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MATCH REPORT: Aldershot Town 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 1

Aldershot Town fell to a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge which saw an end to their recent winning form at the EBB Stadium on Saturday.

Despite an even game throughout the majority, it was Dagenham & Redbridge who would score late on to take all three points.

A close range finish from midfielder Mitch Brundle was enough to see the Daggers come away from the EBB Stadium with all three points.

Aldershot Town gave everything to try and score a deserved equaliser, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

Danny Searle kept an unchanged from the team that beat Boreham Wood last Tuesday, with new signing Yannis Drais the only replacement on the substitute’s bench for the outgoing Connor Shields, who left the club temporarily for a month to join Billericay Town.

The Shots started brightly, creating a number of half-chances early on with Lewis Walker’s glancing header in just the 2nd minute the pick of the bunch.

However, the game became a lot more even as the half went on with neither side able to break the other down with any clear-cut opportunities.

Dagenham had the next best chance to score in the 38th minute when a long ball forward from goalkeeper Elliot Justham found striker Alex Reid, but his first-time volley from just outside the area went wide of Mitch Walker’s goal.

Aldershot Town meanwhile, continued to push for the game’s opening goal and had opportunities through Craig Tanner in particular, from both a loose ball just outside the area and a direct free-kick 25 yards from goal, but neither tested Justham in the Daggers’ goal on the stroke of half-time.

Despite the Shots creating a number of half-chances late on in the first-half, the score remained goalless going into the half-time interval.

The second-half meanwhile started in a frantic manner with both sides creating their best opportunities to break the deadlock of the game so far.

Dagenham came forward with pace and after a good passage of play, the ball fell to Mitch Brundle just inside the Aldershot Town penalty area but Mitch Walker was on hand to deny him with a fantastic save in the 58th minute.

Straight down the other end and Aldershot Town looked as though they would be the ones to score first with Tanner again involved as he picked out Lewis Walker, who had been put through on goal, but was denied by Justham after he made a fantastic save one-on-one to deny him his first goal for the club.

These two chances saw the game open much wider with Jean-Yves Koue Niate almost scoring his first goal for the club after being found from a Tanner corner, but could only see his diving header go narrowly wide.

It was Dagenham & Redbridge’s turn this time to open the scoring with top scorer Angelo Balanta turning inside the penalty area, but could only put the ball past the left-hand post in the 76th minute.

Despite Aldershot Town looking the more likely of the two teams to open the scoring, they would be dealt a real sucker punch in the 86th minute as Mitch Brundle tapped home from just a couple yards after a sharp counter attack.

The Shots continued to press for a equaliser late on with new boy Yannis Drais coming for the last few minutes, along with fellow midfielder Ethan Chislett, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

Aldershot Town will now need to move on from this result as they look to their next game away to Notts County next Tuesday.

Aldershot Town XI: 1 M Walker (G/K), 4 D Rance (C) (Drais 88′), 6 K Lyons-Foster, 8 J Rowe (Chislett 90′), 11 H Panayiotou (Van Velzen 77′), 15 A Finney, 16 G Fowler, 21 J Berkeley-Agyepong, 23 J-Y Koue Niate, 24 L Walker, 26 C Tanner.

Unused Subs: Whittingham, Chislett, Miller

Dagenham & Redbridge XI: 1 E Justham (G/K), 3 L Gordon, 4 M Onariase, 5 L Croll, 6 K Clark (C), 8 M Brundle, 10 A Balanta, 12 M Robinson (Kandi 65′), 18 A Reid (House 56′), 22 A Eleftheriou (Weston 70′), 24 S Deering.

Unused Subs: Johnson, Wright