Aldershot Town FC

Football: Sorry Shots surrender

By Charlie Oliver
March 08, 2010

Coca-Cola League Two

Aldershot Town 0 Burton Albion 2

FOLLOWING Aldershot is a rollercoaster ride; highs and lows come with the beast.

There have been plenty of those peaks and troughs since the return to action after the winter hibernation. That the Shots' record is a varied read in that period - four wins, three draws and five defeats - says it all.

But this was a low deeper than even a big dipper can manage; Aldershot were so bad that it must have been very hard for those hardy fans to stomach.

All the fighting talk before the kick-off had come from Aldershot manager Kevin Dillon, promising revenge for Burton's 6-1 thrashing of the Shots in December and the 'arrogant' manner in which Paul Peschisolido's team had celebrated.

But there was not an iota of evidence that Dillon's charges had listened to their manager. Perhaps they were simply not interested in closing the window on that Advent embarrassment.

Certainly, there was a nonchalance that bordered on complacence about Aldershot, who came into the game on the back of two fine wins.

Burton are too good and industrious - there was not a shred of arrogance about them here - to let such an opportunity go to waste.

Their serendipity overwhelmed Aldershot's insipidity and the game was all but over as a contest before the half hour.

Twice Aldershot were undone by inswinging corners, against which they had looked vulnerable four days before, in the 1-0 win over Bradford.

First, on eight minutes, Tom Parkes, out-jumping Chris Blackburn, who had a torrid afternoon, headed in Cleveland Taylor's corner from the left. Aldershot had conceded possession a minute earlier from Stephen Henderson's poor freekick, sliced high towards the head of Hudson, isolated - or perhaps hiding away - on the right.

"Hudson has got to get in the game more," said Dillon afterwards. "He could be our match-winner but he must be braver and stronger."

Then, on 28 minutes, Steve Kabba touched home, after Tony James had helped John McGrath's left-footed corner goalwards.

Not that Burton relied on set pieces. Their passing and movement was a joy to behold, even if Aldershot did sit back and allow them to play - much in the manner that Aldershot like to think they can play themselves.

Shaun Harrad harried up front and his partner, Kabba, was especially dangerous, dropping into the hole between attack and midfield and linking well with Albion's steely midfield pair of Russell Penn and the excellent McGrath.

Albion made a mockery of the midfield - Aldershot were meant to have the extra man in the middle but, instead, it was the visitors who dominated possession and found men in space.

Nor could Dillon turn to the commitment of Lewis Chalmers from the bench, having shipped the gritty midfielder off to Oxford United on loan.

Up front, with Dillon again starting with a 4-5-1 formation, Danny Hylton was out-numbered, while, out wide, Hudson was out-muscled.

Not that Aldershot did not have their chances. Hylton, set up by Scott Donnelly and Hudson, went clean through soon after Parkes' goal but Artur Krysiak saved well from what was a weak shot.

Hylton, through sheer endeavour, fashioned a shooting chance in a crowded area later in the half but his effort was blocked. Deep into the second half Parkes made a wonderful block from Hylton, who should have scored, after good work from substitute Damian Spencer.

He and Marlon Jackson had come on for Ollie Bozanic and Hudson at half-time and Omer Riza made his debut soon afterwards, as Andy Sandell hobbled off. The newcomers and the more attacking 4-4-2 formation made little difference, although the tidy, skilful Riza showed promise and forced an excellent late save by Krysiak.

Spencer, brawn compared to Riza's brain, charged around but was ineffective, bar a couple of flick-ons and setting up that late chance for Hylton.

Dillon was, thankfully, highly critical of his players afterwards, but it is a worry that he had failed so drastically to instil in them his desire for revenge.

"Burton deserve a lot of credit. We got absolutely bullied in midfield," he said. "I wish I had their two [McGrath and Penn]. Instead, we have some good footballers but unfortunately they think a tackle is something you use for fishing.

"We did not deserve anything today. The lack of fight is the most disappointing thing. Danny Hylton and [Andy] Sandell were the only two who had the appetite for it - I could have taken off any of nine players at half-time.

"I thought the back four were poor today, too. We did not communicate and encourage. The goals have come from set pieces but we just stood off them all game."

To that end, Dillon is surely searching for a couple of loanees, one to partner Charles and lead from the back and another to stiffen a powderpuff midfield. Whether the club can afford those new arrivals remains to be seen.

Nor was Dillon impressed with Aldershot's muted, albeit improved, second half showing.

"I asked for a reaction at half-time but I didn't get it," said Dillon, who said that the players will be in for extra training this week. Nor would the club continue to mollycoddle them.

"The players are getting it too easy," said Dillon. "We prepare correctly, with hotel stays and the like, but the players are so inconsistent."

The strange thing about this game was that, had Hylton taken his chances, Aldershot might well have grabbed an outrageous point or more. For all Burton's comfort, Henderson had little to do after the goals.

Even more bizarrely, the Shots can still be talked of as play-off contenders, so long as Rotherham and Shrewsbury continue to falter above them.

Aldershot are ninth, four points behind seventh-placed Shrewsbury, with a game in hand. The two sides meet in Aldershot's next game at the Rec, a week on Saturday.

On this evidence, however, Burton, two points further back, have far more of a chance of challenging for the play-offs than Aldershot.

Of course, Aldershot fans can take solace in the knowledge that their side is quite capable of going to Bradford and winning next Saturday.

But this performance was so bad that it threatens to be the portent of a longer malaise.

Dillon and his players have a huge amount of work to do this week to make sure this trough can be righted back into a peak, rather than into consistency of the worst type: prolonged poor form and a spell in the doldrums.

Aldershot Town: Henderson, Herd, Sandell (Riza 57), Blackburn, Charles, Harding, Hudson (Jackson 46), Bozanic (Spencer 46), Hylton, Donnelly, Straker. Not used: Jaimez-Ruiz, Howell, Soares.

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