Shots widen league lead with 2-1 win over Oxford
WIDDRINGTON’S SQUAD PULL AHEAD IN RACE FOR PLAY-OFFS
ALDERSHOT Town pulled four points clear of FC Halifax Town in the race for National League play-off places after Saturday’s visit to Oxford City.
Tommy Widdrington and the Shots walked out of Oxford with all the points, as goals from Lorent Tolaj and Josh Stokes in the first half were enough to secure a 2-1 win at the RAW Charging Stadium.
And with Halifax losing 2-0 at Bromley on Saturday, this means Aldershot, in seventh, are now four points clear of eighth-place Halifax with ten games remaining.
Shots boss Widdrington was forced into one change to the side who came up short at Roots Hall last week, as Rollin Menayese missed out through suspension. Widdrington slotted Coby Rowe into defence in his place.
Hady Ghandour – fresh off being recalled from loan at Farnborough – made the bench, alongside academy graduate Ollie Turner.
Oxford City were the National League’s bottom side ahead of kickoff, and the Shots took full advantage of their superior form with just over ten minutes on the clock.
It was a great team goal, as Ollie Harfield played a ball over the lefthand side which just evaded Brooklyn Kabongolo and laded on the chest of Stokes, who in turn played a simple pass to skipper Stuart O’Keefe. O’Keefe then picked out James Daly in the Oxford City box. Daly squared to Tolaj, who tucked into an empty net to open the scoring.
Despite going behind, it would be Oxford City who got the next goal, with Lewis Coyle putting the ball in after some poor defending by the Shots.
Ryan Glover tried a couple of clearing headers, but could only find Josh Parker, who whipped the ball back into the box, and nobody picked up the late run of Coyle as he volleyed home from just inside the box.
The Shots were nevertheless playing the better of the two sides, and in the 38th minute went back into the lead.
The ball was bouncing around, and the ball found Lorent Tolaj just outside the Oxford City box, letting him unlock his inner assister as he fed through to Stokes, who in turn showed good strength and anticipation as he held off Jacob Roddy before putting the ball low and beyond the Oxford stopper Tom Watson to make it 2-1 to the Shots.
Aldershot continued to play the better football, but were unable to add a third to their lead as the referee ended the first half after three additional minutes.
Widdrington’s yellows continued to press for a third following the interval, but struggled to make any clearcut chances.
Tolaj and James Daly had half chances, and just after the hour Stokes hit an effort just wide of Watson’s goal.
Looking for a cushion, the Shots’ first change of the afternoon came on 68 minutes, as O’Keefe made way for Kwame Thomas.
Stokes had a good chance on 74, but after receiving a ball in a pocket of space from Dejan Tetek on the edge of the Oxford City box could only fire his effort onto the top of the stand behind Watson’s goal.
Ghandour came on in the 76th minute in place of Daly.
In front of the travelling fans Tyler Frost almost added the third, running onto a failed clearance and hitting an effort hard and well towards the bottom right of the Oxford City net, but a mix of players denied him a great goal on the road.
The pressure was on, and moments later Frost again was involved, picking up the ball following a corner and delivering a ball into the box, which Thomas headed just wide.
Jordi Van Stappershoef was forced into his first save of the game in added time, a routine one as Josh Parker rushed through after a ball over the top but failed to get any power behind his effort.
Parker’s effort was the last of the game, meaning the referee ended the game with the score still at 2-1 to the Shots.
This let Tommy Widdrington travel back down to Hampshire with all the points in the bag.
Attention now turns to a huge clash against Oldham at the EBB Stadium on Saturday.