Unbeaten home run comes to an end with eight-goal thriller at the EBB

ALDERSHOT Town’s unbeaten home run came to an end at the hands of Eastleigh on Saturday, the Shots losing 5-3 in the National League fixture.

It was a first defeat at the EBB stadium since Saturday, September 2 for Tommy Widdrington’s men.

The Shots and Eastleigh had already met twice this season, with Shots top scorer this season Lorent Tolaj spending much of the first clash between the sticks.

However, it was he who found the Shots first opening of the afternoon, holding off George Langston well before turning and shooting a fierce effort straight at Joe McDonnell from range.

Paul McCallum opened the scoring for the visiting Spitfires on 20 minutes. A flick through the home defence from Scott Quigley found the former Shots man, and from close range he fired past Jordi Van Stappershoef.

Stuart O’Keefe nearly had the Shots level after 27 minutes. A ball was sent into the box by Cian Harries, and after some bouncing around between Kwame Thomas and Lorent Tolaj the ball fell to the returning skipper, who sliced a half volley wide into the Eastleigh fans behind Joe McDonnell’s goal.

A poor start would get even worse in the 35th minute for Aldershot, as they fell two behind. A cross into the box by McCallum was cleared by Van Stappershoef, but only as far as Bailey Clements, who took the ball down and fired high into the Shots net.

Josh Stokes had the best chance to put the Shots back within touching distance before the break, connecting well with a cross from Thomas and sending an effort spinning just wide of McDonnell’s goal.

Aldershot had lost just once at home all season, but it looked as though it would be Eastleigh who would maintain their record of not losing at the EBB Stadium since 2020 as they added a third to their lead. Chris Maguire beat the offside trap and raced through the Shots defence, beating three defenders and Van Stappershoef to squeeze his shot into the back of the net on the stroke of half time.

O’Keefe’s return to action was cut short at half-time, as Tommy Willard came on in place of the midfielder.

It went from bad to worse in the 51st minute, as fresh on the pitch, Willard made a costly mistake just outside the Shots box. The substitute was tackled by Maguire just outside the Shots area, and Maguire was able to square to

McCallum who fired Eastleigh into a 4-0 lead five minutes into the second half.

Widdrington put all his cards on the table after the fourth goal, sending Jack Barham and Olly Scott onto the field in place of Ryan

Glover and Tyler Frost as he tried to rescue something from the 4-0 deficit he faced. The Shots defence were all over the place again on the hour mark, as Coby Rowe and Haji Mnoga both seemed like they didn’t want the ball, and Scott Quigley did, racing through one on one with Van Stappershoef, and with time and space to pick his spot put Eastleigh 5-0 up.

Barham scored in the 65th minute for the Shots. Ollie Harfield picked the ball up and just kept running until he was stopped, eventually sending the ball into the back post where a hopeful Barham was arriving to put the ball into the back of an empty net.

Aldershot had a second goal 76 minutes in, Stokes closing the gap to three with just over 15 minutes left to go. Stokes picked the ball up from range, and drove towards the Eastleigh box, and from range had a pop, a pop which ended up creeping under McDonnell to make it 5-2.

Eastleigh captain Enzio Boldewijn was shown the red card, presumably for the part he played in Barham ending up on the floor needing treatment from club physio Liam Charles.

The scoreline became a little more respectable in the 96th minute, as following a lot of pressure on the Eastleigh goal, Stokes added a second to his tally for the day. Stokes turned in the Eastleigh box and fired low and beyond McDonnell.