ACE JUSTIN ENSURES IT’S FIRST BLOOD FOR SHOTS

A FIRST home league win since November saw Aldershot Town strike first in their Dorking double-header at the EBB Stadium.

A decisive victory, which could have been by a greater margin than goals for Justin Amaluzor and Ryan Glover, lifted Ross McNeilly’s inconsistent side to the rarefied heights of the top-half of the table.

“We’re getting there,” was the understated assessment of a manager who took over in October with the team in 23rd place. “We’ve played a lot of games and it’s good to have those points on the board. Our target has always been 50 points, and whatever position we get to that’s still our target. But the quicker we can get to 50, we can reassess and give ourselves a new target.”

The Shots overcame the early loss of Corey Jordan, with a knee injury, but that allowed Tyler Frost to make an impressive debut as Aldershot finally earned reward for their dominance.

Dan Lincoln parried Tommy Willard’s drive, and then Glover, twice, and Amaluzor all missed in the same attack. Inih Effiong also had a shot blocked, but he and Amaluzor combined on 42 minutes to break the deadlock. Effiong broke down the left and cut inside Dan Gallagher’s sliding challenge to hit a shot which Lincoln parried – only for Amaluzor to tap-in the rebound.

Tyler Cordner and Joe Partington both headed Ollie Harfield free-kicks over the bar soon after the restart and the Shots should have had the game sewn up long before they did, but were still thankful when James McShane hit the post just after the hour.

George Francomb’s free-kick to the far-post wasn’t cleared and the snapshot had beaten Luca Ashby-Hammond before rebounding to safety.

Substitute Josh McQuoid made an immediate impact, with three chances for himself and setting up Effiong, but the win was finally secured on 89 minutes as Partington’s measured cross from the right was met with a strong header from Glover.

Ashby-Hammond’s only save of the afternoon came in stoppage-time, superbly tipping Matt Briggs’ lob around the post, leaving Marc White to question his team’s National League future, despite the return of talisman Jason Prior, signed from Havant & Waterlooville hours before the game.

“Our league form is horrific, and we could be in the bottom four by the time we play our next league game. The Shots didn’t have to get out of second gear – they glided about the pitch and we gave them zero game,” admitted White, whose team return to the EBB Stadium next weekend in an FA Trophy tie. “That’s probably as bad as we’ve been. We played better against Wrexham and lost 5-0.”