A bit like Christmas, much of the magic was in the buildup, the outcome all but decided inside half an hour, but Tommy Widdrington, the Aldershot manager, is still daring to dream of Wembley. The 5,000 travelling fans filling the Smethwick End were in fine voice for the majority of their big day out, despite West Brom going 3-0 up early on, but saved their biggest roar for when the substitute Oliver Bray scored the National League side’s consolation with almost the last kick of the match.
“We’re Aldershot till we die,” they sang as their players stood in front of their end of the ground moments later. It is to be hoped a good proportion of them will be at Bishop’s Stortford for the FA Trophy fourth-round tie on Saturday where another memorable cup run could be brewing. “In the previous five years, Aldershot Town hadn’t won a game in the FA Cup, so to have beaten two league sides [Swindon and Stockport] in this run has been magnificent,” Widdrington said.
“I hope at least half of those fans can come to Bishop’s Stortford. That’s a cup competition we can win, and we’re only three games from Wembley. But it’s been a great journey. I was given three remits when I came in last season: to stay in this division, to win an FA Cup game and to beat our local rivals [Woking], which we did over Christmas. So I should be alright for the next month.”
Tom Fellows capped a man of the match performance for the Championship side with a late fourth – and his first senior goal – as he cut in from his advanced right wing-back role to slot home left-footed from close range. But with almost the last kick of the match red flares were lit and one quarter of the stadium had the reward they deserved as Bray, signed from Willand Rovers in Devon, after training with Manchester United earlier in his career, volleyed in when Tommy Willard’s cross deflected out to him.
West Brom may be 77 rungs above these opponents but this victory was only achieved because Carlos Corberán’s much-changed side displayed such professionalism. Not only was the West Brom manager able to give five young players their debuts but he had the satisfaction of seeing Daryl Dike, his USA international striker, mark his return from nine months out with an achilles injury with the third goal and a promising 45-minute display of centre-forward play.
“The way he celebrated his goal shows a lot about how he’s been suffering and how important he is to us,” Corberán said. “After close to nine months out, this is an important step for us. He still didn’t complete a full week of training. To achieve something important in the Championship, you need to have not a lot of injuries. He can be a massive difference point.”
With eight players injured, Semi Ajayi and Grady Diangana away on Africa Cup of Nations duty and Jeremy Sarmiento recalled by Brighton to be loaned to Ipswich, Corberán was obliged to make eight changes to the team that had lost 1-0 at Swansea on New Year’s Day.
Memories of humiliation at the hands of League One Blackpool in 2021 are fresh enough for West Brom not to take anything for granted, but Aldershot were not at their strongest either. It would have been fascinating to see how they might have coped with Josh Stokes, Aldershot’s 16-goal teenager, figuring at No 10.
What a run it has been for them though. Fans of a club born from the 1992 ashes of their liquidated predecessors will surely never forget a campaign in which they went 7-0 up in winning 7-4 away to Swindon before beating the League Two leaders, Stockport County, with a late goal in a second-round replay. Now they have the Trophy and the playoffs to go for.
West Brom would surely settle for a place in the Championship playoffs right now, sitting 13 points off second-placed Ipswich, but a berth in the next round of the Cup is not to be sniffed at either, notwithstanding the stretch in their squad resources.
Nathaniel Chalobah, an assured presence in the heart of midfield, got the ball rolling when rifling home after a cross from the impressive Fellows, retaining his place after his first senior 90 minutes at Swansea.
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Cian Harries stumbled, losing the ball to Dike so that Jovan Malcolm could score with ease. Dike scythed home his goal after Stuart O’Keefe, the Aldershot captain, inadvertently nodded Alex Mowatt’s corner back into dangerous territory.
