James Henry’s double fired Aldershot Town to a 2-1 win against Altrincham at the EBB Stadium.

The wind and rain made conditions far from ideal for a game of football and both sides struggled to take control of the game in the opening ten minutes.

The first chance of the game fell to the visitors in the 12th minute as Joe Nuttall forced Marcus Dewhurst into a low save with an effort from outside the area.

This sparked a bit of life into the game and saw Aldershot launch a couple of attacks of their own in the following minutes.

The first of those saw Ashley Akpan in space down the right and his first-time cross found Jack Barham who skipped past a trip and went down under a second challenge, sparking protests for a penalty, but the referee’s only action was to yellow card Barham for his protests.

The Shots were creating chances but were unable to get a shot on goal as the visiting defence were standing firm.

Barham was the beneficiary of superb balls forward by Dan Ellison and Theo Widdrington but was forced wide and saw his shot blocked, before Josh Barrett saw a shot blocked minutes later after being found by Akpan.

Akpan was beginning to become the focal point of Aldershot’s attacking moves and it was no surprise that he was the creator of the opening goal.

Finding space on the right, he delivered an excellent cross to the far post for Henry to race in and turn in on 26 minutes.

Altrincham pushed for an instant equaliser, but Rollin Menayese was equal to a dangerous cross into the box and able to clear the ball under significant pressure.

Henry doubled Aldershot’s lead just four minutes after he’d put the Shots in front.

Breaking forward, he charged down a clearance after a heavy touch and found himself clear through on goal, showing good composure to find the bottom corner.

Having received treatment after a clash of heads in the first half, Ellison was forced off at half-time. Dejan Tetek came on and Widdrington moved into the centre of the back three.

Henry was on the hunt for a hat-trick but missed the target with an effort from outside the area in the 50th minute and couldn’t get the right connection with a header a few minutes later.

The Shots were managing the lead, the game and the conditions well, though, and while not heavily threatening Ethan Ross in the Altrincham goal, were still causing the defence plenty of problems.

Ryan Jones caused plenty of problems down the left and beat his man on a number of occasions but saw his crosses blocked.

In the 72nd minute he looked like he had the ball glued to his feet as he broke into the box and played the ball to Barham who saw his cross blocked.

Altrincham’s route back into the game was made more difficult as Tom Crawford was shown a second yellow card in the 78th minute.

What turned out to be the final Shots chance of the game came two minutes from the end as they turned defence into attack in a matter of seconds.

An Altrincham free kick caused problems as penalty box pinball ensued but they cleared their lines and Tyler Frost beat his man superbly on the halfway line, only to see his low cross turned behind for a corner.

But as the game hit the 90th minute, Altrincham scored to give Aldershot a nervy end.

A long ball forward was flicked on by Elliot Osborne and found Jake Bickerstaff who slotted the ball under Dewhurst.

The Shots held firm, though, to secure a valuable three points.

Aldershot Town: Marcus Dewhurst, Theo Widdrington (c), Cameron Hargreaves, Josh Barrett (Maxwell Mullins 83), Ryan Jones, Olly Scott, Ashley Akpan, Jack Barham (Hady Ghandour 83), Rollin Menayese, James Henry (Tyler Frost 75), Dan Ellison (Dejan Tetek 46).

Unused substitutes: Pat Nash, Lachlan Byrd, Kai Corbett

Altrincham: Ethan Ross, Lewis Banks, Eddy Jones, Lewis Baines (c), Elliot Osborne, Alex Newby, Matty Kosylo (Isaac Marriott 69), James Jones, George Wilson (Kahrel Reddin 60), Tom Crawford, Joe Nuttall (Jake Bickerstaff 66).

Unused substitutes: Jake Cooper, Liam Humbles, Tylor Golden, Louie Fallon.

Attendance: 1,882 (84 away).