AlderDIRT, AlderGRIT, AlderSHOT are Alder****! Pass it on...
Jokes aside, that felt good. I don't care how it came. That lot have irked me for the last 2 and a half seasons. If yesterday was a stroke of luck in our favour, then it goes a small way towards balancing out the luck they've had in some of their undeserved victories over us in recent times.
Their players and fans giving it the big'un can all **** off too, especially the knuckle daggers in the North Bank who were booing, laughing and chanting "****er" at Ollie Kensdale as he left the pitch with a gash on his cheek and blood pouring down his face.
Now onto the game. Thought we were on top for the first 15 without having much in the way of clear-cut chances. After that and until half time, I think we still had the better of possession and territory, but Aldershot turned up the intensity of their press and we got sloppy and complacent. A couple of silly and needless surrenders of possession from some of our players who you'd least expect it from, and we were being picked off on the counter attack. Could and probably should have been 2 down at half time. Aldershot showed in that first half what a good team they are - Tolaj, Daly and Stokes in particular.
Impossible to know what would have happened without the sending off. Easy to sit here and say it changed the game, but we don't know that for sure. Thought we started the second half stronger before the incident, and the sending off wasn't required for us to get the equaliser - only the resulting free kick. If we had got level vs. 11 men, it was anybody's game.
I keep going back and forth over the red card decision. Ultimately, I think it could go either way, and anybody saying "definitely not a red" or "red all day long" aren't being honest with themselves. Having watched the replay several times, I can definitely see why he did show the red card. The below still that I took shows that Waldron had got behind the defender and had a pretty clear run on goal from there, and was clearly dragged back and impeded. The closest CB at the time was a fair distance away, too far away to be deemed "covering", and wouldn't, imo, have caught up. On the other hand, I could probably have understood a yellow too given Waldron was, at the point of contact, perhaps not running towards goal and that perhaps there were questions over whether the closest CB could have covered. Really difficult one but can definitely see why the red was shown.
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The incident at the other end just before with Kensdale and Stokes was different, imo, in a couple of key ways. Lots of crossover with what I've said above and perhaps Stokes would have been clear through, but Ralph was way closer than Aldershot's CB was above and I think could fairly be called "covering". I'm not even sure it was a foul - no trip or pull back that I could see like the one on Waldron. Kensdale has tried to go shoulder-to-shoulder and perhaps ended up going hip-to-hip, but having watched the replay of this one over and over again too, I think Stokes has gone down far too easily and made it obvious that he's looking for it.
Other than that, thought the referee and officials were equally dire for both sides. The foul on Waldron in the last 20 mins or so was a definite penalty, and there was a host of other bewildering decisions against each team.
Very impressed with how we turned the screw after the sending off though. All too often we've struggled to break down 10 men. Aldershot made it a bit easier by not sitting in, but I thought we were pretty relentless from then on.
Interesting change with Wood coming on. It changed our attacking shape slightly, gave us a double-up and bigger threat down the right (and therefore more balance), and pulled Aldershot around a bit more. Difficult to wax lyrical about its effectiveness too much as it was against 10 men and a team that wasn't parking the bus. Wood has seemed to struggle in the 10 position against teams like that in the past. Perhaps the position and role he occupied on Saturday will suit him and us better?
Excellent goal from him, and then an equally excellent through pass for a brilliant Dackers run and finish. Impressive.
So yeah, don't ultimately care how it came. The world has been against us long enough, so it's nice to see some decisions go our way, especially against that lot.
Collin 7
Crowther 7
Kensdale 8
Ralph 7
JD 7
Bridge 7
Miley 6
Morton 6
Husin 7
Cardwell 7
Waldron 8
Wood 7
Dackers 7
Fonguck (too late to rate)
