Aldershot Town beat Fulham Under-21s 2-1 in the National League Cup on Shots boss Tommy Widdrington’s return to the dugout.

Widdrington made his return to the sidelines less than two months after suffering two strokes.

The match started off fairly evenly between the two sides, who both had a chance of advancing into the National League Cup’s knockout stages.

Tyler Frost got under a shot and fired over the bar in the tenth minute as a Luke Jenkins slide tackle superbly disrupted Fulham’s first foray into the Shots box three minutes later.

Maxwell Mullins was lining up against the side managed by his father, Hayden Mullins, and keen to impress, he could have given the Shots the lead after receiving the ball from Jack Barham, but his shot was well blocked as it looked to be on target.

The Shots deservedly took the lead in the 20th minute via an unlikely source as Dejan Tetek’s deflected effort found the top corner.

Barham was found in space down the right and his low cross was cleared only as far as Tetek on the edge of the box whose powerful effort was probably heading in despite the extra help from a Fulham defender.

Aldershot’s physical superiority over the young Fulham side was evident early on and the hosts were dominant from set pieces.

Mullins came close to doubling his side’s lead in the 27th minute as he rose highest in a sea of bodies but his header was well saved by Alex Borto.

There was some nice football on display at the EBB Stadium and there was a clear gulf in quality between the two sides as Aldershot began to control the game.

Barham and Mullins linked up to find Aaron Jones on the right but his effort was blocked on the half-hour mark.

The Shots continued their dominance into the second half and were continuing to put on a good display as Frost’s deep cross was headed down by Jones for Cameron Hargreaves to half volley an effort at goal that had to be headed over the bar by a Fulham defender.

And another unlikely source doubled Aldershot’s lead on the hour mark as Christian Maghoma turned in a goalmouth scramble.

Jenkins’ header from a corner had to be cleared off the line and after a scramble to turn the rebound in ensued, it fell to Maghoma to bundle in at the far post.

Mullins was continuing to do well with a rare start and almost scored a wonderful goal ten minutes later.

Driving down the left and cutting in onto his right foot, he curled an effort towards goal that was off target by a whisker and had Borto scrambling.

Fulham finally sent a warning that they were still in the game in the 76th minute as Aaron Loupalo-Bi did well to advance down the right and to the byline where he pulled it back for Callum Osmand, but the substitute could only scuff his effort wide from just a few yards out.

And the Premier League youngsters had a route back into the game through Loupalo-Bi as a rare lapse in concentration from the Shots saw the attacker pounce on a soft pass and skip past Jordi van Stappershoef to finish into an open goal.

The Shots held on though to seal their spot in the knockout stages.