On a cold and wet evening in Torquay, things didn’t get much better than the weather for The Shots as they fell to a 6-1 defeat.
Torquay began the game with a point to prove and had the first chance of the game as captain Asa Hall rattled the post with a long-range effort in the sixth minute.
And just two minutes later they found the breakthrough in superlative fashion. A delivery into the box bounced up into the air and Aaron Jarvis reacted quickest as he scored an overhead kick from the penalty spot.
Justin Amaluzor got The Shots first effort on target as the game entered it’s 10th minute. In trademark fashion he cut in from the right and launched an effort from outside the box that would have stung Mark Halstead’s palms on a brisk evening on the south west coast.
Torquay should have had a second not long after, though. The ball somehow drifted through The Shots defence and ended up in the path of Jarvis with the goal gaping from mere metres out, however, a combination of a slippy surface, surprise and a last-ditch Giles Phillips challenge kept the game at 1-0.
But The Gulls did have a second not long later. Tom Lapsile received the ball on the edge of the box and a neat one-two with Aaron Jarvis freed the midfielder some space inside the area and he finished well to double his sides lead.
And by the 30th minute, Torquay had a third. Will Goodwin beat the offside trap from a lovely through ball by Mark Ellis and showed composure to finish past the on-rushing Luca Ashby-Hammond.
HALF-TIME
If Aldershot had a slim chance of launching a comeback from 3-0 down at half-time, they ruined those in the first minute of the second-half. Aaron Jarvis headed a corner home from close range.
It was five for Torquay just moments after. Asa Hall bundled the ball in from a deep cross to the back-post.
Aldershot got a consolation goal in the final 10 minutes when Tommy Willard was able to nod home a deep Ollie Harfield cross from the left.
But what little joy the late consolation may have given, Aaron Jarvis netted his hat-trick in the 86th minute to give the hosts a sixth.
Shots lineup: 1. Luca Ashby-Hammond, 2. Archie Davies (16. Corey Jordan 54′), 3. Ollie Harfield, 4. Joe Partington (c) (12. Kenny Davis 19′), 5. Tyler Cordner, 7. Justin Amaluzor, 8. Frank Vincent, 9. Inih Effiong, 22. Giles Phillips, 23. Ryan Glover (20. Michael Klass 65′), 27. Tommy Willard. Subs not used: 17. Faysal Bettache, 18. Ody Alfa.
