Wanderers’ fourth pre-season outing ended in defeat as National League opponents Aldershot ran out as 2-0 winners at Meadowbank.

Both sides had scored fifteen goals in pre-season before this fixture and, in a game that promised entertainment, the early stages looked promising for Wanderers with numerous efforts on the opposition goal.

New signing Dennon Lewis almost put us in front after his low effort rolled just wide after a cut back from Jimmy Muitt, before Frank Vincent cut inside and drilled a deflected effort against the post from inside the box.

Last season’s FA Trophy winners Aldershot have bolstered their side this summer and showed their quality eleven minutes in as Cameron Hargreaves nipped in to win the ball before teeing up Josh Barrett who rounded the goalkeeper and slotted into an empty net, in a gutting blow to the Wanderers, who were dominant in the opening stages.

We continued to have the better of the game following the goal however, and we almost equalised as George Francomb had a close-range effort blocked and Alfie Rutherford had an effort deflected behind for a corner. Tyler Frost and Tristan Abrahams nearly added to the away side’s lead after picking up on a loose pass, however Abrahams drilled the ball over the bar from Frost’s cutback.

The away side’s cutting edge, however, was soon on display again in the 35th minute. Scorer of the first goal Josh Barrett doubled his tally for the afternoon as he was allowed to carry the ball to the edge of the box before drilling home into the bottom right corner of Harrison Foulkes’ goal.

As the first half progressed, the visitors’ striker Tristan Abrahams grew into the game, seeing two more efforts saved by Harrison Foulkes including a one-on-one after Abrahams shrugged off the challenge of Brennan Camp. In a similar manner to previous pre-season fixtures, Wanderers shuffled the pack ahead of the second half, introducing the likes of Jason Prior, Louie Storey and Jordan Norville-Williams.

Prior nearly found himself on the scoresheet very early in the half, however his counterpart Marcus Dewhurst reacted very well to keep the ball out from close range and Norville-Williams saw his curled effort sail slightly wide of the post from a free kick as the substitutes looked to leave their imprint on the match.

Throughout the afternoon, Aldershot wide man Cameron Hargreaves had multiple efforts on goal and the player nearly saw himself on the scoresheet in the 51st minute, however his curling effort struck the outside of the post.
On frequent occasions over the course of the afternoon, Aldershot defenders cleared away well near the goal line and a piece of play in the 66th minute proved no different as a Charlie Carter cutback was scrambled away after good build up play. The away sides substitutes also strived to have an impact on proceedings, however
striker Kwame Thomas saw an effort comfortably saved after being fed the ball by Hady Ghandour.

The final proceedings were largely quiet, aside from two efforts from Hady Ghandour as the away side cemented their victory. In the final fixture of pre-season next Saturday, Dorking travel to Farnham Town before the boys travel to Chippenham for their league opener the following week.