On Saturday 12th February 1994, my Dad and I were in the town of Aldershot on an outing. We drove by the football ground and it just so happened that a match was being played that day. We decided to go and watch the match and I have supported Aldershot Town ever since.
On Saturday, The Shots faced bitter neighbours Woking in the semi-final of the FA Trophy. We had known that they would be our opponents for over a month after the draw was made on the Monday after our quarter-final victory over Sittingbourne on Saturday 1st March.When the two teams play against each other, there is no love lost as the old phrase goes. The players are more geared up than normal and the fans on the terraces make a lot more noise and the atmosphere at times can be toxic. Some of the fans from both sides have misbehaved, with elements of our fans causing damage at Woking’s Kingfield ground at away games and trouble at home games. It always makes for a hostile environment.
The winners of the game would go to the final which is played at Wembley. Neither the original Aldershot FC who were formed in 1926 and went bankrupt in 1992 nor the new club Aldershot Town who were formed a month later had ever played there. Several opportunities had come and gone for both the original and reformed club over the years, but just eluded them.Woking had played at Wembley three times in the 1990s, winning the FA Trophy in 1994, 1995 and 1997. This was their main bragging right over us Shots fans. They had been to the national stadium and we hadn’t. However, we always claim that they had never played in the Football League and both our clubs had. This would be the best chance Aldershot had to reach Wembley and to miss out by losing to our bitter rivals would be unthinkable.
Saturday’s game sold out after just over a week. 7,058 tickets were sold – fourteen more than when Manchester United played us in the League Cup back in October 2011. It was our second-highest crowd of all time after 7,500 fans crammed in to watch Brighton & Hove Albion beat us 6-2 in an FA Cup tie in 2000.I stood in the home section of the East Bank, the main terrace behind the goal. This was very full half an hour before kick-off as fans got in to get a decent vantage point.The core of the Woking fans were housed in a quarter of the terrace with an empty area separating the two sets of fans. They also had a section of terracing on the south side of the pitch and a block of seats in the South Stand.
As the players emerged from the tunnel before the start of the game, some pyrotechnics were blazed up in the air from a few podiums set up on both sides of the halfway line. In truth, they were completely unnecessary as both sets of supporters gave a huge roar to greet the teams.
As it was both a semi-final and a local derby, the tension was unbearable at times. The referee made some questionable decisions during the game which made both sets of fans annoyed at different points of the game.
Aldershot won a penalty in the first half, but Tyler Frost saw his effort saved by William Jaaskelainen (son of Jussi, the former Premier League goalkeeper).A moment of controversy came early in the second half and changed the game. As Woking prepared to take a corner, Theo Widdrington (son of Aldershot’s manager Tommy Widdrington) jostled with Woking striker Harry Beautyman in the six-yard box. Suddenly Widdrington dropped to the floor holding his face and it remains questionable as to whether Beautyman deliberately lashed out and hit him with a raised arm. Camera footage behind the goal didn’t give a conclusive answer, but the referee had a perfect view and sent Beautyman off for the first time in his career.
As is so often the case, when a team goes down to ten men, Woking took the lead shortly after. The Aldershot players did not let their heads drop and carried on trying to get back into the game. In the 73rd minute their hard work paid off when the referee gave a penalty for a handball inside the area.Veteran striker James Henry scored the resulting penalty but I didn’t watch it. I was too nervous and couldn’t bring myself to look, choosing to hide my face in my daughter’s shoulder and pray that Henry would score his 13th goal of the season.
If the score remained level, the game would have gone straight to penalties. That would have been awful to be subjected to and William Jaaskelainen is great at saving spot kicks, so I was very worried that this would end badly for The Shots.
As the game approached the 90th minute, the fourth official showed the board with the number of additional minutes to be added on. The crowd collectively gasped when the number nine was displayed in bright red! Both sets of fans then let out a huge roar of encouragement to hopefully get their team to push for that critical winning goal that would see them gain a place at Wembley.
Aldershot had a couple of half-chances before the moment that will live with me for the rest of my life played out in front of me.In the third minute of injury time, Aldershot advanced down the pitch but were met by a firm line of Woking players defending their goal. Ryan Jones was given the ball on the edge of the penalty area on the left. He took on Woking’s right back and chipped a wonderful cross over towards the far post where Jack Barham had the simple task of heading the ball into the back of the net.
The Aldershot fans celebrated wildly in the North Hampshire sun. The Woking fans were left stunned and silenced, stood motionless on the terraces and sat in the stand unable to do anything other than watch their rivals celebrate in front of them.The Aldershot players ran to the corner directly in front of me and I started crying. I’m sure many other people did too as this meant so much to us all. We were finally moments away from playing at the biggest stadium in the country and the best-known in the world.
The celebrations lasted quite a long time meaning there would be more than the initial nine minutes to be played. After the game restarted, us Aldershot fans watched on nervously, praying for time to hurry up. The scoreboard at the far end of the pitch finally showed that nine minutes had been played and the referee blew his whistle. Many of the fans and some of the players thought that it was the final whistle but it wasn’t!It took a few minutes to get those fans who had run onto the pitch to celebrate the win and for the game to restart. When it did, Woking had a great chance to equalise by ex-Aldershot striker Inih Effiong blasted a shot over the bar from close range.
The wait for the final whistle was finally over in the 106th minute of the game and we had confirmed our place in the final and the dream of a trip to Wembley was now a reality.
Sadly, there was a minority of Aldershot fans who decided to make a beeline for the Woking fans to gloat. There were a few stewards and police to prevent any issues between the two sets of supporters. One of these fans jumped in the face of the Woking goalkeeper though and was promptly bundled to the ground by security personnel. Woking midfielder Dale Gorman walked past and appeared to stamp on the apprehended fan who was still pinned to the floor.
The acts of these idiots took the shine off a magnificent occasion. It was also difficult to celebrate the victory in the knowledge that Theo Widdrington may have pretended to have been hurt to get Woking’s Harry Beautyman sent off. The red card changed the game as Woking had to reshuffle and we suddenly had an extra man. If this decision went against my team and I was goaded by opposing fans, I would never have taken it well.
Despite all of the controversies, the result remained and Aldershot Town were finally at Wembley. In my 384th Aldershot Town match, 11,375 days after my first game we had finally secured a wonderful day out!
About Author
