Aldershot fell to a home defeat as Boreham Wood took all three points back to London thanks to Tyrone Marsh’s second-half strike.
With a gruelling month of Saturday-Tuesday games, Aldershot were forced into making a number of changes. Ever-presents Tyler Cordner and Ryan Glover were rested and Justin Amaluzor dropped to the bench.
Tommy Willard came into an unfamiliar right-wingback role and Joe Partington covered Cordner’s left-sided centre-back position with Karoy Anderson and Michael Klass returning to the starting XI.
The Shots had the first sight at goal in the opening few minutes after some great work from Karoy Anderson. The youngster beat a couple men and fed Inih Effiong through. He’d have been forgiven for taking on the shot himself with the form he’s in but squared it to Jake Hutchinson whose goalbound shot was blocked.
Boreham Wood instantly hit back, though, with two incredibly close efforts. Firstly, Danny Elliot’s header from close range hit the side netting, before Lee Ndlovu came inches away from opening the scoring as he nicked a touch past the on-rushing Luca Ashby-Hammond.
Whilst the opening exchanges were busy, there wasn’t much else of note to report on in the first-half. Boreham Wood retained possession better than The Shots but neither side could break through either defence.
HALF-TIME
The visitors started the second-half looking to capitalise on their first-half superiority and again came very close without hitting the target when Zac Brunt’s shot from distance hit the side netting.
But Aldershot were beginning to look more comfortable in possession and a searching cross’ from Tommy Willard and Joe Partington were just inches away from finding teammates in the centre.
Despite playing at centre-back for this game, it was Partington who then almost found an opener for Aldershot in the 52nd minute. A corner couldn’t be cleared and falling to the captain’s feet, he forced Nathan Ashmore into a brilliant save.
Justin Amaluzor’s introduction injected his pace into the Aldershot attack and it almost immediately paid off as he turned a Wood defender and set off towards goal, but his right-footed shot was tame and considerably easier for Ashmore to save than perhaps it should have been.
Erico Sousa was playing very well for Boreham Wood down the right-wing and was constantly a danger with his tricky dribbling and he too came close by hitting the side netting.
And it was the visitors who took the lead in the 83rd minute. The ball fell to Tyrone Marsh about 15 yards out after a cross was not properly dealt with and he made no mistake with a powerful finish into the top corner.
Josh McQuoid made his return to action from a lengthy spell on the sidelines and almost made a dramatic return as his close-range effort from a corner was cleared. Olly Pendlebury then launched a fierce effort from miles out which Ashmore fumbled but Willard couldn’t get to the rebound in time and there was to be no late equaliser for Aldershot
Shots lineup: 1. Luca Ashby-Hammond, 3. Ollie Harfield, 4. Joe Partington (c), 9. Inih Effiong, 15. Karoy Anderson, 16. Corey Jordan, 17. Jake Hutchinson, 19. Oliver Pendlebury, 20. Michael Klass, 22. Haji Mnoga, 27. Tommy Willard. Subs not used: 7. Justin Amaluzor, 10. Josh McQuoid, 12. Marcel Elva-Fountaine, 18. Peter Abimbola, 40. George Milner-Smith.
