It was like three Christmases all coming at once. For me, the first win of the season at my ninth attempt, it was unbelievable and the East Bank was a-rocking like the old days.

First half I’d bought a seat in the South Stand and to my right were around 60 Dover fans. Good away record they had too but somehow I had a really good feeling about tonight as readers will know had they read this post earlier.

At 02:48 in that video you hear one of their fans shout “fucking shocking” reacting to them conceding the fourth goal. The lady recording the game is right up at the back of the South Stand and so right next to the Dover fans housed to her right.

Of the game, I think we would all subscribe to this though, those initial twenty minutes were dead scary with Dover looking threatening and had Jack Powell not cleared off the line and we’d gone one down I wonder how our night really might have been. Oh and I just checked, Woking are 1-3 down at Yeovil so, the icing on the bleeding cake!

Once Shamir had put us ahead though, it gave the lads so much impetus and belief. After all, it is rare that we take the lead. And the second (what a fantastic ‘pick that one out’) finish from Jacob B-A, a bolt out of the blue and a real sickener for the visitors.

WHO THE EFFIONG ARE YOU?!

I began to wonder where the Effiong this dangerous striker of Dover was! Second half I made my way round to the East Bank to see the wheels really come off for Dover.

Rampant. That’s what the Shots were second half. Two goals to the good and hungry for more. And the delirium that followed the third goal, Powell’s first for us too. When was the last time our fans were shouting “we want five”?!

Kappadeano mixed the audio and video PLUS some much better angles particularly on the Powell free kick and that final goal by Santos.

Champagne football at times and while I can’t finalise this report until I am back home, I can’t wait any longer to write how good Ethan Chislett was again tonight. An omnipotent presence on the park, involved in pretty much everything that was good about the Shots tonight.

When I chatted with Matt in the ticket office yesterday about more than a few things, I said that while we weren’t getting points against those around us in the bottom four, I could see us picking up a fair few points from teams above us. And you know, two or three wins in succession can have you in mid-table and eyeing up the play-offs; we are only six points off them tonight.

Of course this doesn’t mean that suddenly we have turned the corner. The players must not let complacency set in. But this should really sink in to our lads that, you know what, we have the makings of a decent side here. Let’s be realistic, Dover were all over the place second half and they’re a bit out of form. Hartlepool may well be a tougher challenge Saturday.

Got this great pic (as I always have to leave 15 minutes early night games) while you lot were still singing away in there.

But thank you ATFC, the players, you Eastbankers, for making this such a memorable night. We were well overdue not just a win but a performance to make us believe in you but also feel proud – I certainly felt that tonight.

That’s it for now, I’ll add the media reports into this once they’re available. 4-0 Aldershot – who would have thought that score before kick-off?!

MATCH REPORT

Aldershot Town romped to a 4-0 victory in an excellent display against Dover Athletic at the EBB Stadium on Tuesday night.

Goals from Shamir Mullings and a brilliant strike from Jacob Berkeley Agyepong gave The Shots a half-time lead before Jack Powell and Alefe Santos added two more shortly after the break.

Danny Searle handed Mohamed Bettamer his full Shots debut after appearing off the bench in the last fixture away at Chorley.

The ball almost found its way into the Aldershot net 17 minutes into the game but, following a bit of a scramble, Jack Powell was in the right place on the line to clear an effort away.  Anthony Jeffrey had a good chance for the away side at the back post 24 minutes in but he sliced his volley wide.

The Shots took the lead just a minute later. A ball was played over the top towards Mullings who worked hard to gain possession of the ball before cleverly hooking the ball into the bottom right corner with his left foot on the bounce.

It wasn’t long before the home side doubled their lead, and what a way it was to do it. Berkeley-Agyepong took the ball on from 25 yards out and set himself before curling a beautiful shot into the top left corner. There was no chance for Lee Worgan in the Dover Athletic goal.

The home side continued to look for a third up until the half-time whistle with a period of pressure and successive corners, but the Shots had to settle for just the two-goal lead going into the break.

It only took eight second-half minutes for The Shots to find the third goal they were looking for. A free-kick lay-off found Powell whose 25-yard drive fooled keeper Worgan to swerve into the back of the net.

It would get better for the home team five minutes later. Some patient build-up play eventually saw Powell play a delicious ball over the top of the Dover defence to Santos. The midfielder composed himself before finishing coolly into the bottom right corner.

Bettamer came very close to scoring his first goal for the club on his first start when Lewis Kinsella played a deep cross to the back post but he could only direct it into the side-netting.  Nassim L’Ghoul forced a good save from Mitch Walker with a long-range effort with about 10 minutes to play, one of very few actions the goalkeeper was called into.

Substitute Dean Rance also went close. His header from a Powell corner didn’t have the purchase necessary to beat Worgan with six minutes left to play but it was just the four for The Shots.

Heading into the match Dover had the best away record in the National League and sat eighth, with Aldershot having one of the worst home records in contrast – languishing in 21st.

Aldershot Town: M. Walker, R. Tinkler, L. Kinsella (c), K. Lyons-Foster, A. Santos, S. Mullings, M. Bettamer, E. Chislett (Eyoma 76’), J. Berkeley-Agyepong (Rance 64’), M. Hunt, J. Powell

Unused subs: C. Shields, A. Whittingham.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Hessenthaler after the game.

“It’s unacceptable, that performance. Absolutely unacceptable.

“Credit to Aldershot, they deserved to win. But that display from us was dreadful from start to finish.

“We came into this game having won six out of seven away from, they’d only won once at home.

“Maybe we came into this game expecting to win, but you can’t be doing that at this level.

“We needed to be better across the pitch and it didn’t happen.

“Maybe it’s a fitness issue. We’ll be bringing everyone in tomorrow though on their day off because our fans deserve so much more than that.”

ORIGINAL POST

Really optimistic about the game tonight but then pre-match I usually am. Not so against our last opponents Yeovil obviously but yesterday I chatted about a few issues in general with club staff – but not this one which was brought to my attention on Twitter.

My take on it anyway.  Point being, fine to have a bit of fun and projecting a happy and positive outlook but… maybe concentrate more on the job in hand first?

Anyway. that out of the way, I’ll update the post with news (if any) throughout the day before setting off to the game later

13:36 – Feel like getting a seat tonight – Hartlepool ticket to collect

Shots top of the league! #beenawhile

Going via Basingstoke avoiding Woking (posh eh?). Finally, I tweeted this and Kinsella liked it!