Braintree Town 0, Aldershot Town 1

ALDERSHOT Town’s first victory in 19 matches brought both a glimmer of hope in their battle against relegation and a pleasing degree of symmetry.

The Shots’ last victory had come against Braintree Town on November 3, and 112 days later they again beat the National League’s bottom side, thanks to a goal from striker Reece Grant, whom Gary Waddock had signed from The Iron just three games into that winless run.

“We needed a win today and we got it. Great credit to the players, they stuck at it and I thought we deserved the win,” suggested Waddock, who witnessed Braintree exert a degree of late pressure before sealing the points.

“You’ve got to see games through but I was quite calm about it all – we’ve got some experienced players in this squad.”

Continuing with his new 3-5-2 formation, and a defence led by veteran George Elokobi, Waddock was rewarded with a second consecutive clean sheet as goalkeeper Jake Cole enjoyed a pleasingly quiet afternoon.

A first half of few chances highlighted two sides predictably low on confidence and attacking quality.

Grant shot narrowly wide after racing onto Scott Rendell’s flick and Luke Howell’s 25-yarder faded well off target. For the hosts, Korrey Henry’s shot was deflected wide and from the ensuing corner Lyle Della-Verde scuffed a promising opportunity wide.

John Goddard was involved in much of The Shots’ good work, but defences undoubtedly held sway as Jake Gallagher’s angled shot, smothered by the advancing Ben Killip, was the only notable save of the opening half.

Seconds after the re-start, Cameron James went close from distance and Rendell saw his half-volley on the turn saved by Killip, but it took a moment of individual brilliance to break the deadlock.

On 64 minutes, Gallagher won the ball well in midfield and sent Grant racing toward the penalty area with a deft pass. Despite a momentary slip, Grant recovered to cut inside his marker and place an acutely-angled shot into the bottom far corner of the net.

Braintree were briefly boosted by Rendell’s 85th-minute red card – shown for what the striker admitted was “one second of red mist” in losing his temper with what he described as an “arrogant” referee’s assistant – but for all of their bluster in launching long throws, corners and free-kicks into the box, the remaining 10 Shots players held strong.

“Now we’ve got to build on this,” was undoubtedly Waddock’s most pertinent message, after results for other teams in and around the relegation zone went in The Shots’ favour.

“We’ve picked up four points and two clean sheets from two away games, but we can only control what we’re trying to achieve.

“We’re only taking it game by game. We’ve had two good away performances, but we’ve also got to start winning at home.”

Braintree Town: Killip; Eleftheriou, Matsuzaka, Della Verde, Gabriel, Lyons-Foster, James, Kelly (Allen 83), Allen, Henry (Rowe 65), Morton. Subs (not used): Borg, Richards, Sagaf.

Aldershot Town: Cole; Lelan (McDonnell 63), Menayese, Elokobi; Bernard, Gallagher, Howell, Booty; Goddard (Finney 89), Rendell, Grant (Berkeley-Agyepong 67). Subs (not used): Mannion, McCoy.

Attendance: 829.