Like I’d been saying all week in the build up, lose today it doesn’t matter. But it was troubled waters for The Shots on the homecoming of Molesley and Brown.

The rationale on “doesn’t matter if we lose today” being that this is a complete rebuild and a new chapter.

Also that much of the half-decent side we had last term is gone so we can’t expect to pull up any trees for a while yet.

But there were positives I saw today that makes me think that while the last manager clearly couldn’t run a bath and while football will always be hot and cold, the new boss and his staff can certainly get those taps running again.

I was one of a fair few stayaways and so my first home game back didn’t fool me into thinking that anything would be like it was before.

Crowd-wise I was hoping for better. Turned out it was just a few hundred up on the Solihull game and we know that fans are fed up with the entrance fee which is another factor.

Maybe the club could think about putting it back to £18 just to get fans to come back again, otherwise the only way it will happen is with a massive improvement in results and I think that’s some way off.

The match itself from our perspective was a mix of hoofball and flank play that didn’t bother the visitors in the slightest until very late on when their keeper pulled off a fine save when the ball was heading for the postage stamp.

The Shots had the first chance of the afternoon after 20 minutes, with Toby Edser taking the free-kick from just outside the area, but his effort was comfortably dealt with by Johnson in the Halifax Town goal.

The Shaymen had the first look at goal in the second half, but Spence’s effort from distance flew over the bar.

In the 66th minute, a brilliant ball from Edser found Andrews inside the area, but his headed effort went straight into the arms of Johnson.

With 10 minutes to go, a corner taken by Kinsella found the head of Giles Phillips, but his effort was wide of the mark.

A minute later, Aldershot Town had another chance to equalise, with substitute George Fowler trying to curl one into the top corner from the edge of the area, but his great effort was tipped over the bar by Johnson.

The final chance of the game came in the 89th minute, a free-kick from Martin Woods almost caught Walker out, but ended up going just wide and into the side netting.

VIEW FROM THE EAST BANK

I thought second half we did have a never say die attitude and did have a go but there wasn’t much in the way of penetration.

That said, remember that they carved us open just the once for the goal and while it was a workmanlike performance from the Shaymen and they were much technically better, anything more than the one-nil would have flattered them.

The Shaymen broke the deadlock in the 26th minute when defender Jack Senior fed Matthew Warburton down the left and his pass picked out Waters who tucked the ball in from a tight angle.

It’s the simple things like time on the ball that we need to focus on because time after time we let ourselves down by not taking time and looking for the right movement going forward.

Wrexham at home (we usually take something off them at home don’t we) then Dover away should hopefully see us getting the ball into the net again.

I would have liked to have seen us manage a goal for our endeavours of course but on the day we lost to the better team and I hope the 70-odd Halifax fans have a peaceful and safe journey home.

Referee: Daniel Lamport

Attendance:1,622

Aldershot Town

Walker
Kinsella
Lyons-Foster
Whittingham (Willard 57’)
Edser
Bettamer (Aouachria 70’)
Berkeley-Agyepong
Andrews
Oxlade-Chamberlain (G Fowler 68’)
Phillips
Harris

FC Halifax Town

Johnson
Senior
Bradbury
Green
Warburton
Waters
Spence
Gilmour
Warren
Slew (J Allen 69’)
Maher