The Shots progressed into the Fifth Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy in emphatic fashion with an 8-0 win over Chertsey Town.
Goals from Christian Maghoma, James Henry, Ryan Jones, a brace from Jonny Stuttle and a hat-trick from Kai Corbett ended Chertsey Town’s furthest-ever venture into the FA Trophy.
The game got off to the perfect start for Aldershot Town when centre-back Christian Maghoma opened the scoring in the 5th minute. Josh Barrett’s corner found the defender who saw his initial shot blocked before holding off his marker and finding the back of the net.
And just five minutes later, the home side’s advantage was doubled when Ashley Akpan delivered a perfect low-cross from the right for James Henry to have an easy finish.
Aldershot were enjoying themselves and some of the football being played by the Shots was simply sublime. The 15th minute should have brought an early third goal for the Shots after a beautiful display of attacking flair as Dejan Tetek and Henry played a quick one-two and Tetek chipped the ball over the Chertsey defence to find the run of Josh Barrett, but after chesting the ball down and volleying at goal, the post denied Barrett and Aldershot from scoring a wonderful goal.
Ryan Jones found Aldershot’s third in the 25th minute, however, as he took it upon himself to drive down the left whilst beating a couple of Chertsey defenders, before firing a powerful strike into the top corner and leaving Nicky Jupp with no chance at his near-post.
Barrett was incredibly unlucky to go into the break without a goal himself with a hat-trick of opportunities throughout the remainder of the first-half.
In the 34th minute, Ashley Akpan drove in from the right wing and was clever to use James Henry’s run as a decoy before playing it through to Barrett who seemingly got caught in two minds between chipping it over the on-rushing Jupp or squaring it to Barham, only to half-dink it wide away from Barham.
His next opportunity four minutes later was a typical Josh Barrett attempt at goal as he looked to chip Jupp from the edge of the area, but put a bit too much on his shot that cleared the crossbar, before he turned Ryan Jones’ low-cross just wide of the post from around the penalty spot three minutes before the break.
HALF-TIME
Two substitutions were made by the Shots at half-time as Jonny Stuttle and Tyler Frost replaced Josh Barrett and Aaron Jones and Stuttle was involved early on as his smart through ball put Jack Barham through on goal only for the Shots striker to fire straight at Jupp.
Chertsey finally gave Marcus Dewhurst a test as Louis Degand forced him into probably his first real action of the game in the 53rd minute, before the Shots ‘keeper pulled off a superb double-save to deny Conor Lee fro close-range five minutes later.
Dejan Tetek was running the show for the Shots in midfield and showed off his magic just after the hour as he danced past two Chertsey defenders with fabulous quick feet but was held up by a third defender and was unable to get a shot away.
Kai Corbett was introduced in the 67th minute and Chertsey Town will be looking back at that moment as the one where things got very difficult as within four minutes he had scored the first of his three goals off of the bench.
Cutting in from the left, Corbett bent a beautifully placed shot into the corner that gave the Chertsey defence no hope and left Jupp stationary.
He should have his second not long later when Maxi Mullins rushed through on goal and had a perfect opportunity to square the ball to Corbett, only to try and score himself but Jupp pulled off a superb stop to deny him.
Jonny Stuttle then scored his first Shots goal and the Shots’ fifth of the afternoon in the 83rd minute and began an Aldershot rout for the final 10 minutes. Corbett turned provider after breaking into the box and Stuttle’s first-time finish found the bottom corner.
Two minutes later, and Kai Corbett got his second goal after driblling past a couple of defenders and firing a shot too powerful for Jupp to stop.
In the 88th minute, Stuttle showed good poacher’s instinct for his second of the afternoon as Cameron Hargreaves powerful effort from outside the area was spilled by Jupp and Stuttle raced in to turn it in for Aldershot’s seventh.
And just into stoppage time, Kai Corbett completed his hat-trick and completed the scoring with an eighth goal. Racing through on goal with no-one but his teammate Maxwell Mullins around him, Corbett rounded Jupp and finished into an open net to finish off a very successful, professional and dominant display from Aldershot Town.
Attendance: 1721 (464 Away)
Shots lineup: 28. Marcus Dewhurst, 5. Christian Maghoma, 6. Theo Widdrington, 10. Josh Barrett (19. Jonny Stuttle, 46′), 11. Ryan Jones, 17. Aaron Jones (C) (8. Tyler Frost, 46′), 18. Olly Scott, 21. Ashley Akpan, 22. Jack Barham (24. Maxwell Mullins, 69′), 27. James Henry (9. Kai Corbett, 67′), 34. Dejan Tetek (7. Cameron Hargreaves, 79′).
Subs not used: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 2. Lachlan Byrd.
Chertsey lineup: 1. Nicholas Jupp, 2. Isaac Olurunfemi, 3. Alex Fisher, 4. Louis Birch (16. Toby Little, 76′), 5. Calum Duffy (12. Reuben Collins, 77′), 6. Bernie Tanner, 7. Louis Degand (17. Conor Lee, 57′), 8. William Montague (15. Sam Ompreon, 69′), 9. Jack Mazzone, 10. Ollie McCoy (14. Scott Rees, 76′), 11. Ollie Knight.
Subs not used: 13. Paul McCarthy.
