In form Fylde got the better of Aldershot at the EBB Stadium, as Shots being reduced to ten in the first half giving Tommy Widdrington’s side too much to do as Fylde ran riot to pick up all the points on a rainy Tuesday night.
The Shots first gamae since a 2-1 win over Halifax Town on the 3rd of February came with three changes, as Tyler Frost, Rollin Menayese and Josh Stokes were rested, and Haji Mnoga, Theo Widdrington and Josh Barrett came into the team in their places. Academy product Ashley Akpan was on the bench.
The best chance of the opening 20 came within the opening seconds, as Lorent Tolaj was found in the Fylde box, teasing the Shots fans as his effort rippled the side netting and rolled around the back of the goal, creating the illusion it had gone in, however his effort was wide and the Shots were denied what they thought was an early lead.
Josh Stokes was given a rest from the off by Tommy Widdrington, but with Josh Barrett going down with injury after 20 minutes or so Josh Stokes was thrown into action in the first half.
WIth ten men on the pitch the Shots almost took the lead. Cian Harries flexed his excellent passing range as he lofted a wonderful ball over the left towards Ryan Glover, which Glover controlled well, and after his drive into the box Glover put a great ball across to Jack Barham, but Barham couldn’t connect at the back post.
Fylde had been in excellent form coming into this fixture, and on 28 minutes they took the lead. A good ball towards the near post from a corner was headed away by Coby Rowe, however nobody had picked up the run of Jon Ustabasi, and from close range Ustabasi poked home through a crowd of bodies to give the visitors the lead.
There was a huge element of controversy around Josh Kay’s goal as he doubled Fylde’s lead, as Cian Harries seemed to be quite obviously shoved out of the way by a Fylde attacker, however the referee played on, and Josh Kay raced through and finished well beyond Jordi Van Stappershoef to make it 2-0 to Fylde.
In the heat of the moment Cian Harries sprinted at the referee, but the referee decided dissent was a red card offence, and gave Harries his marching orders and reduced the Shots to ten men.
It went from bad to worse for the ten man Shots moments later, as Nick Haughton did well to control a ball in from the left and took it past Coby Rowe to finish past Jordi Van Stappershoef to make it 3-0 to the visitors.
Aldershot almost had themselves back into the game on the stroke of half time, but after being found by Lorent Tolaj in the Fylde box Josh Stokes could only hit the crossbar with his effort.
HALF TIME: Shots 0-3 Fylde
Tommy Widdrington decided it was all or nothing for the second half, taking off Theo Widdrington for Kwame Thomas at half time in search of three goals.
Despite searching for a goal back the Shots found themselves conceding again. Jon Ustabasi did well to get the right side of Ollie Harfield, and Josh Kay, who had moments ago been booked for the same thing Cian Harries was sent off for, was able to put the ball low and beyond Jordi Van Stappershoef.
Vanarama National League Player of the Month for January wouldn’t extend his scoring streak to six, as he came off with just over 20 to go in Tommy Widdrington’s final switch for James Daly.
Mansfield got themselves a fifth in the 88th minute, as a ball from the edge of the box found Ormerod deep in the Shots box, and headed back across goal to Joe Westey who poked home from on the line.
After four minutes of added time the referee ended the game, and Fylde walked out with the points. The Shots now turn attention to this weekend’s clash on TNT Sports against Altrincham at the EBB Stadium, with a later kick off time of 5:30.
Shots XI
- Jordi Van Stappershoef, 2. Haji Mnoga, 3. Ollie Harfield, 4. Cian Harries, 5. Coby Rowe, 6. Theo Widdrington (39. Kwame Thomas, 46′), 7. Stuart O’Keefe (C), 9. Lorent Tolaj (26. James Daly, 69′), 11. Ryan Glover, 20. Josh Barrett (10. Josh Stokes, 25′) , 22. Jack Barham
Unused subs
13. Ashley Akpan, 25. Rollin Menayese
Attendance: 2270 (35 away)
