Aldershot Town suffered late heartbreak as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at York City in the National League on Saturday.

The Shots were denied a point by a late Lenell John-Lewis goal at the LNER Community Stadium.

The visitors started brightly. Two minutes in Stuart O'Keefe got on the end of a Ryan Glover cross and hit a volley straight at York keeper Rory Watson, who tipped the ball over for a corner.

The hosts were lucky not to be reduced to ten men in the opening 15 minutes when Thierry Latty-Fairweather went in late on Glover with a challenge which was high and reckless, however referee Andrew Miller decided a yellow card was enough.

York had much the better of the Shots in the first half, but Aldershot created a good opening from a short corner close to the break.

Josh Stokes played it low to Glover, who beat a man and sent a deflected ball across the box. After some bouncing around the ball found Stokes again, but he was only able to find the side netting.

The sides went in for half-time on level terms at 0-0.

With Aldershot’s defence already low on numbers because of injuries, the visitors were handed a hammer blow as Coby Rowe went off injured and was replaced by Josh Barrett on 50 minutes. Dylan Kadji dropped into the right side of the back three, and Stokes dropped deeper in midfield as Barrett went behind Lorent Tolaj and James Daly.

York continued to get the better of the Shots, so Tommy Widdrington changed again in order to try to get ahead in the game. Kwame Thomas came on in place of Daly.

The Shots nearly opened the scoring just after the 70-minute mark, as Tyler Frost found a way into the box and cut the ball back for Barrett, but his effort was saved by Watson.

Another throw of the dice came in the 81st minute as Hady Ghandour replaced Tolaj in a like for like change up front. The Shots nearly took the lead shortly afterwards when a bouncing ball fell to Barrett, but his acrobatic effort went just over the bar.

York found a winner on 89 minutes when John-Lewis got on the end of a Callum Howe header at the back post.

Saturday’s defeat followed a superb 4-1 win at home to Ebbsfleet United at the EBB Stadium last Tuesday night (March 12).

Aldershot blew Ebbsfleet away, despite falling behind. A Lorent Tolaj double and goals from James Daly and Ryan Glover ensured the three points despite the Shots being reduced to ten men in the second half when Haji Mnoga was shown a red card.

Ebbsfleet took an early lead in the fourth minute when former Shot Toby Edser fired in a low and powerful effort from close-range past Jordi van Stappershoef and a couple of Shots defenders on the line.

Aldershot equalised on 32 minutes when Tolaj turned in Tyler Frost’s centre at the back post after brilliant work from Josh Stokes, Glover and Frost.

Tolaj got his second in added time of the first half from another short corner routine. Stokes saw a darting run into the box by Glover, who dummied the ball to see it fall straight to Tolaj’s feet and subsequently into the back of the net.

Aldershot scored their third four minutes into the second half. A superb move started with Tolaj switching the play out to Frost, who had acres of space down the right. Frost raced towards goal and unselfishly squared the ball to Daly to finish via the post.

Aldershot’s task was made harder in the 59th minute when they were reduced to ten men. Mnoga was being pulled and pushed by Dominic Poleon and turned and kicked out at the Ebbsfleet striker and was shown a straight red card.

Eight minutes later Glover produced some individual brilliance to make it 4-1. Daly slipped the wing back in down the left and Glover stormed forward before cutting onto his right foot and firing a powerful, low effort into the bottom corner.

The Shots now turn attention to Saturday’s clash against Solihull Moors at the EBB Stadium (3pm).