Aldershot Town finished on the wrong end of a five-goal thriller on their first home league fixture of the 2025/26 season, succumbing to a narrow 3-2 defeat against Boston United in spite of playing with ten-men for over an hour. Theo Widdrington’s 27th-minute red card arrived between two Lenell John-Lewis goals, while second-half strikes from Hady Ghandour and Tristan Abrahams were undone by Gregory Sloggett’s deflected Pilgrims third, which turned out to be the eventual winner.
Tommy Widdrington made three changes from the eleven that begun last week’s visit to Altrincham, with Hady Ghandour, Will Nightingale and Maxwell Mullins coming in for their first starts of the new league campaign.
The game commenced tentatively, with signs of defensive quality from each side leading to evenly shared possession from box-to-box with few chances forged. However, the Pilgrim’s first foray into the Aldershot box proved to be a clinical one, as a pinpoint early cross from full-back Jordan Cropper from the right flank found the head of Lennell John-Lewis, who headed home to open the scoring on the ten-minute mark.
It was at this point that the makings of a somewhat feisty occasion began, as Ryan Hill was both the offender and victim of a succession of late challenges, resulting in himself and flank-mate Cropper both being showed early yellow cards.
Cameron Hargreaves successfully turned defense into attack as a steal of the ball was followed up by a surging drive up field. Absorbing the pressure of multiple defenders, the central midfielder laid a simple pass right to Hady Ghandour occupying the empty space that had been created, with the Shots’ no. 23 taking one touch before firing a venomous strike which had the keeper scrambling, though unfortunately sailed just high of the target.
The Shots would continue searching for a first-half equaliser, as Dejan Tetek sprayed the ball out right to an overlapping Maxwell Mullins, before he showed tremendous vision to fizz a low cross to Hargreaves receiving the ball with his back to goal just inside the box. Hargreaves turned well and unleashed a powerful strike, though only finding the side-netting.
With an as yet end-to-end affair looking anyone’s guess, the Pilgrims were gifted a significant advantage just before the half-hour mark as a sliding challenge from Theo Widdrington on the half-way line was adjudged to have shown studs, resulting in the Shots’ captain on the day being shown a red card.
Having scored three in his previous two matches, new Boston signing Kieren Donnelly looked lively in and around the box, though missed two guilt-edged opportunities in quick succession following further testing crosses from Cropper and Alex Lankshear. Both chances hit first time but failing to hit the target, Marcus Dewhurst would have counted himself fortunate to have not been tested.
Tempers continued to flare as a clash of heads between John-Lewis and James Clarridge required both sets of physios on the pitch. With the referee deeming this encounter worthy of a Boston free-kick in a dangerous area much to the displeasure of the nearby East Bank, the resulting dead ball from Sloggett leaving the stadium received a deafening jeer from the home support.
HALF TIME
James Clarridge continued displaying the impressive distribution that saw him claim an assist last time out, as his searching ball down the channel found Hady Ghandour on the corner of the box, who proceeded to square to Josh Barrett, the ball reaching the forward on the bounce, his half-volley was testing, though crept agonisingly high.
Boston United would add a second on the 53-minute mark, as some tenacious defending from the front saw Dylan Hill steal the ball 30-yards from goal before laying forward to John-Lewis. The veteran striker took one touch before putting a cultured low finish behind Dewhurst to double the lead.
Aldershot wouldn’t take long to reply, however, as just two minutes later Josh Barrett would receive the ball on the break towards the right-hand-side of the Boston area. With the Pilgrims tracking back deep, Barrett delivered a low-pass to the edge of the area, where a late arriving Hady Ghandour opened his body tremendously before slotting calmly into the bottom right corner for 2-1.
The end to end action did not cease to end there, as the ever-lively Kieren Donnelley found himself in behind the defense towards the hour mark, though was further frustrated by a superb recovery challenge from Clarridge, who nicked the ball from danger before recycling his own passage of play.
The visitors would eventually restore the lead back to two, after a cleared set-piece returned to the feet of Gregory Sloggett, whose effort from distance hurtled towards a busy penalty area, ricocheting off of James Clarridge and into the back of the net.
Dejan Tetek, who would go on to receive Aldershot’s man of the match award on the day, turned provider shortly after, looping a free-kick towards the head of Will Nightingale. The former Wimbledon man’s high-arching cross-cum-shot warranted bated breathe from home and away support, though was eventually cleared for a corner. Similarly, following a Cameron Hargreaves cross, Jed Meerholz struck an unorthodox first-time effort from 20-yards that seemed to take an age to come down, though when it did, only an impressive save from goalkeeper Rhys Lovett would prevent the loanee from his first in Shots colours.
A pair of handball pleas raised the decibel levels of the EBB Stadium considerably in the final ten minutes, though frustration turned to excitement with one minute left of normal time, as an all-attacking Aldershot found a second in the form of Tristan Abrahams, with Archy Taylor’s low-cross met emphatically by the second-half substitute to make it 3-2 with just stoppage time to play.
More controversy followed as what was though to have been a scrappy equaliser from Archy Taylor was quickly ruled out on grounds of the ball falling out of the keeper’s grips. This would be the final significant action in a wildly eventful affair, with Boston returning to Lincolnshire with all three points.
Attendance: 2,595 (237 away)
Shots lineup: 1. Marcus Dewhurst, 6. Theo Widdrington (C), 7. Cameron Hargreaves (18. Kiban Rai 83′), 10. Josh Barrett (9. Kwame Thomas 63′), 14. Jed Meerholz (28. Archy Taylor 83′), 19. Ryan Hill (30. Tristan Abrahams 83′), 23. Hady Ghandour, 24. Maxwell Mullins (38. Noah Watson 67′), 25. Will Nightingale, 32. James Clarridge, 34. Dejan Tetek
Subs not used: 16. Pat Nash, 12. Keane Anderson
Boston Lineup 1. Rhys Lovett, 2. Ben Grist, 4. Connor Teale, 5. Zak Mills (33. Billy Bradley 83′), 6. Greg Sloggett, 8. Dylan Hill, 11. Kieren Donnelly (27. Manni Norkett 63′), 14. Lenell John-Lewis (16. Jordy Hiwula 63′), 17. Alex Lankshear, 19. Jordan Richards (7. Rocco Coyle 72′), 32. Jordan Cropper.
Subs not used: 21. Bobby Jones, 28. Luca Alonzi, 31. Finley Ging.
