West Brom 4-1 Aldershot (Chalobah 7′, Malcolm 15′, Dike 27′, Fellows 88′ | Bray 90+5‘)
You can leave your wand at the door and that white rabbit will be no use whatsoever. Aldershot travelled to West Bromwich Albion with 5,000 supporters and hope of making magic happen. Cold reality tends to be far more powerful. There was a quality gap and that gap was chasmic.
Like Maidstone United, who shocked Stevenage on Saturday to make themselves the story of the FA Cup third round, Aldershot’s history is technically short but emotionally and figuratively far longer. Their last game in their original formation came in March 1992 before the sudden end to a long, slow economic death. Their last victory before their expulsion from the Football League? Away at Maidstone United.
Aldershot have got back to the Football League, but life is never easy. This was their first FA Cup third-round tie since their relegation back to non-league in 2013. Under Tommy Widdrington, there is genuine hope of rebuilding towards a promotion push in the next few years. Until then, they will make do with infrequent overachievement.
In such circumstances, you plead for one of two things: the game to remain in the balance for as long as it takes for you to suspend your belief, or your team to get one moment, one goal, that you can cling to on the journey home no matter how heavy the defeat.
Aldershot barely got either. They conceded early, West Brom cutting through with an ease that must have made Widdrington gulp and wince. They made a horrible mistake shortly afterwards, allowing Jovan Malcolm to wander through and score a second.
They made the occasional punchy tackle and forced the occasional corner, but nothing of serious note until the tie was over with three-quarters of it remaining. Their goal came, with stunted celebration behind the goal, with virtually the last kick of the game. At least it gave the post-match applause of those in red and blue shirts a little more feeling.
A changed team against a lesser opponent doesn’t disallow noteworthy achievements. The standout moment for West Brom supporters will be the third goal. Daryl Dike has been haunted by injury since joining from Barnsley and hadn’t been seen since rupturing his Achilles at Stoke City last April. Dike’s goal prompted a conspicuous celebration, given the occasion. We will allow him a knee slide, given the challenges of the last nine months.
Cup competitions also allow youth to blossom. Tom Fellows is a 20-year-old academy graduate who has two Championship starts in his career and spent last season out on loan at Crawley Town. League minutes may well be hard to come from, but Fellows was the afternoon’s best player by a distance. On the right wing, Fellows repeatedly took on his man and was regularly successful. There is a swashbuckling zeal that you tend to get with young wingers more than any other footballer. Fellows might just become a man.
Aldershot’s 5,000 made themselves plenty heard, many energised by cold air and cold beer that ended a long journey north. They threw balloons and streamers. They filled a stand. There was an inflatable Tyrannosaurus rex. They came not with the expectation of winning, not really, but for a good time. The scoreline doesn’t make a difference to that when you’re singing to keep yourself warm.
Their enthusiasm was in direct contrast to the lethargy in The Hawthorns’ other three stands. At some point soon, the decision-makers of Championship football clubs will reflect on whether it is really worth asking their season ticket holders to fork out extra money for the first round of domestic cup competitions in which they compete, particularly immediately after Christmas and during a cost-of-living crisis.
Player of the match: Tom Fellows
The type of display – with goal and assist – that pushes a young man up the queue for league starts
The alternative is this: half-empty stadiums filled by those who must really want to watch a hybrid of first-team and Under-23 players on a freezing cold afternoon and an away end sarcastically asking if they have paid to enter a library. I’m sure the extra thousands are worth it, but might it not be a way of rewarding loyalty to give every West Brom season ticket holder a freebie for a game against non-league opponents?
They might even bring a child along who becomes a fan. That child would presumably make Tom Fellows their new hero. There are worse choices. Remember the name? That’s a bit much. But at least look out for him in the fourth round.