Aldershot Town kickstarted their pre-season campaign in style with an emphatic 6-0 win against regular summer opponents Badshot Lea. Goals from Dejan Tetek, Tyler Frost, Tristan Abrahams, Trialist B, Cameron Hargreaves and Kiban Rai cemented an assured victory against their step-five neighbours.
Tommy Widdrington brought a sizable squad with him to Westfield Lane. A mixture of first-team favourites, new signings, academy prospects and trialists comprised a bumper 23-man squad, which due to sweltering weather conditions, proved to be the necessary number.
The players walked onto the pitch in style, with both squads passing the coveted FA Trophy that had been brought along by Aldershot staff on the day. A record Westfield Lane crowd of 827 didn’t have to wait long to get their money’s worth, as in the 8th minute, Dejan Tetek opened the scoring in magnificent fashion. The Serb received the ball on the right-hand corner of the penalty area, and after jinking past his marker, curled an inch-perfect left-footed shot into the top corner, claiming an early contender for goal of pre-season less than ten minutes into its tenure.
Aldershot Town would start as they intended to go on, controlling possession in the middle of the park from the offset, though a determined Baggies defense did well to keep clear-cut chances to a minimum before the first, much needed, water break.
Shortly before the half-hour mark, Hady Ghandour found the ball at his feet 30-yards out. With a trio of Badshot defenders closing him down, a deafening cry of ‘HADY’ could be heard all around the ground as Tyler Frost nipped into the generous empty space that had been created. A perfectly waited pass allowed Frost to meet the ball on the edge of the penalty area, and without breaking stride slot calmly into the bottom-right corner for 2-0.
Youngsters Harry Thorpe and Haydon Vaughan almost combined twice for a third, however the Badshot keeper would produce two of several impressive saves on the day, denying each a memorable first-team goal.
HALF-TIME
The Shots returned onto the pitch with a completely changed starting XI, including a host of new signings who would enjoy their first taste of football in Aldershot colours. However, it was two old favourites who would catch the eye in the opening portion, and Cameron Hargreaves and Theo Widdrington let their quality show in midfield, controlling the tempo of the match with relative ease.
New arrival and son of Nepali Gurkha, Kiban Rai, received a predictably warm reception on the day, and almost opened the half’s scoring on 66 minutes; a defense-splitting pass from Widdrington found the former Newport County man in on goal, though impressive tracking from the home defense made the chance more difficult than it ought to have been, the resulting shot saved well.
Play was halted momentarily by a knock to recent addition Josh Brooking. While supporters may have feared the worst, the defender ensured to leave the field standing with the assistance of the physio team.
The floodgates opened on the 77th minute mark, after a foul on Kwame Thomas earned the visitors a free-kick 30-yards from goal. With Mullins and Abrahams standing over it, the former ran over the ball before Tristan fired a beautiful, pinpoint strike, into the bottom left for his debut goal. 3-0.
The Shots would score a fourth shortly after, as a chance on the right for Kwame Thomas looked to have been squandered, before a lucky deflection allowed the ball to fall to Rai, who squared to Trialist B for a simple finish.
Not to be outdone by the debutantes, Cameron Hargreaves got in on the act just four minutes later. With what was almost a mirror image of Dejan’s opener, the number seven curled the ball into the postage stamp from the left-hand corner of the area to make it 5-0.
With the result now a foregone conclusion, there was time for just one more moment of magic from the travelling side. Academy prospect Joe Lewis-Evans received the ball wide-right, before drilling a precision low-cross into the path of Kiban Rai, who slotted away a debut goal with the very last kick of the game. Final score, 6-0 Shots.
Attendance: 827
SHOTS FIRST-HALF SQUAD: 1. Trialist A, 5. Trialist C, 8. Tyler Frost, 12. Keane Anderson, 20. Haydon Vaughan, 23. Hany Ghandour, 25. Josh Hughes, 27. Harry Thorpe, 34. Dejan Tetek, 38. Trialist D, 39. Trialist E
SHOTS SECOND-HALF SQUAD: 13. Nash, 2. Josh Brooking (32. Trialist B, 68′), 6. Theo Widdrington, 7. Cameron Hargreaves, 9. Kwame Thomas, 14. Meerholz, 18. Kiban Rai, 24. Maxwell Mullins, 26. Joe Lewis-Evans, 28. Archy Taylor, 30. Tristan Abrahams.
