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MATCH REPORT: Birmingham City (H)

A good performance against Championship Bristol City was bettered as the Shots overcame Birmingham City with a 3-1 win.

Similar to the Shots’ opponents on Tuesday night, Bristol City, Birmingham City brought a strong side to the EBB Stadium.

The Blues’ side included Lukas Jutkiewicz, who scored a last-minute winner against the Shots over 10 years ago in an FA Cup Fourth Round tie.

The visitors’ quality didn’t take long to show as Emil Hansson cut in from the left-wing and his shot on-target had to be blocked behind by Christian Maghoma in the fifth minute.

And just three minutes later, they took the lead as an other move starting down their left side was turned in with a good finish into the top corner from Keshi Anderson on the edge of the box.

But Aldershot weren’t letting the stature of their pre-season opponents intimidate them and despite falling behind early on, were causing Birmingham plenty of problems.

Christian Maghoma, skippering the side, feinted past Lukas Jutkiewicz on the halfway line and played a beautiful long ball to play Tyler Frost in down the right, but cutting in on his left foot, Frost saw his shot blocked.

Two minutes later in the 18th minute, there was another chance for Frost as he found himself in down the right but this also saw a crucial block as his attempted square ball to Kai Corbett was intercepted.

The 22nd minute saw a flurry of chances in the space of a couple minutes as firstly, Frost again found space down his right flank but though his cross was again deflected, Ryan Allsop in the Birmingham net had to pull off a god reaction save to stop it from finding the top corner.

The Shots continued to pile on the pressure and a minute later levelled the game through Ryan Jones. Lachlan Byrd found himself in a crossing position on the right and found Jones at the back-post who had time to take the ball down and powerfully half-volley past Allsop.

Aldershot weren’t satisfied with pulling level, however, and from kick-off won the ball back and pushed forward. Hady Ghandour saw his header hit the bar, but Theo Widdrington was on hand to head home the rebound – completing a fantastic, quick-fire turnaround for the Shots.

Jordi van Stappershoef had his post to thank twice as Birmingham hit it twice in a minute just after the half hour mark. Firstly, Jutkiewicz flicked on a cross and saw his header denied by the post, before Tyler Roberts did well to carry the ball only to see his low effort strike the same post.

Theo Widdrington was forced off just before half-time and was replaced by Ashley Akpan, who was instantly involved. His low cross was not dealt with and fell to the feet of Kai Corbett who could only fire his shot at Allsop as Aldershot went into the break in front.

HALF-TIME

No changes were made at half-time and Aldershot came out looking strong. Josh Barrett forced Allsop into a good save low down in the 51st minute after brilliant work from Kai Corbett and Ryan Jones to create a chance.

Barrett has a liking for the outrageous and almost pulled off a sensational bit of skill as he hit the crossbar in the 54th minute. Frost drove forward and laid it off to Barrett who instead of launching a shot with power, chipped it over the helpless Allsop only to see the crossbar denying one of the goals of pre-season.

Remarkably, the Shots then hit the woodwork for the second time in a minute, just like their opponents did in the first-half, as Kai Corbett struck the post from close-range.

A flurry of substitutions ruined the flow of the game, as is the case with many pre-season friendlies, but one of the Shots substitutions had a positive impact as Ollie Bray scored Aldershot’s third.

A deep cross from Ollie Harfield was superbly turned in on the volley by Bray in the 78th minute as the young striker looks to make his mark this pre-season campaign.

That turned out to be the last bit of noteworthy action as Aldershot pulled off a fantastic victory against a strong Birmingham side who have been tipped to do very well in League One this season.

Attendance: 851 (67 away)

Shots Lineup: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef (28. Marcus Dewhurst, 65′), 2. Lachlan Byrd, 3. Ollie Harfield (33. Freddie Stanley, 88′), 5. Christian Maghoma (24. Maxwell Mullins, 79′), 6. Theo Widdrington (21. Ashley Akpan, 45′), 7. Cameron Hargreaves (12. Keane Anderson, 82′), 8. Tyler Frost (34. Dejan Tetek, 65′), 9. Kai Corbett (14. Ollie Bray, 72′), 10. Josh Barrett (20. Haydon Vaughan, 72′), 11. Ryan Jones (15. Ollie Turner, 79′), 23. Hady Ghandour.