylde goal from distance, but his dipping effort was saved courtesy of Lillis’ face in the 31st minute as Fylde eventually cleared their lines.
Tough playing conditions saw the Shots struggle to play their typical passing-style of football but despite their best efforts to find an equaliser, were unable to do that before the first-half came to a close.
As the second-half started however, Aldershot Town continued to push for an equaliser and thought they had found it in the 57th minute had it not been for a brilliant goal-line clearance.
A deep cross from Ethan Chislett allowed Panayiotou to cushion the ball back for Craig Tanner whose effort looked to have being going in, but was denied the Shots’ equaliser after a brilliant headed clearance off the line from Luke Burke.
Aldershot Town continued to add pressure to the A.F.C. Fylde defence with a number of corners and crosses into the box from the likes of Chislett, Berkeley-Agyepong, Tanner and the recently substituted Van Velzen, but A.F.C. Fylde defended stoutly as they looked to pick up their second win in a week.
There was time for one last chance for Panayiotou in the final seconds as he gathered Lewis Walker’s flick-on but could put his effort wide as the full-time whistle went, leaving Aldershot Town moving on to continue to prepare for next week’s derby game against Woking F.C. on Saturday.
A.F.C. Fylde XI: 25 J Lillis (G/K), 4 N Byrne (C), 6 A Whitmore, 8 R Croasdale, 9 J Proctor (Willoughby 71′), 10. D Philliskirk, 11 J Williams, 12 L Burke, 15 D Bradley (T.Walker 67′), 17 M Yeates, 26 T French.
Unused Subs: Hornby (G/K), Miller, Thompson.
Aldershot Town XI: 1 M Walker (G/K) (C), 6 K Lyons-Foster, 11 H Panayiotou, 14 Y Drais (Whittingham 45′), 15 A Finney, 16 G Fowler, 20 E Chislett (L.Walker 71′), 21 J Berkeley-Agyepong, 23 J-Y Koue-Niate, 25 R Grant (Van Velzen 82′), 26 C Tanner.
Unused Subs: Hall (G/K), Wylie.