Inih Effiong was the centre of attention in Shots draw to Oldham, as he kept up his goal scoring form to give Shots the lead in the first half, before missing a penalty in the second half.
Effiong’s missed penalty came after a wonder strike from Mike Fondop for the visitors, as his 30 yard half volley was enough to see Oldham walk out of the EBB with a point.
Ross McNeilly made two changes to the side which beat Maidstone 3-0, with Jake Hutchinson coming back in to form a three man attack alongside Justin Amaluzor and Inih Effiong. Joe Partington also returned to take the captains armband and form a pivot alongside Oliver Pendlebury. Karoy Anderson and Michael Klass made way.
Oldham made the brighter start of the two sides, but were unable to force a way through the Aldershot defence in the opening exchanges. An early chance in the 10th minute saw a good free kick delivered to the back post was headed goalwards, forcing a brilliant acrobatic save from Luca Ashby-Hammond.
Aldershot withstood the early Oldham pressure, and began to take control of the game. Jake Hutchinson had a good chance to open the scoring for Aldershot, as a looped ball over the top from Haji Mnoga found Hutchinson on a perfectly timed run, but the striker was unable to bring the ball down, and the ball rolled off his leg just wide of the post.
Aldershot took the lead in the 29th minute, and it was only ever going to be one man who bagged it; the National League’s third top scorer, Inih Effiong. Justin Amaluzor did some fantastic work to wrestle the ball away from Jordan Clarke, and found Inih Effiong on the edge of the Oldham box. A man on fire, Inih Effiong beat Magnus Norman with a curling effort from the edge, which bounced in off the post to give the Shots the lead.
Ryan Glover almost doubled the Shots lead in the 35th minute, after another piece of good work from Amaluzor left him in a position to drive into the box, and his shot went just across goal and out for a goal kick.
Inih Effiong and Justin Amaluzor had sighters towards the end of the half, but after the first goal nothing seemed to be falling Aldershot’s way. Aldershot were able to keep Oldham quiet until the half, but were unable to produce anything at the other end, and the score remained 1-0 until the break.
HALF TIME: Shots 1-0 Oldham
Just after the break, Oldham got themselves level. Aldershot failed to clear their lines, and the ball sat up for Mike Fondop, who hit a perfectly timed half volley well out of the reach of Luca Ashby-Hammond from distance to level the scores.
Inih Effiong was the man causing problems again in the 54th minute, and after some fine work in the box, he was dragged down and won a penalty for the Shots. However, Effiong’s penalty was poor, and was straight at Magnus Norman in the Oldham net.
Aldershot continued to push for a goal, and Ross McNeilly looked to the bench for inspiration, bringing on Michael Klass for Joe Partington, and Tommy Willard for Jake Hutchinson just after the hour mark.
Justin Amaluzor had the first big chance on the Oldham goal since the missed penalty, wriggling around the Oldham defence well before getting a shot away that was straight at Norman and out for a corner. Shots came close from the resulting corner, as Corey Jordan got to the ball the quickest before heading over the bar at the near post.
Aldershot came close again in the 77th minute, as Inih Effiong got in behind the Oldham defence, and some great dribbling left him with a shot that was cleared off the line. The ball continued to bounce around, and it ended up at the feet of Ryan Glover, who fired just over from the edge of the box.
Oldham almost stole the game in the 89th minute, after a great cross into the box evaded all the Shots defenders and found Joe Nuttall, and his shot was dragged just wide of the Aldershot goal. From the next attack, Aldershot went down the other end, and after a bit of fortune Justin Amaluzor drove into the box, but sent his effort high and wide.
The Shots put on some injury time pressure in the Oldham box, but were unable to break through, and after a hard fought contest, the sides walked away with a point a piece.
Shots team: 1. Luca Ashby-Hammond, 3. Ollie Harfield, 4. Joe Partington (c) (20. Michael Klass, 60′), 5. Tyler Cordner, 7. Justin Amaluzor, 9. Inih Effiong, 16. Corey Jordan, 17. Jake Hutchinson (27. Tommy Willard, 65′), 19. Ollie Pendlebury, 22. Haji Mnoga, 23. Ryan Glover, Unused subs: 11. Harrison Panayiotou, 15. Karoy Anderson, 18. Peter Abimbola
