Report: Magpies 0-1 Aldershot Town

It was a grim evening for Maidenhead United as Tyler Frost’s 55th minute goal secured a 1-0 win for visitors Aldershot Town on Tuesday night. 

 

Alan Devonshire made one change to the side which beat Gateshead on Saturday, with Joshua Johnson replacing Nathan Ferguson in midfield. 

 

The first 15 minutes of the game was a balanced affair, with the Shots holding possession but United maintaining the better chances. An early Casey Pettit corner was punched away by Marcus Dewhurst as the Magpies applied pressure, while Tyler Frost fired the first real attempt out of the ground in the 13th minute. 

 

There was little to report throughout the rest of the first half, as neither ‘keeper was challenged by set pieces or through balls which were ruled offside. Aldershot had a half-chance as we approached the interval when Jack Barham won the ball from Dewhurst’s long punt, but Maxwell Mullins could only win a corner as his cross was blocked. 

 

 

Emerging from the tunnel, United had the first chance as Shawn McCoulsky aimed a looping head over Dewhurst which was comfortably caught by the Aldershot ‘keeper. 

 

Five minutes later, Aldershot opened the scoring through Frost. Jack Barham beat his man in front of the dugouts, and played down the wing to the visitors’ #8. Charging down the left, Frost placed a composed effort past Craig Ross to take the lead. 

 

Having been booked earlier in the game for delaying the restart, Tristan Abrahams would be sent off just past the hour mark. His challenge on Will Armitage was deemed late by referee Jason Richardson, for which he received a yellow card and a subsequent red. 

 

With half of their strike force now watching from the changing rooms, United faced an uphill battle to find a result which unfortunately never came. A valiant block denied Ryan Jones from doubling the Shots’ advantage, while Cam Hargreaves fired wide from a late short corner. 

 

There was a prolonged period of stoppage time beyond the advertised eight minutes as Luke Jenkins went down following a header in the middle of the park. A late free kick following the resumption of play saw Sam Barratt play a short ball to Reece Smith, with Manny Onariase latching onto the rebound from Dewhurst’s save. However, the centre-half skyrocketed his effort from close range, and the Shots held on for all three points. 

 

 

Magpies: Ross, de Havilland, Latty-Fairweather (Sho-Silva, 81’), McCoulsky, Ferdinand (Kiernan, 89’), Johnson (Smith, 61’), Pettit, Cochrane (Barratt, 76’), Clerima, Abrahams, Onariase 

 

Aldershot: Dewhurst, Hargreaves, Frost, A. Jones, Barham (Jenkins, 89’), Mullins (R. Jones, 68’), Henry (Barrett, 61’), Maja (Anderson, 67’), Woodhouse, Ellison (Bray, 89’), Armitage 

 

Attendance: 1,386