Aldershot’s visit to Wingate and Finchley proved to be a textbook tale of two halves as despite falling to behind to two first-half goals from the home side, two second-half Shots goals ensured the game finished level.
Tommy Widdrington started with a largely similar side to the one that finished the game at Hanworth Villa on Tuesday night as a few of the more youthful members of the Shots squad lined up from the off.
But the Shots faced a different start to how the last two pre-season friendlies had gone as they fell behind after just five minutes. A deep, in-swinging cross from the Shots left was turned in from close-range.
The Shots’ first-half XI struggled to keep the ball and create chances. Christian Maghoma rose high from a corner just a couple of minutes after the goal, but as the ball fell back to him after he missed the header, his shot was wide of the mark.
Wingate & Finchley enjoyed the first-half more, but also rarely threatened the goal. However, they doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 35th minute after Maxwell Mullins brought down his man.
HALF-TIME
Eleven changes were made at the break with a much more senior look to the Shots side and things looked a lot brighter.
Josh Barrett and Kai Corbett looked lively and caused the home defence problems from the off as Kai Corbett’s cross evaded Hady Ghandour in the centre by a few inches on the hour in the first proper chance for Aldershot.
A few minutes later, Ghandour was creating the chance for Corbett as he beat his man on the halfway line and drove towards goal, but his centre was cleared.
The Shots had the chance to get back into the game from the spot in the 68th minute as Ryan Jones was brought down in a similar incident and location to the first-half penalty. Tyler Frost stepped up and duly converted his second penalty of the pre-season campaign.
And in the 75th minute, Aldershot were back level when Theo Widdrington scored his second goal this pre-season. It fell to the midfielder in the box and he controlled his half-volley well to finish from close-range.
Five minutes later, it looked like the turnaround was complete when the ball was turned in by Josh Barrett as his touch lobbed the WIngate ‘keeper, however, the Assistant Referee’s flag was raised to deny Barrett another pre-season goal.
There was a flurry of late chances for the Shots to take the lead as Jones twice set up Ghandour, but the striker hit the bar and was denied by a save in the space of a minute.
Aldershot continued to push for a late winner to complete a deserved turnaround, but they couldn’t find the back of the net as Wingate held on for a draw.
First-half lineup: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 2. Joe Lewis-Evans, 4. George Milner-Smith, 5. Christian Maghoma, 6. Keane Anderson, 8. Haydon Vaughan, 10. Ollie Turner, 14. Ollie Bray, 16. Trialist A, 17. Freddie Stanley, 19. Maxwell Mullins.
Second-half lineup: 13. Pat Nash, 3. Ollie Harfield, 7. Cameron Hargreaves, 9. Kai Corbett, 11. Ryan Jones, 12. Theo Widdrington, 15. Luke Jenkins (25. Emmanuel Maja, 83’), 18. Tyler Frost, 20. Lachlan Byrd, 21. Hady Ghandour, 22. Josh Barrett