Aldershot Town 1 Stevenage 1

Last updated : 29 August 2010 By Shotsweb's Steve Gibbs

Damien Spencer's equaliser was a deserved reward for his own galvanising and rambunctious display, but ultimately Aldershot Town were left frustrated at a missed opportunity.

For the second home game in succession, a switch to 4-4-2 proved the catalyst for a Shots revival, but after dominating for much of the first half, and then seeing Marvin Morgan miss an 86th minute penalty, this felt like two points dropped.

With an impressive defensive performance, Stevenage survived the loss of Charlie Griffin, with serious concussion, to take a lead early in the second half as Aldershot foundered on the massed ranks of the visitor's resistence. It looked like being a classic smash and grab from Graham Westley's team until Spencer's arrival gave Morgan much-needed support.

Aldershot's neat approach play largely lacked a cutting edge in an entertaining opening 45 minutes. Centre-halves Ashton and Roberts were outstanding as Morgan was shackled all too easily and the hosts were restricted to half chances for Vincent, Charles and Straker.

Two lapses in concentration, first from Anthony Charles and then Darren Jones, in failing to deal with a long ball forward, compounded the problem on 51 minutes, as Chris Beardsley nipped in behind the back four to rifle a shot past Young.

Bostwick perhaps should have increased the lead, with a header straight at Young, but Spencer's impact was instant and The Shots were level just five minutes after his arrival.

Another long ball forward - which gave an unlikely assist to the former Wycombe goalkeeper - appeared to be sailing aimlessly wide until Spencer's blindside run caught both Day and the Stevenage defence cold. Chesting the ball away from the advancing goalkeeper's clutches, Spencer did well to angle his shot across the line.

Morgan and Henry both wasted chances from promising breaks, as the game opened up in the final quarter, but Aldershot should still have snatched victory when Roberts ended another bustling run from Spencer just inside the penalty area. Morgan's penalty, though, was weak, and, as he bundled in the rebound, Panther was penalised for kicking the ball out of Day's hands.

A four-game unbeaten start to the season is by no means a poor return, but Kevin Dillon's new team are not yet the sum of their individual parts and will need to improve to stave off future defeats.

ATFC: Young; Herd, Jones, A Charles, Vincent; Harding, Panther; Guttridge (Spencer 59), Little (Small 75), Straker (McGlashan 87); Morgan. Subs mot used: Kitteridge, Fortune, Halls, Hylton

SFC: Day; Henry, Roberts, Ashton, D Charles (Bridges 38); Sinclair (Wilson 89), Mousinho, Bostwick, Odubade; Griffin (Laird 25), Beardsley. Subs not used: Bayes, Foster, Byrom, Sills

Att.: 2525, inc 246 away