A brilliant performance by Aldershot reaffirmed their playoff ambitions as goals from James Daly and Tyler Frost secured an important 2-0 win over Oldham Athletic.
The Shots had the first effort at goal in the 7th minute. Ryan Glover was found out on the left wing in acres of space but at a wide angle, he chose to deliver the ball into the centre with a low cross that was turned just wide by James Daly.
Josh Stokes was causing the Oldham defence problems and they began to resort to more illegal methods to try and contain the youngster. One such foul on Stokes led to Harrison McGahey receiving a yellow card for kicking the ball away after conceding a free-kick and from the set piece, Aldershot were very unlucky to not take the lead.
A miscued defensive header fell straight to Stuart O’Keefe’s feet just yards out but the Shots captain couldn’t get it under control as he lost his footing and though the clearance was blocked by Haji Mnoga and could have gone anywhere, fortunately for Oldham, it bounced out of harms way.
A long pause in play was required when two Oldham players clashed heads, it looked more as if Will Sutton’s mouth or nose smacked into the top of Joe Garner’s head and though Garner had to be bandaged up with a cut, it was Sutton who came off worse and had to be replaced.
The Shots were looking good value for taking the lead as they were controlling proceedings with Oldham barely able to touch the grass in Aldershot’s half. Two close calls in two minutes came just after the half hour as first, a looping header towards his own goal by McGahey had to be tipped over by Matthew Hudson and Ryan Glover almost got the assist of the season after a brilliant sliding tackle won the ball back and a beautiful dink over the top to Lorent Tolaj was just cut out by the Latics defence.
But Aldershot kept playing some really nice football and dominating the play and innthe 38th minute, found the breakthrough! Ryan Glover was having a storming first-half down the left and his cross into the box was met by an onrushing James Daly to head home his first Aldershot goal!
It took Aldershot to score and a bit of individual inspiration for Oldham to look dangerous just before half-time. Andrew Dallas did really well to advance down the left and put a fantastic ball across the face of the Shots goal that Oliver Hammond couldn’t turn in under pressure from Glover at the far-post.
In that move, Dejan Tetek pulled up and after receiving lengthy treatment, had to be helped off the pitch and straight down the tunnel as he was replaced by Dylan Kadji making his Aldershot debut.
HALF-TIME
Just four minutes into the second-half, a quite simply crazy few seconds saw Aldershot almost double their advantage. Lorent Tolaj was slipped in superbly by Ryan Glover and beat the offside trap, he took it wide and beat Hudson, but the effort was a bit tame and rolled towards goal. Harrison McGahey was racing back to clear it and tripped up but somehow blocked it on the line. Josh Stokes rushed in to an almost open goal but McGahey somehow got a foot in the way and it was tipped over by Hudson.
Oldham should have had an equasliser just after the hour when James Norwood’s cross was controlled in the centre of the box by Andrew Dallas but he couldn’t get a shot away and the danger was cleared.
Aldershot should have had a second in the 68th minute when Lorent Tolaj was slipped in by a neat touch by James Daly but as he opened up his body to curl it into the bottom corner, Hudson read it well and dived down to deny him.
Liam Hogan was shown a yellow card in the 70th minute when he deliberately fouled Ryan Glover on a dangerous break down the left wing. This would have been a rather innocuous match event, had Hogan not committed the exact same foul minutes earlier and somehow not been shown a yellow card.
But, the Shots had a fantastic opportunity to double their lead in the 733rd minute when Lorent Tolaj was brought down in the box by Hudson and they were given a penalty. Tolaj was superbly slipped through on goal and as he rounded Hudson, the oldham ‘keeper took out Tolaj’s ankles and though he clearly denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, was only shown a yellow card.
Tolaj stepped up himself in the absence of regular penalty taker Cian Harries, but thundered a low effort against the post. The ball found its way to Tyler Frost on the edge of the box, but his left footed shot from outside the box was just wide.
As the clock wound down and Aldershot’s one goal advantage began to look less and less secure on paper, on the pitch, the Shots were still looking the most likely to be the ones to score.
With seven minutes added on as the 90 minutes drew to a close, a deep Ollie Harfield cross from the left was met by Kwame Thomas but though the striker was offside, he couldn’t bundle it in.
Just a minute before the final whistle, and when teams usually wind down the clock, Tyler Frost began dribbing into the box and turned the Oldham defence inside out before finding the bottom corner and securing victory for his side.
Shots lineup: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 2.Haji Mnoga, 3. Ollie Harfield, 7. Stuart O’Keefe (C), 8. Tyler Frost, 9. Lorent Tolaj (23. Hady Ghandour 84′), 10. Josh Stokes, 11. Ryan Glover, 25. Rollin Menayese, 26. James Daly (39. Kwame Thomas 76′), 34. Dejan Tetek (28. Dylan Kadji 45+4′).
Subs not used: 6. Theo Widdrington, 20. Josh Barrett.
