The journey from Aldershot is only about 87 miles so there may be some good away support.

This is Rovers’ second rematch of the season.  The opening match of this season was away at Aldershot in August.  This game finished 3-3.  Rovers went two behind after 13 minutes – Hady Ghandour scoring twice for Aldershot.  A Ryan Innis goal after 22 minutes followed by second half goals from McAllister and Doidge looked to have completed a stunning comeback before James Henry’s 80th minute equaliser for the Shots.

Aldershot are 17th in the National League – not quite flirting with the relegation places but not comfortable either.  They have only 5 wins this season, 4 of which have been at home.  They have drawn 7 and lost 10.  Some early season promise has rather evaporated.

James Henry (number 27) is Aldershot’s top marksman with 9 goals.  Henry, now 35, joined the Shots last August.  He is a right-winger – a product of Reading Academy, his career includes spells at Millwall, Wolves and Oxford Utd.

Last season Aldershot finished 8th in the league, missing the play-offs by one place and 2 points.  Just one victory in their final 8 games turned promise into disappointment.  There was some brief hope of sneaking in to the play-offs when Gateshead were removed from play-off contention (after they failed to meet EFFL entry requirements).  But the brief hope came to nothing when the play-offs were reduced from 6 teams to 5.

Manager Tommy Widdrington has been in place since April 2023.  Last season The Shots were free-scoring (74 goals in their 46 games).  But they had one of the leakiest defences in the league, conceding 83 goals.  They were much stronger at home than they were on the road – 43 of their 69 points were at home.  This season is following a similar pattern – 31 goals scored, 39 conceded, and better at home than away where they have just 7 points from 11 away games.  Aldershot come to Nailsworth on a 3 match losing run following defeats at Dagenham and Solihull and a 4-3 home defeat by Halifax.

Last season’s FA Cup run was great for Aldershot.  They beat Swindon 7-4 at home (after being ahead 7-0) in the 1st round.  They then defeated Stockport away 1-0 (in a replay) before succumbing to West Bromwich Albion in the 3rd round.  This season, like Rovers, they went out in the 1st Round, losing 3-1 away at Bradford City.

Shot’s manager Tommy Widdrington.

Aldershot’s slightly scary mascot, The Phoenix.

James Henry is Aldershot’s striker in form.

The history of Aldershot Town is actually quite recent with the club only being formed in 1992 (new by most football club standards) out of the ashes of Aldershot FC which folded earlier the same year.

On March 25, 1992, Aldershot FC became the first Football League club to go out of business during a season since Accrington Stanley 30 years before. Its record expunged, a phoenix club was formed taking the name Aldershot Town, reviving the suffix that had been dropped in 1932. The new club was placed five divisions lower in Isthmian League Division Three.

After successive promotions, 16 years later in 2008, the club finally returned to the football league.  In 2013 they were relegated back to the National League where they have been ever since.  Aldershot featured unsuccessfully in the National League play-offs in 2017 & 2018.  However, in subsequent seasons they bumped around the lower reaches of the league.  Last season’s 8th place finish was their best in 6 seasons.

Aldershot’s home, the EBB Stadium, is also known as The Recreation Ground, or simply The Rec.  The ground has been Aldershot’s home since 1926.  The capacity is 7,100, including about 2,000 seats.  Average attendance last season was 2,684.

Aldershot is in the top right-hand corner of Hampshire.  It has a population of 37,000 but, together with Farnborough and Camberley, is part of a much bigger urban area.

It may have been alder trees that contributed to the town’s name but it was becoming the home to the British Army that propelled it from a village into a Victorian town.  In 2014 it was the largest army camp in the country with 20% of the British Army based there.  Nowadays, Aldershot Military Town is a garrison town located between Aldershot and North Camp (near Farnborough).

Martin Freeman (The Office, Sherlock, The Hobbit) is one of Aldershot’s most famous sons.