The Shots made it through to the Hampshire Cup quarter-finals as they put four past Sholing to win 4-1.
With both sides fielding young sides, it took a while for the game to get flowing but it was Aldershot who took charge as a rather eventless opening 10 minutes ended.
Ben De Lacy-Turner had the game’s first shot in the 13th minute. Aldershot’s captain for the night, Tommy Willard, skinned the Sholing left-back and found De Lacy-Turner in the middle but his shot was straight at the ‘keeper.
But just a couple of minutes later, Aldershot opened the scoring through Jayden Smith. Receiving the ball in the box, he took a couple of neat touches and finished well into the bottom corner.
It took a while for the next chance, but in the 38th minute it fell to Shots’ goalscorer Smith. A brilliant run through the middle of the Sholing defence was spotted by Willard who found Smith with a great pass but this time, he was denied by the visiting ‘keeper.
The sides would enter half-time level, however, as Sholing equalised two minutes before the break through Marco De Sousa who finished a neat move from close range.
HALF-TIME
Ash Akpan and Jayden Smith were causing Sholing a number of problems down the Shots right-wing and both would end the game as goalscorers as Akpan scored with a fantastic effort from outside of the box in the 55th minute.
Substitute Flynn Bolton was introduced around the hour and made an instant impact as he added a third goal for Aldershot in the 70th minute. Willard played in Smith who turned provider as he beat the last defender before playing the ball across to Bolton who had an open-goal to finish into.
And the Shots put the game to bed with just a couple of minutes remaining when Mason Obeng added a fourth in the 88th minute. More brilliant work from Willard as he skipped over a number of challenges and carried the ball into the Sholing area before laying it into a plate for Obeng to score from close-range.
Shots Lineup: 36. Lloyd Thomas, 2. Ashley Akpan (14. Jack Brewer 89′), 4. Oliver Turner (15. Johnny Fitzgerald 89′), 5. Oliver Lahtinen-Kalsi, 6. George Milner-Smith, 7. Jayden Smith (16. Joe Lewis-Evans 78′), 8. Mason Obeng, 9. Ben De Lacy-Turner, 10. Archie Coulter (17. Flynn Bolton 67′), 11. Tommy Willard, 23. Jordan Addo-Antoine (12. Bradley Manning 82’).
