I couldn’t make it to Wealdstone on Saturday, much to my disappointment, at the very last minute and had to settle for the DAZN coverage. As enjoyable viewing as that was on my laptop whilst trying to juggle the kids’ bath and bedtime, the appetite was whet for making this one.
Aldershot away is a fixture I associate with good memories. My first two visits here, twenty years ago this year, were very enjoyable affairs. A hotly contested 1-1 draw on a Friday night in the first Allen era, followed by the fabled 3-2 victory with Kingy’s volley en route to the title in November 2004.
They must have been good to have stood the test of time and to still go into trips here with a positive view. Five visits since had produced three defeats, a draw and an abandonment due to fog. Despite the recent memory of a wasted dash to make this midweek clash last season, circumstances as they were, it felt a worthwhile early evening scramble to make this one.
A shared car journey with mates made for a nice change, arriving in Aldershot a little in advance of kick off. I’ve said it here before; The Recreation Ground is up there with my favourites. The striking floodlights visible from a good distance away, the ground nestled among houses and some greenery. It looks barely touched in half a century and has that wonderful mish-mash of stands Underhill-esque quality. You’ll miss places like these when they’re not there anymore. It’s just a shame they don’t open the away half of the East Bank Terrace anymore.
Whilst the view from the open terrace our modest congregation of 225 occupied wasn’t the best, the spectacle on the pitch started brightly.
In the opening exchange, we asserted our authority and looked set to dominate. Bailey Hobson caught the eye on his full debut. Very composed on the ball and impressive close control. Seemingly another fine bit of recruitment - though let’s hope the lack of involvement even on the bench from Chapman was precautionary.
Mark Shelton went so incredibly close I’m not sure how to explain how he didn’t score early on. A powerful effort from outside the box was saved - knocked onto the inside of the post and then somehow bounced away, defying physics to not cross the line. Still trying to work that out. I can’t have been the only one who’d already gone up for it and began celebrating. Baffling.
Aldershot offered little threat but things had simmered down a bit by the midway point. Taking advantage of the pedestrian spell in the game, a foray into some football ground food was made. Having had to rush home and back out again after work, a ‘Shots Burger’ was purchased for considerable expense for a very, very mediocre dinner. From poor experience in the past, I rarely bother with food at The Hive (that new pie and mash looks alright, though) and on this evidence, I won’t be rushing to do it on the road again anytime soon.
I’d just taken my place back on the terrace with my disappointing dinner when we were treated to the evening’s highlight.
A lovely dinked ball by Hobson found Tavares in the corner. A sublime back heel took two Aldershot players out of the game and found Hobson again. A fantastic whipped cross, which in real time looked almost overhit, found the unmarked Kabamba at the far post who hammered an absolute bullet of a header into the net. A fine goal.
Things got even worse for Aldershot and even better for us not long after. Idris Kanu was stopped in his tracks, probably unfairly. It looked fairly innocuous though. However, in the ref’s mind there was no doubt. A straight red card and a big chunk of game left to be played against ten men.
We stayed in control until half time but had no further clear cut chance. You felt we could go on to win this very comfortably, though, with the extra man advantage.
There was a half time visit to the unusually non-segregated Phoenix Bar under the stand. This place felt like a throwback to first visits to Aldershot in the early noughties with its seemingly analogue TVs and dated decor. All very friendly, though.
At the break, Kizzi replaced the yellow carded Shelton with Tavares moving to midfield. It was a surprise to see former Aldershot man Glover not hooked given he was also on a yellow. It was clear they’d try and get at him to even the numbers off and sure enough, at the first sign of trouble, he was hauled off for Coker early in the second half.
There really isn’t a lot else to report on the game. It was an abysmal second half. On the one hand, we ground it out and another clean sheet is most welcome. It did feel like made slightly harder work than necessary and I didn’t need the nerves of a stoppage time long throw to defend before the end was signalled.
Ultimately, we did our job. They didn’t have a shot other than one from range that cleared the stand. It was a shame that we also didn’t have an attempt on target. A comprehensive win like Saturday would have been a lot of fun, but no one is moaning about winning 1-0 at Aldershot.
Very much a case of job done and onto the next one. Not a night that will likely live too long in the memory of victorious away games, but one that keeps us exactly where we want to be. Six points in the last few days is a massive statement of intent.
A nice bit of ‘togetherness’ on show at the end as players came over for pictures with an excited group of young fans who’d had a very giddy second half. Good for them. Great to see youngsters having fun following Barnet and the players interacting. This was pointed out to me by someone on the shuffle towards the exit - reader requests for what to include are always welcome!
Anyway, we drove out of Aldershot blaring Alice Deejay in my mate’s black cab (quite a high grade mode of transport for an away game, very comfortable). You’ve got to enjoy these moments while you’re in them. Onto “Foild for a foiver,” on Saturday…
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