Scott’s Aldershot Town Are Giving It Their Best Shot

ALDERSHOT TOWN and their manager, Andy Scott, have also had a decent start to the season.

One look at the league table might suggest I’ve gone mad, but you cannot underestimate how much of a psychological effect their ten-point deduction could have had from the off.

It’s a different thing altogether when a team gets to 65 points and then has ten chalked off near the season’s end, because they know they’re already safe.

When you’re having to win four matches just to get back in the black, let alone out of the drop zone, it’s tough on the mind –  as I recall Mick Harford telling me about Luton in the season they were relegated to Non-League.

Win on a Saturday and you’re normally overjoyed to see how you’ve moved up the table. When you’re in debit, it can still be demoralising.

I saw the second-bottom Shots for the first time against Grimsby last Saturday, and although they lost 3-0, they showed enough to suggest that they can survive, which I doubted back in August.

They play a neat, friendly possession game, create plenty of chances and had a real livewire in left-winger Manny Oyeleke, although the on-loan Brentford man has been having to fill in at right-back.

For a side thrown together only on the eve of the season, progress is being made. But the depth of that squad – or lack of it, more to the point – could determine how high Scott’s Shots can shoot.