Coca-Cola League Two

Aldershot Town 2 Lincoln City 0

Lincoln City played plenty of pretty football at the Rec on Tuesday evening but Aldershot were the more clinical and professional side and duly eased to a comfortable victory.

Andy Sandell, on loan from Salisbury City, headed the opener on his first start for The Shots, while Scott Davies, on loan from Reading, thumped a glorious second on the hour.

With Aldershot keeping their fourth clean sheet in a row — Nikki Bull has not conceded a goal for more than six hours of football — victory was assured, moving The Shots to within two points of the play-off places in League Two.

Bull has had little to do in some recent games but here he proved his worth to Aldershot with a number of fine saves.

Lincoln who, on their day, are one of the better sides in the division, were quickly into their stride and they, not Aldershot, looked the side in the middle of a purple patch.

Bull saved bravely at the feet of Aaron  Brown as early as the fourth minute and, from the resulting corner, Bull superbly tipped Janos Kovacs’ header behind. “Nikki Bull is vital to us,” said manager Gary Waddock afterwards. “It’s as simple as that.”

With Lenell John-Lewis repeatedly beating Anthony Charles — captain for the night with Rhys Day out with a hamstring tear — in the air, Dany N’Guessan a skilful and pacy customer on the flanks and Stefan Oakes and Scott Kerr cultured and, er, impish in midfield, Lincoln continuted to enjoy the better of the game and the bulk of possession.

But, aside from that impressive start, The Imps failed to carve out many chances and Aldershot grew into the game and looked the more potent side.

With Kirk Hudson out with a dead leg, Waddock had handed a first start to Sandell and drafted veteran Ricky Newman into central defence, for his first start since the heavy loss to Chesterfield in October, where he was hauled out of midfield at the break.

Newman did not let his manager down, with a classy display at the back, full of timely interceptions, clever positioning and impressive passing.

But it was Chris Blackburn who built a fine chance from the back in the 14th minute. Davies took over and played in Marvin Morgan but he took too long and his shot was blocked.

Ben Harding missed an even better opening on 25 minutes, thwarted by Lincoln ‘keeper Rob Burch after Sandell had broken well and played a lovely pass to Harding.

With Harding and Davies wrestling control of the midfield from Oakes and Kerr, Aldershot came on strong in the last ten minutes of the half.

John Grant worked an opening for Morgan and he was unlucky to see a poked shot saved by Burch. It mattered little: from the corner, Sandell headed home Davies’ vicious inswinger from a yard out.

Burch should probably have done better; if anything, he was impeded by his own players. “I have a habit of scoring on my full debut for clubs,” said Sandell afterwards. “It’s great to keep up the tradition but I could not really miss.”

“The first goal tonight was very important,” said Waddock afterwards. “The tempo tonight was not that of a fierce encounter. Ideally I would have liked it to be higher and it was very good to get the first goal in a game like tonight’s.”

The good work was almost inadvertently undone by Morgan who, back defending one of several of the free-kicks Lincoln enjoyed on the evening, headed against his own bar. Bull got a vital touch to keep the ball out.

Lincoln began the second half as they had started the first and Newman had to make a superb block to deny Brown within seconds of the whistle.

Eight minutes later Charles made an equally good block to deflect Lee Frecklington’s shot behind for a corner.

But that was as good as it got for The Imps. Morgan should have stretched to reach a lovely passing move involving Louie Soares and Harding but, two minutes later, The Shots did extend their lead.

Newman hit a perfect long free-kick from right to left, Sandell cushioned a header into the path of Davies and he smashed a left-footed half-volley high into the net.

From there, Aldershot showed the patience and resolve to protect their lead, despite plenty of possession for Peter Jackson’s visitors. N’Guessan, who was previously on the books of Glasgow Rangers, remained a threat but lacked the final ball to stretch Aldershot. When he and Paul Green did combine well, Brown missed woefully at the back post, denied by Blackburn’s sliding challenge.

Aldershot should have added a gloss but they rarely win matches by large margins: this was their first league victory by more than a goal margin since last February.

Instead, Harding, who enjoyed an excellent second half, ran out of space on the break and then Grant, after doing very well to work a shooting chance, dragged his left shot wide.

Overall, it was a workmanlike, streetwise win, which shows that Aldershot have taken note of their manager’s urgings to be a little less gung-ho in their approach.

The victory also maintained the unbeaten home record this season, which stretches all the way back to January to boot.

“It’s a good result against a good side,” said Waddock. “We’ve tweaked the way we play a little, the players have taken it on board and you can see that with the clean sheets.

“Ricky Newman was excellent tonight. He showed that he’s still a good footballer. You can see why I wanted to keep him.”

Aldershot: Bull, Blackburn, Straker, Charles, Newman, Davies, Soares, Harding, Morgan (Elvins 74), Grant, Sandell. Not used: Jaimez-Ruiz, Mendes, Donnelly, Chalmers.

Lincoln City: Burch, Green, Brown, Kovacs, Beavers, Oakes, Frecklington (Graham 71), Kerr, N’Guessan, John-Lewis (Wright 53) Hone. Not used: Clarke, Sinclair, Duffy.