In front of 550 noisy and colourful travelling fans, turning up in force for Tour of Duty III, Shots performed brightly at Sixfields, home of Northampton Town. However, in the end, only a late strike from the Peter Vincenti earned them the draw that they came away with.
Manager Dean Holdsworth described it as; "a thoroughly deserved point and I think we deserved more than that today. Today was our best performance since I came to the club"
Holdsworth showed faith in the eleven players who had started the previous match against Lincoln, meaning that Tim Sills was again resigned to a place on the bench alongside new loan signing Albert Jarrett.
Shots began well and were easily the better of the two sides over the opening fifteen minutes. The home side barely saw the ball as Aldershot knocked the ball around fluently from the off.
Unfortunately though, fluent passing alone is not enough and it's what happens in both boxes that ultimately decide football matches. With Vincenti often making a fifth player in the middle of the park, Shots dominated and kept the ball well, but rarely threatened to score all all too often that elusive final pass or shot was missing.
On 18 minutes, Shots were stunned as Ben Tozer reacted first to a half cleared corner and put Cobblers ahead against the run of play. The visitors responded well though and got straight back into their stride. Wade Small and the lively Alex Rodman spurned Shots best opportunities to level but somehow the home side still led 1-0 at the break.
The second half was much the same story, with Shots enjoying the lions share of possession, but creating very few clear cut chances. Rodman again and defender Darren Jones went closest.
Thankfully, with just twelve minutes left, Vincenti, who appears to have the happy knack of finding space in the right areas at the right time, poked home from close range to level the scores.
Shots may well still have ended the match though with nothing to show for their endeavours and probably would have done, were it not for a magnificent point blank stop from keeper Jamie Young in the dying minutes.
So, in the end, a much deserved point....and the perfect time for Shots fans to decide if their cup is half full or half empty. No wins in six? ...or unbeaten in five?
Whichever way you see it - it's now pretty clear that Shots are not going to make the play-offs. However, with just fifteen games to go now, they sit nine points clear off the relegation places and if the players continue to apply themselves in the remaining matches as they did in this game, then sooner or later, they should achieve objective number one, to proudly retain their place in League Two next season. And if they can find a way to turn their domination of games into results, then a top ten finish is still not beyond them.
Shots: Young 7, Herd 6, Jones 6, Charles 8, Grand 5, Rodman 7, Guttridge 7, Harding 6, Hylton 6, Vincenti 7, Small 5. Subs used: Sills, Jarrett, Halls. Att: 5011 (with 550 Shots fans)