Lewis Kinsella’s late free-kick meant Aldershot Town picked up a 1-0 victory against Torquay, and their second consecutive home win.
The Shots named an unchanged starting XI after a 2-1 victory over Grimsby last time out, with the only change coming on the bench as James Vennings returned to Mark Molesley’s matchday squad.
It was Aldershot Town that started out on the front foot, stringing together some brilliant passing moves and getting into promising areas.
And five minutes in, they had their first effort on target. Tommy Willard picked the ball up 25 yards out before unleashing a powerful strike towards MacDonald’s goal, forcing the Torquay keeper to punch clear.
A quarter of an hour in, and after a quiet spell of play, Armstrong had the visitors’ first look at goal, but a weak shot along the ground was easy for Walker to deal with.
Shortly after, Torquay United thought that they should have taken the lead. A ball over the top was awkward to deal with for Jordan, and a collision between the defender and Walker left Armstrong with an empty net to put the ball in. However, Armstrong was ruled to have pushed Jordan into his goalkeeper, and the goal was disallowed. After a short stoppage in play, both players were up and able to continue.
The Shots almost found a breakthrough ten minutes before half time, after a great ball from Sylla sent Glover through on goal, and his shot forced MacDonald to make a good save at his near post.
The visitors had the final chance of the first half, with Armani Little connecting well on an effort from outside the box, but good defending from Aldershot Town saw his shot blocked.
It only took four minutes for Aldershot Town to get their first chance of the half, as a free-kick was fired into the box by Kinsella and deflected into the side netting. The resulting corner saw another good delivery, and it was punched clear by MacDonald, only for Kinsella to deliver another cross which this time was caught by the goalkeeper.
After a quiet ten minutes, The Gulls came close to breaking the deadlock. Once again, it was Sinclair Armstrong who had the opportunity, and his long-range effort was deflected just wide of Walker’s goal. The corner that came from it was delivered into a dangerous area, but Lemonheigh-Evans couldn’t direct his header on target.
With 20 minutes to go, Jake Andrews decided to try his luck from distance, but his strike was always rising and flew over the bar.
A minute later, The Shots had a chance of their own. A corner from Kinsella found its way to substitute Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong, who had only come on a few minutes prior, but his shot from close range was off target.
Berkeley-Agyepong then had another go after driving inside and holding off his man, but his effort lacked power and was easily gathered by MacDonald.
And in the 85th minute, Aldershot Town got themselves in front. After Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong was brought down just outside the area, Lewis Kinsella stepped up and curled the ball perfectly into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
In the second minute of an additional four, substitute Moore had Torquay’s final chance of the game, but it was sliced high and wide, and Aldershot Town held on to make it back-to-back victories.
The Shots are next in action on Saturday, when they visit Kings Lynn in the Vanarama National League.
Aldershot Town FC: 37 L Walker (G/K), 3 L Kinsella (C), 6 K Lyons-Foster (J Berkeley-Agyepong 69’), 7 A Whittingham (J Vennings 59’), 11 C Andrews, 12 C Oxlade-Chamberlain, 14 R Glover, 16 C Jordan, 18 M Sylla, 26 A Saunders, 27 T Willard
Unused Subs: 1 M Walker (G/K), 20 M Ndjoli, 39 J Gorman
Torquay United FC: 37 S MacDonald, 2 B Wynter, 3 D Martin, 4 T Lapslie (D Holman 87’), 7 C Lemonheigh-Evans, 10 A Little (C), 11 J Andrews (B Moore 74’), 15 H Perritt (A Omar 89’), 21 D Moxey, 25 S Armstrong, 31 J Lewis
Unused Subs: 23 M Brzozowski (G/K), 19 K Lolos
