A determined and gritty performance from Aldershot Town was not enough as they fell to a 2-1 defeat away at Scunthorpe United.
Hady Ghandour had given the visitors an early lead, but first-half goals from Callum Roberts and Zain Westbrooke were enough to send the Shots home empty handed.
FIRST-HALF
The hosts came out of the blocks the fastest, with a corner routine finding danger-man Callum Roberts. The attacker’s header bounded off the post before the Shots were able to clear their lines.
This would be the last site of goal for either team for another ten minutes, as the game looked tight in the middle third of the pitch. It took some magic from Kiban Rai to spark the game into life, as he crafted space for a central shot from range that took a heavy deflection from Hady Ghandour, deceiving Scunthorpe goalkeeper Rory Watson and nestling into the bottom right corner, giving the Shots the lead.
The goal forced Scunthorpe to push the agenda as they pushed higher up the pitch. A minor scuffle by the Aldershot touchline led referee Dale Baines to fire warnings at both Ben Jackson and Scunthorpe’s Danny Whitehall as the game grew in intensity. Just moments later, the hosts got the quick equaliser they craved.
Another corner rebounded around the Shots box, before Callum Roberts made no mistake on this occasion to fire home a rebound and get his side level.
For Aldershot Town, it was Ryan Jones down the left hand-side who found the most joy in attack throughout the first-half, earning his side several corners through cleared crosses and regularly getting the beating of his man. The home side, however, defended the centre of their box well, allowing little space for Ghandour, Abrahams or Rai.
There looked, for a moment, to be some concern for goalscorer Roberts, who went down to the floor off the ball in the 31st minute holding his ribs. Whilst it was unclear what caused the incident, Roberts was able to play on after several minutes of treatment.
Soon after, Zain Westbrooke was on hand for Scunthorpe to give them the lead, converting another rebound from a ball into the box.
The Shots had a late flurry of corners on the left-hand side at the end of the half, but were unable to craft any clear cut chances.
HALF-TIME
Shortly after the break, Ben Jackson picked up the first yellow card of the afternoon, with a late challenge to try and halt a Scunthorpe counter. The home side once again looked the brighter of the two teams immediately from the start of the half. After a few minutes, the Shots grew back into the game, Hady Ghandour nearly recreating his goal from midweek on the turn to level the score, deflected behind for a corner. The resulting dead-ball only grazed the head of Will Armitage, as Scunthorpe were able to clear.
The Shots then enjoyed their best spell of the game, with the home crowd growing quickly frustrated with the time and space afforded to the visitors. Scunthorpe reacted with a double chance on the hour, bringing on Dec Howe and Kian Scales to try and regain control. The change did look to disrupt Aldershot’s flow as Scunthorpe took a foothold, and the chances dried up again for Alan Dowson’s side.
The second half truly sparked to life when Tristan Abraham’s was tripped in the box by Rory Watson, the referee waived play on to the dismay of the Aldershot bench, and Scunthorpe went straight down the other end looking to kill the game off, but for a heroic Ben Jackson goal-line clearance. Kwame Thomas soon joined the fray, replacing Hady Ghandour in the 70th minute.
The striker was involved almost immediately, seeing a close range header somehow kept out by a combination of a Watson save and the under-side of the crossbar.
With ten minutes to play, Keane Anderson and Toby Nelson replaced Hargreaves and Jones as the Shots desperately pushed for an equaliser. Ciaran Gilligan picked up a yellow card in the 83rd minute for a late challenge. Will Armitage followed suite as the game became scrappy. Tyler Frost made his first appearance of the season, replacing Tristan Abrahams late on, and Maxwell Mullins replaced Archy Taylor with five minutes to go.
A stoppage time penalty shout for Aldershot was ignored by the referee as the ball went out of play for a corner. The Shots sent nearly everyone forward, but it was well gathered by Noah Watson.
FULL-TIME
Attendance: 4,222 (173 away)
