Aldershot Town were narrowly defeated by Stockport County after a late first-half header by captain Paddy Madden ensured the win for the home side.
The Shots made just the one change from the midweek victory against Dover Athletic from last Tuesday night, as Charlton loanee Wassim Aouachria came in up front for Mo Bettamer, with latest signing Scott Wagstaff and also the returning Jayden Harris taking their place on the bench.
It was an even first-half, with both sides looking to create that clear-cut opening that would see them look to take the advantage in the first-half.
A number of crosses came into the box for both sides early on in the game, but to no avail with the best opportunity of the game to open the scoring so far came in the 22nd minute for Stockport’s Macauley Southam-Hales.
After a series of initial brave blocks from the Aldershot Town defence, the ball found itself to the wide man inside The Shots penalty area, but his reactions were not quick enough to find the back of the net as Walker was on hand to deny the finish.
Following this, Aldershot Town started to come into the game and had their best opportunity of the game just minutes later, with Corie Andrews creating space well for himself inside the Stockport penalty area, before seeing his effort well-saved by Ethan Ross in the Hatters goal.
The Shots again continued to push for the opener and created an even better chance to take the lead in the game, as great play from Aldershot Town allowed Edser to drive forward and release Andrews again through one-on-one, but could only see his effort turned behind by Ross who was up to the task with a great save in the 29th minute and kept the score-line goalless up until this point.
But Aldershot Town would be left to rue these missed opportunities, as with just seconds left to play in the first-half, a deep cross from the left saw Stockport captain Paddy Madden sneak in at the far post and head home from close-range, just before referee Paul Marsden called time on the first 45 minute of the game.
The Shots looked to respond in the second-half and had their first opportunity of the second half come in the 53rd minute, with Andrews finding Willard with a clever reverse-pass but the young forward could only see his effort blocked bravely by a sliding challenge of a Stockport defender.
Stockport did have a chance to double their lead through Ollie Crankshaw in the 58th minute but the recently-introduced Mo Bettamer looked to have his say with an arrowing effort just minutes later that narrowly missed the Stockport goal from 25 yards out.
It was the turn of his fellow substitute Mikael Ndjoli to try his luck this time in the 72nd minute, after a clever turn created space with the forward firing his effort from a wide angle off the near right-hand post.
There was a change of tactics following this chance, with Kodi Lyons-Foster changed to a make-shift centre-forward as Aldershot Town pushed for an equaliser with Lyons-Foster almost on the end of two wicked crosses in the 81st and 84th minute, but couldn’t quite reach them.
There was time in the time late on for a flurry of penalty-area efforts from the 87th minute as Stockport were just about able to see out the relentless Aldershot Town pressure, leaving Mark Molesley’s men looking ahead to their next game, which is a change of competition with the visit of Bowers & Pitsea in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round next Saturday.
Stockport County: 26 E Ross (G/K), 3 M Kitching (Rydel 72′), 5 A Palmer, 7 M Southam-Hales, 8 J Rooney, 9 P Madden (C), 10 B Whitfield (Quigley 77′), 16 J Keane (Hogan 68′), 18 R Croasdale, 25 Z Fryers, 27 O Crankshaw
Unused Subs: Collar, Reid
Aldershot Town: 1 M Walker (G/K), 3 L Kinsella (C), 6 K Lyons-Foster, 7 A Whittingham (Wagstaff 73′), 8 T Edser, 11 C Andrews, 12 C Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18 W Aouachria (Bettamer 58′), 22 G Phillips, 24 J Vennings, 27 T Willard (Ndjoli 58′)
Unused Subs: Coulter (G/K), Harris
