SHOTS TURN IT AROUND AND MOVE UP TO FIFTH

ALDERSHOT Town battled back from a goal behind to boost their play-off chances at the expense of FC Halifax Town’s at The Shay.

Max Wright gave the home side a first-half lead, only for goals from Lorent Tolaj and Kwame Thomas to ensure a fine win for the Shots, which takes them up to fifth in the table.

“It was a decent performance and I thought it was the right result,” said Shots boss Tommy Widdrington.

“We had more chances to score than they did, I am never pleased conceding but we continued to grow into the game and the players deserved to take all three points.”

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Adan George receiving a cross from Max Wright. The Town forward looked to place it into the bottom corner, but his attempt whistled wide of the far post.

At the other end, Josh Stokes played in a dangerous cross for Tolaj, but his header failed to trouble Town keeper Sam Johnson.

Most of Aldershot’s chances were falling to Tolaj, but twice he was denied by Johnson – first with a left-foot shot which nestled straight into his arms, then with a brilliant point-blank save after Tolaj had latched onto Ryan Glover’s cross.

Halifax, though, were giving as good as they got and but for solid defending from Rollins Menayese, Jamie Cooke might have made more from Wright’s centre.

But on 27 minutes, the Shaymen did find a way through. A Town corner was poorly punched away from Jordi van Stappershoef and Cooke laid the ball off for Wright, who fired home from the edge of the box.

Johnson pulled off another brilliant save, this time from Jack Barham, but the Shaymen squandererd an excellent chance to double their lead on the half-hour when Luke Summerfield squared the ball back to Adan George, who could only fire high over the bar. Aldershot, however, started like a train in the second half and within four minutes they were level. Glover caught Angelo Capello napping on the righthand side, and drilled a perfect ball across for Tolaj to tap in for his 14th goal of the season.

That spurred the visitors on and it was no surprise when they took the lead on 70 minutes – Stokes playing a brilliant cross into the box for substitute Thomas to fire past Johnson.

Halifax looked to push for a late equaliser with van Stappershoef denying Jack Jenkins a debut goal with a strong save.

But it was too late as Aldershot held on for the victory which further strengthens their play-off credentials while Town are still yet to win in 2024.

“It was very frustrating,” boss Chris Millington said. “It was a very winnable game especially after how well we played in the first half. We conceded two very soft goals. It’s hard to take.”