Aldershot Town celebrate after their Isuzu FA Trophy Final win over Spennymoor Town
Jack Barham, Dan Ellison and Josh Barrett were all on the scoresheet as Aldershot Town beat Spennymoor Town 3-0 to hoist the Isuzu FA Trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
The trio wrote their names into Aldershot folklore, as their goals powered Tommy Widdrington's Shots towards the club’s first-ever Trophy title in their first appearance at Wembley Stadium.
Spennymoor had showed their hand early, and inside five minutes, Glen Taylor set his sights on goal by testing the Shots’ keeper from inside the penalty area.
James Henry then stood up a ball to Barham at the other end, who arrived late to head his flighted centre wide.
Aldershot continued to break down the masked ranks of striped shirts, in time slipping a ball towards Tyler Frost, whose strike was met by Brad James.
Finley Shrimpton then raced forward soon after, faced with a lone defender before picking out Rob Ramshaw in space, but his strike didn’t come to fruition.
And in the 24th minute, Barrett looked to land the first blow, trying to bend an effort past James, who moved his body well to keep Aldershot at bay.
Aldershot's Dan Ellison scores his team's second goal in their FA Trophy Final win over Spennymoor Town
The energy waned from that point, with Barrett having to wait until the 39th minute for the next opportunity on goal, only for his strike to be handled comfortably by James.
Henry tried to spark some momentum, creating a few opportunities, but the Moors’ defence dealt with any threat posed to send the sides into the break on equal footing.
Aldershot came out from the break with renewed energy and opened the scoring on 48 minutes as Henry teed up Barham inside the penalty area, and he slid home after Graeme Lee’s side failed to quell the danger.
Barrett kept up the pressure, flicking the ball back on the edge of the penalty area before opening up an angle to shoot, but his strike was dragged wide.
Then, in the 71st minute, Ellison put Aldershot one step closer towards history, by climbing above his marker to put his side up by two.
Josh Barrett celebrates scoring their third goal in the Final
And Barrett put the result beyond doubt with three minutes left on the clock, looping an effort over James to send the Shots supporters into raptures.
Aldershot Town: 28 Marcus Dewhurst (GK), 6 Theo Widdrington, 8 Tyler Frost, 10 Josh Barrett, 17 Aaron Jones, 22 Jack Barham, 27 James Henry, 33 Luca Woodhouse, 34 Dejan Tetek, 35 Dan Ellison, 36 Will Armitage.
Substitutions: 9 Kai Corbett for Tetek 57’, 39 Kwame Thomas for Barham 75’, 24 Maxwell Mullins for Henry 82’, 1 Jordi Van Stappershoef for Dewhurst 90’, 18 Olly Scott for Frost 90+3’.
Substitutes not used: 14 Ollie Bray, 23 Hady Ghandour.
Head Coach: Tommy Widdrington
Spennymoor Town: 1 Brad James (GK), 3 Reece Staunton, 6 Ben Beals, 9 Glen Taylor, 10 Rob Ramshaw, 11 Junior Mondal, 14 Olly Dyson, 24 Michael Ledger, 27 Finley Shrimpton, 28 Corey McKeown, 29 Matty Dolan.
Substitutions: 17 Aidan Rutledge for Mondal 69’, 7 Will Harris for McKeown 75’, 4 Callum Ross for Dolan 84’, 5 Dan Rowe for Beals 84’, 13 Ryan Johnson for James 90+3’.
Substitutes not used: 15 Dan Myers, 23 Nathan Simpson.
Head Coach: Graeme Lee
