Aldershot Town 1 - 0 Nuneaton Town

[dutchman]

[dutchman]

MATCH REPORT: ALDERSHOT TOWN 1 NUNEATON TOWN 0

NUNEATON Town put up a spirited defensive display but were unable to take anything back to Warwickshire for their efforts this afternoon.

The game started quietly as the midfield men for both sides struggled to stamp their authority on proceedings.

It took until the 20th minute for Gavin Cowan to test Phil Smith in the home goal, while the closest Aldershot came to breaking the deadlock was six minutes later when first Manny Oyeleke and then Dan Holman both failed to connect to a superb whipped in ball by Brett Williams.

Holman did manage to connect in the 33rd minute, he cleverly made room on the edge of the box before sending a rasping effort goalwards, James Wren did well to parry the shot to safety.

The Boro were left worrying about a different threat moments later as a neck injury to Dane Griffiths left the forward motionless on the pitch for nine minutes.

The on-loan Cardiff City man went up for a header with Joe Oastler and was seemingly out cold as soon as he hit the floor. Medics from both teams rushed onto the pitch and took their time to ensure the forward was ok before taking him from the pitch.

Understandably the game lost any momentum that had built up during that break. Both sets of players took their time to get back into proceedings after the injury.

Aldershot did manage to find that momentum in the second half as they were the better side from the off – and were rewarded for that in the 53rd minute.

A cross from the right hand side from Sam Hatton found Holman unmarked in the box, the frontman given the easy task of heading past Wren and a diving Cowan to give his side the lead.

Only a fantastic last ditch tackle from Gaz Dean on Williams minutes later stopped the lead being doubled as the Boro were facing a determined spell of pressure from the home side.

The same man somehow got a toe on a Dan Fitchett shot in the 75th minute to once again keep the score at 1-0.

Nuneaton looked the most likely side to concede again and in the 86th minute Fitchett could not direct his header downward as the substitute was once again afforded too much room in the box.

The home side were nearly made to pay for that late on as Wren came forward for a corner in stoppage time, helped create confusion in the Aldershot back-line and Ryan Smith nearly took advantage of that but could only stab his effort past the post in a crowded box.