ALDERSHOT TN 3, TRANMERE R 1

THE arrival of a summer monsoon seemed to bring Aldershot Town good fortune as they ended Tranmere Rovers’s unbeaten record on Saturday.

As driving rain swept across the EBB Stadium, Tranmere’s defence, rock-solid for most of the match, conceded a penalty for a trip by Lois Maynard on substitute Iffy Allen and Scott Rendell drove home from the spot to give Aldershot a 2-1 lead in the 79th minute.

Three minutes later, Rovers failed to clear a corner properly and the ball broke to centre-back Will Evans who blasted a fantastic volley into the back of the net for the killer third goal.

Three-one was a bit hard on Tranmere who had looked the better side for much of the second half, but Evans’ spectacular strike would have been a worthy winner of any game.

“A fantastic result and I’ve got to say against a very, very good side as well – the best that we’ve played,” said delighted manager Gary Waddock. “They’re top for a reason and there were spells when they had a lot of possession. But we stuck at it and got our reward with the three goals and an incredible strike by Will.”

Tranmere, who had won six of their seven matches coming into the game, had to come from behind for the first time this season after a storming start by the Shots.

After only three minutes, Cheye Alexander, released by Shamir Fenelon, measured a cross from the right and Bernard Mensah emerged from a posse of players to nudge the ball into the net.

Rovers struggled to get a foothold on the game against opponents playing at a high tempo, but should have equalised when a lucky ricochet put Connor Jennings in a one-on-one with Jake Cole who advanced to make a vital block.

The game opened up midway through the half and both sides fashioned decent chances. Maynard’s raking pass picked out James Norwood and the Tranmere striker’s cross-shot eluded several lunging boots in the goalmouth.

At the the other end, Rendell set up Matt McClure whose fierce drive brought a fine save from Scott Davies.

The Wirral side showed their quality as half-time approached. Norwood floated flighted a deep cross to the far post and Andy Cook climbed high to head inside the opposite upright.

Tranmere closed the half with a spurt of pressure and, following some smart work by Adam Mekki – no longer the gangling kid of his Aldershot days – Connor Jennings’ angled shot was deflected into the sidenetting.

The Rovers’ defence looked increasingly watertight in the second half and that had much to do with the shrewd positional play of veteran centre-back Steve McNulty who, just as he had in last season’s 0-0 draw, was invariably there to cut out any danger.

The more the bulky, grey-haired defender was subjected to unoriginal, impolite chants from the East Bank, the better he played and with Aldershot equally disciplined at the back, the points seemed destined to be shared.

But Waddock’s substitutions changed the course of the game.

As the rain lashed down, tricky Iffy Allen, minutes after coming on, drew a foul from Maynard and Rendell, after checking in his run-up, sent Davies the wrong way from the spot.

Soon after, Aldershot had the points in the bag. Their short-corner routine usually irritates the fans, but this time it worked. Tranmere failed to clear Alexander’s eventual cross and the ball spun in the direction of Evans, lurking on the edge of the area, who showed great technique to get his foot over the ball and score with a tremendous volley.

Aldershot closed the game out in style and having knocked Tranmere off the top of the National League table, take up fourth place themselves, just three points off the lead.

It was Rovers’ first defeat on the road since November, 2015 and ended the club record unbeaten run at 14 games.

Aldershot: Cole; Alexander, Reynolds, Evans, Straker (Arnold 74); Fenelon, Gallagher, Bellamy, Mensah (Allen 74); McClure (Wakefield 85), Rendell. Subs (not used): Conroy, Smith. Booked: Mensah.

Tranmere: Davies; Maynard, McNulty, Ihiekwe, Ridehalgh; Mekki (Stephenson 83), Hughes, S Jennings; C Jennings, Cook (Kirby 83), Norwood. Subs (not used): Turner, Sutton, Harris. Booked: Ihiekwe, S Jennings, Norwood, Davies.

Referee: Carl Brook.

Attendance: 2,585 (361).

Aldershot will attempt to make it five consecutive home victories when they host Chester this Saturday. The Shots travel to Boreham Wood on Tuesday (Sept 13).