Stuart Cash, George Borg's former right-hand man, began his spell as caretaker boss with a useful three points at lowly Croydon on Saturday.
Never an easy place to get a result, Aldershot dug deep to come away with a win that keeps them hot on the heels of third-placed Grays.
In what was likely to be a physical game, Cash chose the muscular Mark Watson as a strike partner for Stafford Browne.
Watson went close to scoring before Aldershot took the lead after just 11 minutes.
Lee Protheroe laid a ball into the path of Browne who drilled his shot into the bottom corner.
Croydon were missing their top scorer, Nic McDonnell, but Craig Dundas forced a good save from Gareth Howells, while, at the other end, Matt Martin did well to keep out Jason Chewins' close-range header.
The visitors took a firm grip on the game on 32 minutes, Paul Harford making it 2-0 with a fierce drive that went in off the underside of the bar.
Croydon looked more of a threat after half-time, with the wind behind them, and pulled one back when Dominic Barclay followed in to score after Howells had failed to hold his first effort.
Aldershot then closed ranks in defence and Watson should have added a third, heading over from Mark Graham's excellent cross.
Aldershot: Howells, Gell, Chewins, Kirby, Coll, Adedeji, Graham, Harford, Browne, Watson (Payne 87 mins), Protheroe. Subs (not used) Forrester, Parker.
Attendance: 292.
Former Aldershot striker Gary Abbott was on target for Welling United who lost 4-2 at Woking in the fourth round of the FA Trophy on Saturday.
Farnborough were within two minutes of beating Burton Albion in their Trophy home tie, when player-manager Nigel Clough popped up to level the scores at 1-1. Albion won the replay, 3-2, on Tuesday night and Farnborough miss out on a plumb home match with Woking in the fifth round.