SHOTS ARE IN BUSINESS
ALDERSHOT Town showed impressive resolve and quality to bounce back from Tuesday’s mauling against Forest Green Rovers and end Solihull’s own strong unbeaten run.
Gary Waddock made six changes to the Shots’ starting line-up but his squad rose to the challenge with a patient display which saw them grow stronger as the game progressed and finally earn their just reward with goals from substitutes Shamir Fenelon and Scott Rendell.
“We’re delighted with the result and the clean sheet, against an in-form team who have scored a lot of goals,” summarized Waddock’s assistant, James Rowe.
“The clean sheet is more important than anything today, but I think for our second-half performance we deserved the win. We asked for more intensity from the team at half-time and they upped the tempo both with and without the ball.”
Bernard Mensah and Charlie Walker fired shots just wide in the opening five minutes but Solihull were always a threat.
Akwasi Asante had scored two hat-tricks in as many matches in the space of a week but never looked likely to plunder a third as Jack Saville and Callum Reynolds marshalled him with minimum fuss.
Omari Sterling-James guided a free header wide of the far-post on 47 minutes which represented the game’s best opportunity, but it was Aldershot who made the breakthrough on 64 minutes with Fenelon making an almost instant impact – firing a 15 yard shot across Nathan Vaughan from Cheye Alexander’s pass just three minutes after his introduction from the bench.
Jake Gallagher shot narrowly over for the hosts but victory was sealed by Rendell’s header, nipping in ahead of Vaughan to meet Jim Kellermann’s cross.
“Players come in and out of the side but they all support each other, and we showed greater fitness than Solihull, and that’s won us the game,” observed Rowe, who saw Smith make another fine block late in the game, from Ryan Beswick, and Moors manager Marcus Bignot didn’t argue.
“It was probably a game too far for us, to be honest,” he admitted. “Physically and mentally you could see we were out on our feet, but the players gave everything today and we were in the game until the final 20 minutes. If we’d taken one of our two chances in the secondhalf I think we’d have come away with something but it wasn’t to be.”
Waddock was also able to give a late debut to 16 yearold former West Ham United trainee striker Idris Kanu.