Aldershot Town fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to in-form Altrincham FC in the Vanarama National League at the J Davidson Stadium.
The Shots made three changes to the side that suffered defeat against Torquay United last Tuesday.
Captain Lewis Kinsella, Vice-Captain Kevin Lokko and Ryan Glover all returned to the starting line-up with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Brad Webb and Corey Jordan all missing out. Both Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jordan took their place on the bench for the start of the game.
An early opportunity came for Altrincham as a wide cross fell to the feet of full-back Harry Perritt, but thankfully for The Shots, his effort whistled over the bar inside the penalty area after just a few minutes of action.
Aldershot Town responded by creating chances to score from both a corner and a free-kick inside the Altrincham half but the home side dealt with the threat well in both the 7th and 11th minute.
Following this, it would be Alty who typically would see more of the ball with The Shots looking to threaten on the break.
The best opportunity for Aldershot Town to deploy their counter-attack so far came in the 24th minute with Alfie Saunders leading a break from a Altrincham free-kick, that in turn saw Altrincham’s Isaac Marriott forced to cynically foul the full-back and pick up the game’s first yellow card.
Another counter-attacking opportunity fell The Shots’ way as a well-blocked effort from an Aldershot Town defender resulted in the ball eventually finding its way to Tommy Willard, who cut in from the left before firing agonisingly over the bar with 34 minutes played.
Altrincham continued to press the Aldershot Town back-line but The Shots’ back-line held firm up until half-time, as late opportunities fell the way of Aldershot Town in the hope of finding a late opener in the first-half.
Both Kodi Lyons-Foster and Giles Phillips fired goal wards but both efforts were blocked by Altrincham defenders as Aldershot Town were also unable to make the most of a late free-kick, corner and Saunders’ throw-in as the referee blew the whistle for half-time shortly after these chances.
The second-half started with an early save for Aldershot Town’s Ethan Ross as a promising chance for The Shots lead to an Altrincham counter-attack as Dan Mooney’s effort was parried away by the Shots’ keeper on the right-hand side.
Altrincham continued to threaten in the second-half, but Aldershot Town stood tall to defend their attacks with manager Mark Molesley looking to freshen things up and offer a different threat with Jayden Harris replacing Harrison Panayiotou at the hour mark of the game.
Another Mooney effort was well-parried from Ross seven minutes later with Aldershot Town looking to create an opportunity to open the scoring that eventually fell their way in the 73rd minute.
Midfielder Mo Sylla’s effort from the edge of the area was blocked by an Altrincham FC defender, before defenders Kevin Lokko and Kodi Lyons-Foster looked to threaten Tony Thompson’s goal as the latter’s effort could only find itself just wide of the near post.
Two minutes later and a Lewis Kinsella free-kick looked to threaten the Altrincham goal but his goal-bound effort was easily held by Thompson.
Despite these chances, Altrincham would find the opening goal late on and it was that man Mooney again finding the back of the net, courtesy of a deflection in the 87th minute.
The Shots looked to respond late on and see them come away from Moss Lane with a point, as recent substitute Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain’s effort cleared off the line in the 90th minute.
But despite the late threat from Aldershot Town, Altrincham FC came away with all three points and left Aldershot Town disappointed with the late winner.
Aldershot Town are next in action next Saturday when they host Eastleigh FC for their #TNLFootballWeekends fixture on April 2nd.
Altrincham FC: 1 T Thompson (G/K) (C), 7 D Mooney, 8 E Osborne (Moult 83′),10 J Hancock, 11 R Colclough, 15 M Kosylo (Leith-Smith 68′), 20 A White, 23 H Perritt, 24 K Ferguson, 25 T Mullarkey, 32 I Marriott (Pringle 62′)
Unused Subs: 14 J Cooper, 26 K Hall
Aldershot Town FC: 24 E Ross (G/K), 3 L Kinsella (C) (Oxlade-Chamberlain 89′), 5 K Lokko, 6 K Lyons-Foster, 7 A Whittingham, 11 H Panayiotou (Harris 61′), 14 R Glover (Bettamer 79′), 18 M Sylla, 22 G Phillips, 26 A Saunders, 27 T Willard
Unused Subs: 1 M Walker (G/K), 16 C Jordan
