Aldershot end 99-year Wembley wait with sunshine and champagne showers

Yahoo

11-05-2025

It took Aldershot 99 years and two football clubs to reach Wembley and for almost exactly as many minutes on a sun-kissed May afternoon they made themselves entirely at home there, outnumbering their opponents in the stands and outplaying them on the pitch on their way to claiming their first FA Trophy.
Second-half goals from Jack Barham, Dan Ellison and Josh Barrett for the National League side sealed a 3-0 win against Spennymoor Town of the National League North, and secured for their manager, Tommy Widdrington, a dream end to a season temporarily derailed when he suffered two strokes in November. He was back in the dugout in less than two months having acquired, as he put it in the buildup to this game, 'a certain sense of perspective'. This was an excellent, mature performance, whatever way you look at it.
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But it was not entirely carefree. Spennymoor had beaten three National League sides on their way to Wembley and, if eventually outplayed, they were never overawed, either by the occasion or their opponents, and it was the Moors who created the best chance of the opening half only for Rob Ramshaw to send a miserably meek shot rolling into Marcus Dewhurst's arms from only eight yards.
For all their possession Aldershot created little before they broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half, Barrett's curling effort from 25 yards the closest they had come in the first, forcing an eye-catching but routine save from Brad James. But just after the interval James Henry ran down the right and crossed, and though the ball arrived slightly behind Barham he somehow contorted his leg into a position to get some kind of contact on it. His touch turned out to be perfect, sending it rolling gently but unstoppably into the corner of the net.
Aldershot arrived in poor form, having won just one game since Barham's last-minute goal earned them a 2-1 win against a 10-man Woking in the semi-finals. But once in front they played with the cocksure strut of champions, and in the 71st minute Ellison glanced in a header from a corner to make the game all but safe.
Three minutes from time Barrett, the Aldershot supporters' player of the season, produced the cherry on the icing on the cake when his splendid left-footed volley from the edge of the area dipped over James and into the corner of the net. Tyler Frost and Maxwell Mullins missed chances to score a fourth as the Moors sought a late consolation.
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Earlier in the day, the centre-half Jamie Coyle – two-time (Seniors) World Cup-winner, Whitstable player-manager and appearing in his final competitive game just days before his 42nd birthday – led his team from the back to a 2-1 victory against AFC Whyteleafe in the FA Vase final, decided after extra-time when Leafe finally wilted.
Whyteleafe have enjoyed a remarkably successful rebirth since they sprung from the ashes of the collapsed Whyteleafe FC in 2021, with two promotions followed this year by a playoff place and a cup final, and more celebrations seemed on the cards when Daniel Bennett gave them a 17th-minute lead. But Whitstable have now lost only two of their past 28 games – and one of those was on penalties – and they fought back to eventually turn over the new Leafe.
Daniel Colmer produced a couple of outstanding saves to keep his side in the game before the Oystermen finally came out of their shell in the second half, and seven minutes into it top-scorer Harvey Smith equalised from 20 yards, running on to Nathan Jeche's precise pass and wrongfooting George Hill, who let the ball whistle just a yard or so to his right.
Leafe repeatedly threatened to steal victory – Aaron Watson was played through but hit Colmer with his shot; Jamie Mascoll rolled into an empty net only for the referee to spot a foul on Jerald Aboagye; and in second-half stoppage time Rodney Eruotor curled a 25-yard shot on to the bar – but it was Whitstable who eventually claimed it. In the 97th minute Albie O'Mara-Knapp crossed from the right and Ronald Sithole somehow scuffed a shot into a post, but he made up for it three minutes later when he ran on to the same player's long punt forward, reclaimed the ball after Hill saved his initial effort, worked a better angle for a shot and lashed into the roof of the net.