Terry Brown's first sight of his new team in action was encouraging enough as Aldershot deservedly picked up three points against Sutton on Saturday.

There are two agendas attached to the job, as Brown sees it. The first is to see what he has got and to win as many games as possible this season. The second is to plan ahead for next season and the additions he must make to the squad.

"I'm likely to bring in six or seven players, but we already have a big squad here and I must have a good look at them."

He is familiar with Gareth Howells (a "quality goalkeeper") and Lee Holsgrove, who spent a loan period at Hayes this season, but knows little about the rest.

The Aldershot players thus had ample motivation to turn on a show. Stafford Browne might have impressed his namesake by scoring his 24th goal of the season. Jason Chewins pulled off a vital goal-line clearance and Mark Bentley made some crowd-pleasing runs.

Howells, back from injury, had plenty to do early on and dealt coolly with the situation when Sutton's Matt Fowler was through in a one-on-one

On 10 minutes, Aldershot were grateful to Chewins who was perfectly positioned to head Rob Haworth's shot off the line.

But Aldershot recovered from that shaky start and it was Tommy Dunn's turn to make an important save when he foiled Bentley.

The all-important goal came just before half-time and had a distinct touch of good fortune.

The Sutton defence seemed to panic as Browne chased a Holsgrove through-ball and Dunn's mistimed clearance allowed the Aldershot striker to calmly shoot into an empty net from the edge of the area.

Aldershot were much more lively in the second half, but the final touch eluded them.

The hard-pressed Dunn reacted well to tip a Bentley drive over the bar, Browne mis-kicked horribly in front of goal and Grant Payne was inches wide with a sweetly struck shot.

With Sutton offering little in this half, Aldershot completed a comfortable win, but they should have doubled their lead in the dying seconds, substitute Mark Watson missing from very close range.

Aldershot's hectic Easter schedule begins with the home match against Heybridge Swifts on Saturday. They travel to The Camrose on Easter Monday for the local derby with Basingstoke and, on Wednesday, they visit Hampton for the second leg of the Isthmian League Cup semi-final. The first leg ended 2-2.

Aldershot: Howells, Protheroe, Chewins, Kirby, Coll, Holsgrove, Bentley, Parker, Browne, Payne (Watson 77 mins), Gell. Subs (not used) Townley, Forrester. Booked: Holsgrove, Bentley.

Sutton: Dunn, Palmer, Gonsalves, Mison, Hammonds, Honey, Timothy, Corbett (Akuamoah 64 mins), Fowler (Bailey 57 mins), Haworth, Gray. Sub (not used) Drew. Booked: Hammonds, Timothy.

Attendance: 1,618.

Referee: Kevin Haines.