ALDERSHOT TN 1, SOLIHULL MOORS 0

ALDERSHOT were just happy to take the three points from a scrappy encounter with lowly Solihull Moors, ending a run of four National League games without a win.

Injuries and suspension had reduced Aldershot to the bare bones, with only four players on the bench.

However, manager Gary Waddock was able to plug some of the gaps, thanks to a midweek agreement with Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy that saw two young players, defender George Fowler and midfielder Adam McDonnell, come to Aldershot on loan.

It continued the valuable relationship with the Championship club. Aldershot had highly-rated midfielder Kundai Benyu on loan from Ipswich for most of last season. He is now with Celtic.

Fowler and McDonnell went straight into the starting line-up and the Shots looked set for a comfortable win over second-from-bottom Solihull as they took the lead after only nine minutes.

Chris Arthur set up Jim Kellermann for a fierce shot that brought a fine one-handed parry by Nathan Vaughan.

Moors failed to clear the resulting corner and James Rowe crossed the ball back in towards Shamir Fenelon, arriving unmarked on the back post.

Fenelon’s airborne volley hit the ground and bounced high into the net, but he was unable to celebrate with his team-mates because he tweaked something with his lunging effort and hobbled painfully off the pitch.

Luca Wrightman was a willing replacement, but for all their possession and pressure, the Shots lacked a cutting-edge and struggled to kill off the West Midlands side whose commitment and work-rate made up for a lack of finesse.

The only other excitement before half-time was a mass skirmish following a clash between Cheye Alexander and Solihull’s Kalern Thomas – both booked – and the nearest thing to a goal was Liam Daly almost deflecting a Rowe cross into his own net.

Aldershot continued to huff and puff in the second half and Solihull continued to throw bodies at everything, never allowing the home side to develop a rhythm.

You lost count of the amount of give-and-goes involving Rowe and Bobby-Joe Taylor, but it was always no-go. Taylor saw a couple of his many pot-shots wing narrowly over the crossbar and when he did get one fizzing shot on target, Vaughan again got a strong hand on the ball.

Meanwhile, there was always the chance of Solihull, who defended grimly in numbers, nicking a goal back, although the outstanding Callum Reynolds was usually there to cut out any danger.

Their best opportunity fell to Oladapo Afolayan who arrived undetected at the far post to meet a long cross, but completely miscued his effort.

With Jake Gallagher now on the field, having recovered from illness, Aldershot threw everything at the resilient visitors in the last 10 minutes.

Once again, Taylor left his man for dead, forced another good stop from Vaughan and Gallagher, after having his follow-up shot blocked, finally forced the loose ball in the net, only to have the goal disallowed for offside.

Not a great spectacle, but an important win for Aldershot who maintain their top-five position.