Sloppy Portsmouth humbled at Aldershot as non-leaguers cruise to victory

Not for the first time, the Blues suffered a humbling at Aldershot as they slumped to defeat.

John Mousinho’s men had opened their pre-season on Tuesday night with victory at Woking, yet, 24 hours later, there was a 2-0 loss at another National League side.

The damage was done in a two-minute spell midway through the first half when Hakeem Sandah and Marcus Dinanga both capitalised on awful Pompey defending to put the Shots 2-0 at the break.

Despite 11 changes for the second half, there was no way back for the Blues, who rarely threatened and it was Scott Davies’ side who deservedly ran out winners.

Of those on duty at Woking, there was no Marlon Pack, Harvey Blair, Conor Shaughnessy and Thomas Waddingham at the Recreation Ground.

Instead, Academy quartet Billy Gillooly, Dane Bailey, Ashton Sizer and Fraser Thomas were called up to feature for the Blues against the non-leaguers.

Otherwise, 18 of those who played in Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory were again on duty 24 hours later, with Mousinho once again handing everyone 45 minutes.

Pompey’s starting XI consisted of four Academy players, plus first-year professional Nathaniel Chioma in a youthful side skippered by Ben Killip.

Considering that team selection, it was perhaps explainable why the Blues struggled so badly in the opening 45 minutes against the National League side.

On 32 minutes, Killip was caught in possession, not for the first time, with the covering Hayden Matthews blocking the goal-bound shot.

However, from the resulting left-wing corner, the ball was pulled back to Sandah to drive the ball into the net and hand the hosts a deserved 1-0 lead.

Just two minutes later and it was 2-0 - with the Blues once again the architects of their own downfall.

Josh Knight was caught in possession by John Gilbert, who then squared to Dinanga, who crashed the ball past the exposed Killip to double their advantage.

They represented two dreadful minutes of defending for Mousinho’s men - and how they must have longed for the half-time whistle.

The deficit would have been worse just before the interval, with Killip producing an excellent stop to deny Kiki Oshilaja at point-blank range.

With the scoreline 2-0 at the break, the Blues made 11 substitutions as pre-planned, with the likes of Regan Poole, John Swift, Colby Bishop and Nicolas Schmid introduced.

However, the pattern of the game never changed as the visitors barely threatened any sort of comeback.

On 70 minutes, Jordan Williams did put a fine cross into the box from the right, although Bishop could only divert it over the bar as he slid in at the far post.

With 10 minutes remaining, Chinedu Agu had a glorious chance inside the box, yet ballooned his first-time attempt over the bar which just about summed up Pompey’s performance in a 2-0 loss.