After suffering a first defeat of the season against Dover, Sutton will hope to get back to winning ways when, as was the case last season, the August Bank Holiday Monday action is at Aldershot’s EBB Stadium. It looked for a long time as though this would not be a fixture in this season’s National League, Aldershot having finished in a relegation spot at the end of last season but reprieved by Gateshead’s demotion in June.
Having replaced Gary Waddock with Danny Searle, who had almost guided Braintree clear of trouble at the end of last season, Aldershot find themselves in the bottom four again after the first six games, although their one win of the season came away to local rivals and current leaders Woking. At home they have been beaten by Fylde and Bromley and drawn with Halifax.
Last season U’s were still unbeaten going in to this game, but failed to overcome the early dismissal of Jamie Collins and lost 2-1 – Ross Lafayette’s penalty (above) coming too late to make a difference.
With a short turn round from Saturday’s game, manager Matt Gray will wait to see if Jon Barden and Dale Bennett have recovered from injuries.
We will have commentary on the game on our Mixlr channel.
HOW TO GET THERE.
BY CAR: Take the A3 to the other side of Guildford then join the A31. At the far end of the Hog’s Back, take the A331 Blackwater Valley Road towards the M3, then at the first main junction turn on to the A323 towards Aldershot. The ground is on the right in just over a mile, just after the railway bridge. Parking at the ground is very limited but town centre car parks are within a 5-10 minute walk.
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT. From Sutton at 28 or 58 minutes past the hour, changing at Epsom and Guildford, taking an hour and twelve minutes. Come out of the station and carry on in to Arthur Road, then turn right in to Victoria Road to come out opposite the ground. Return via the same route is more difficult, since the connection time at Guildford for the Epsom train is one minute from different platforms. The only other option that avoids the need to go up to Clapham Junction and out again is the 17.40 from Aldershot, changing at Guildford and catching a service at 18.11 to Dorking Deepdene, then walking to Dorking station (about five minutes) and catching the train to Sutton – total journey time is an hour and twenty minutes. Via Clapham Junction suitable trains leave Aldershot at xx04 and xx10, with the latter requiring an additional change at Guildford, when you can also see if the Epsom connection is feasible.
