On the day that the club paid tribute to the late John McGinty, this was a point that felt like a victory. For 75 minutes The Shots were frustrated and foundering, smothered by a stoic Bulls’ defence led by the impressive Adam Bartlett, but two goals in sixty seconds wrested parity with just two minutes remaining – and still The Shots found time to create chances as they pushed for a third.
That, though, would have been harsh on a Hereford team who followed John Trewick’s gameplan – of defending in numbers and utilising their pace on the counter – to perfection. Having fallen behind to Tristan Plummer’s early penalty, after Dave Winfield was adjudged to have handled a corner in a crowded penalty area, Aldershot laid siege to Bartlett’s goal but lacked the quality and composure to penetrate the massed ranks of black and white.
A reshuffle necessitated by Ben Harding’s foot injury on 15 minutes didn’t help their cause, as substitute John Grant took up an unfamiliar role on the right of midfield, but still it was Bartlett who provided a solid barrier: Hudson, Donnelly and Morgan all went close but to no avail.
Increasingly restricted to long-range efforts and wary of Hereford’s threat on the counter-attack, the game appeared lost when two defensive errors gifted The Bulls a second: Winfield was caught napping as Plummer stole the ball inside the box and with a seemingly weak shot managed to sneak the ball between Jaimez-Ruiz’s legs into the net.
Bartlett again denied Donnelly, and the clock was already ticking towards the 87th minute before Aldershot finally dragged themselves off the floor. Hylton headed in Hudson’s cross, via a deft flick from John Grant, and suddenly the vigour and panache returned to red and blue shirts.
Within seconds, Marvin Morgan had rolled his man on the edge of the box and slid the ball across goal into the bottom corner to spark delirium on the East Bank. Morgan himself perhaps should have won the game, placing the ball inches wide of the far post after he raced onto Donnelly’s incisive through-ball; and, in the third minute of stoppage time, Grant’s flying volley was gratefully gathered by Bartlett.
This may have been a point won at some cost – both Harding and Hinshelwood limped off with potentially serious injuries – but ultimately it was merely an exhilarating prelude to the main event, as an entire football club said goodbye to one of their own.