Aldershot Town came back from the death late on, courtesy of goals from Hady Ghandour and Tyler Frost, to secure a huge 2-1 win at home to Altrincham.
FIRST HALF
The Shots started brightly, enthused by the re-introduction of talisman Josh Barrett, who looked to get involved as often as possible. He opened up space for Ryan Jones, who cut from the wing into the centre of the pitch, laying off the ball to Ryan Hill on the right. Hill tried to feed it back into Jones, who made a forward run into the box, but just put slightly too much on the delivery.
Ryan Hill was involved again minutes later, applying pressure to intercept a loose Altrincham pass in their own half, before being fouled on the edge of the box. Josh Barrett stepped up to deliver the cross, but again it was too heavy and sailed out of play.
In the 23rd minute, Josh Barrett evaded the off-side trap down the right hand side, delivering a low driven cross into the six yard box. Hady Ghandour was prepared to blast it home, but for a late interception and clearance from Lewis Baines.
The best opportunity of the half started at the back for the Shots. Coniah Boyce-Clarke rose highest to claim an Alty corner, before quickly setting Ryan Jones off on the half-way line. The tricky winger got inside of his man, and raced into the box, sending his shot straight at the outstretched Luke Hutchinson.
Cameron Hargreaves was the next to go close, bursting into the box, and a wealth of space, driving his effort just inches over the bar as the pressure continued to mount for the hosts.
Right on the stroke of half-time, Barrett was involved again, receiving a drilled pass from Sam Inwood, wide left of the penalty area. Barrett took one look at the goalkeeper and elected for a typically audacious outside of the foot effort, which went narrowly high and wide of the far post.
SECOND HALF
The pressure continued as Altrincham again lost possession close to home. Jones fed Ghandour, who fed Barrett, who poked it through to Henry in the box, and the experienced midfielder put his effort into the East Bank inside two minutes of the restart.
Barrett was next up, carving space in the centre of goal from 18-yards, seeing his shot take a strong deflection of an Alty leg to kill any momentum and make it an easy catch for Hutchinson in goal.
On the hour, Altrincham broke at lightning speed, and with almost their first shot on target in the game, Oliver Crankshaw drove the ball beyond Boyce-Clarke and into the back of the net, giving the visitors the shock lead with half an hour to play.
Tempers flared shortly after, as both benches became embroiled in a squabble, as Altrincham looked to run the clock down with a series of stoppages. John Coleman received a yellow card for his part in the coming together between the dugouts, the visiting bench also received a yellow.
Kwame Thomas replaced James Henry with 20 minutes to go.
A Josh Barrett corner refused to settle in the six yard box, pinging between red and black shirts as Sam Inwood took a wild swipe at the ball, smashing an effort at a prone Altrincham defender, before the ball was eventually cleared after what felt like an eternity. Next into the fray was Tyler Frost, who replaced debutant Christy Grogan at the back.
In the 90th minute, the Shots restored hope, as Hady Ghandour blasted home an equaliser from close range, after Ryan Jones’ deflected shot was palmed into danger by the home goalkeeper, sending the East Bank into raptures.
And just moments later, in the 93rd minute, Tyler Frost cut in from the left and curled a beautiful shot into the top right corner, completing a memorable late comeback, handing the Shots a more than deserved 3-points, handing hope to their survival mission.
