Aldershot picked up an impressive three points at the Shay Stadium this afternoon as Josh Barrett’s early goal gave them a 1-0 win over FC Halifax Town.
Having taken the lead after seven minutes on the opening day of the season, Aldershot continued their desire to start with a bang at the Shay as Josh Barrett opened the scoring for the Shots in third minute.
Theo Widdrington, wearing the captain’s armband for this game, smartly played it to Barrett with a backheel flick and the Shots number 10 opened up his body and curled it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box with a sumptuous finish.
Aldershot’s only change from the opening game came in the back three as Ollie Harfield, who travelled with the squad, missed out through injury and was replaced by Lachlan Byrd and the defence faced their first challenge in the ninth minute as Christian Maghoma did superbly to stand up and disrupt a two-on-one Halifax break.
Ryan Jones was enjoying venturing forward down the left and linked up well with Josh Barrett with a neat one-two before seeing a cross blocked and was also causing the right side of the Halifax defence by himself as he nutmegged the first challenge and skipped over a second sliding challenge not long later.
Theo Widdrington saw an effort from outside the area bounce past the post in the 21st minute that turned out to be the last chance for a good chunk of time as the game turned into a real midfield battle. Halifax were struggling to keep possession as Aldershot were happy to patiently move the ball around and hold onto their lead.
The hosts burst into life in the 40th minute, though, as they looked to get back on level terms for half-time and Angelo Cappello saw his powerful half-volley fly just over the bar.
And they perhaps should have drawn level just before the break as Andrew Oluwabori should have done a lot better than head wide from close-range.
HALF-TIME
Halifax started the second-half brightly and it took a superb challenge from Cameron Hargreaves as he raced back to block a shot from Jamie Cooke who was driving into the Shots’ box.
Cooke was looking like the dangerman and the person who could get his side back into the game and an effort from outside the box was narrowly wide.
The home side couldn’t test Marcus Dewhurst, however, as their momentum began to run out and though Aldershot were also struggling to create chances, they were happy to take the sting out of the game and remained confident in possession.
As Halifax pushed for a late equaliser, the Shots attack, refreshed by the introductions of James Henry and Jack Barham, were able to exploit some more space in the Halifax half.
James Henry delivered a dangerous cross into the Halifax box in the 86th minute that had to be turned high over the bar by a Halifax defender as Jack Barham wrestled to get on the end of it.
And Henry himself had a golden opportunity to double Aldershot’s lead and score again, but his header was straight into the arms of Sam Johnson as the game went into added time.
The Shots had five minutes of stoppage time to hold onto their lead and in the final of those five, Shaymen ‘keeper, Sam Johnson, came up for a Halifax corner and was stranded running back to his goal as Henry launched an effort from his own half that trickled harmlessly wide.
The Shots held out and rewarded the fantastic efforts of the 208 travelling Shots supporters with three points to entertain their long journeys home.
Attendance: 1642 (208 away)
Shots lineup: 28. Marcus Dewhurst, 2. Lachlan Byrd, 4. Luke Jenkins, 5. Christian Maghoma, 6. Theo Widdrington (C), 7. Cameron Hargreaves, 8. Tyler Frost, 9. Kai Corbett (27. James Henry, 68′), 10. Josh Barrett (22. Jack Barham, 75′), 11. Ryan Jones, 23. Hady Ghandour (24. Maxwell Mullins, 90+2′).
Subs not used: 1. Jordi Van Stappershoef, 20. Haydon Vaughan, 21. Ashley Akpan, 34. Dejan Tetek.
FC Halifax Town lineup: 1. Sam Johnson (C), 5. Adam Senior, 15. Will Smith, 27. Adam Adetoro, 6. Jack Evans, 20. Jack Jenkins (26. Owen Bray, 62′), 11. Angelo Cappello (21. Zak Emmerson, 82′), 22. Andrew Oluwabori, 10. Jamie Cooke, 23. Tom Pugh (18. Florent Hoti, 62′), 19. Adan George (9. Aaron Cosgrave, 82′).
Subs not used: 12. Nathaniel Ford, 4. Fesus Arthur, 24. Frankie Sinfield
