A spirited showing from the Shots wasn’t enough to see off Football League opposition as Leyton Orient’s 1-0 win over the Shots at the Gaughan Group Stadium saw the Academy Under 18s exit the FA Youth Cup at the First Round.
The young Shots had a nightmare journey to Central London with heavy traffic forcing kick-off to be delayed for 45 minutes with Aldershot’s warmup time and overall preparation being severely depleted.
The hosts may have had to wait around, but had full preparation and it showed in the opening exchanges as the home side started stronger and dominated the early spells of possession.
They were unable to turn their possession into chances, however and allowed the Shots to grow into the game and enjoy some good spells of possession themselves, but it took until the 28th minute for the first real sight of goal to come for either team.
The ball fell kindly to Orient’s number nine Devine Samuel in the Shots box, but the young Shots defence reacted well to swarm around him and clear the danger. From the resulting corner, Reece Jhuti fired wide from distance.
There were shouts for an Aldershot penalty on the half hour mark as Tom Neail was dragged down at the far-post from a deep Oliver Rowan free-kick, but the Referee waved away the appeals from the Shots players.
Aaron Sterling drew Shots ‘keeper Keanu Black into action for the first time in the 33rd minute but his shot was straight at him and an easy gather.
But Orient took the lead five minutes later as the young Shots gave the ball away trying to play out from the back. Black’s pass was straight to the feet of Dan Carter who had an easy finish from close-range to give the home side the lead.
HALF-TIME
Two half-time substitutions and a change of shape were made during the break by the Shots Academy Coaching Staff, but Orient continued to show they were the higher ranked team.
Aaron Sterling broke into the box six minutes into the second-half, but Keanu Black was equal to it. Black had to be called into action again in the 57th minute as he pulled off a very good save to deny Abdi Mohamud whose shot came from a neat Orient move.
Orient left-back Charlie Anderson rattled the Shots bar in the 63rd minute with a free-kick from 25-yards out but the Shots broke straight down the other end. Kian Dugdale did well to beat his man down the right, but his ball across goal couldn’t fall right for Sav Shah.
Orient were happy to sit on their one-goal lead as the game began to turn fairly scrappy as the remaining time wore down but the young Shots were continuing to show great spirit and fitness to continue pressing and harrying Orient’s every move.
A late chance fell to the home side to seal their win, however, as captain Eddie Wright drove down the right and continued to drive right into the Shots box, but his cross-cum-shot couldn’t be turned in by the sliding Teddie Lamb at the far-post.
A number of even later chances also came Orient’s way as Aldershot pressed high in search of an equaliser. The Shots defence did very well to produce a flurry of last-ditch challenges to keep out multiple close-range efforts before Dan Carter fired narrowly over the bar in search of his second of the game.
Attendance: 261
Shots lineup: 1. Keanu Black, 2. Oliver Rowan, 3. Archie Wisdom, 4. Lewis Hillary (C), 5. Callum Kent, 6. Euan Moss, 7. Kian Dugdale (17. Jacob Chrismas, 83′), 8. Sam Holubec (12. Maxwell Chinyere, 81′), 9. George Comben (15. Lucas Turner, 46′), 10. Gabriel Wall (14. Sav Shah, 59′), 11. Tom Neail (18. Felix Hills, 46′).
Subs not used: 13. Louis Knight, 16. Max Walker.
Leyton Orient lineup: 1. Ethan Pike, 2. Reece Jhuti (12. Luke Northwood, 81′), 3. Charlie Anderson, 4. Eddie Wright (C) (16. Alfie Wellens, 90+2′), 5. Zak O’Keefe, 6. Phil Chinedu, 7. Aaron Sterling (15. Claudio Nzang, 90+2′), 8. Dan Carter, 9. Devine Samuel, 10. Abdi Mohamud (14. Izu Okafor, 88′), 11. Zac Hambury (17. Teddie Lamb, 81’).
Subs not used: 13. Connor Pastore, 18. Ronnie Hennessy.