Aldershot Town 2-1 Fulham U21s - Tuesday 21st January 2025 (Match Night Thread)

[Aldershot_Rob]

The Premier League aren't going to change their stance and they will continue to run and control English football over the FA.
If this competition died on it's arse, they wouldn't care one jot either. It'd save them the aggro and bare minimum expenses. I do think the prize money should be increased if they want teams to engage more, but again, they'll keep lining their pockets and provide the bare minimum.

[Aldershot]

For anyone wondering the attendance announced over the tannoy last night (and also given on the Aldershot Town website) was 367. However the Premier League website lists it as 364. Not sure how they both have come up with randomly different figures. lol.

Aldershot Town Match Report - https://www.theshots.co.uk/match-report-fulham-u21s-h/
Premier League Match Stats - https://www.premierleague.com/match/123947

[Aldershot]

Match Highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa2YaNHSw8

[Aldershot]

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2025/janu ... ulham-u21/

Fulham Under-21s’ National League Cup campaign came to an end with a 2-1 defeat at Aldershot Town.

Despite victories over Wealdstone and Woking in the group stage, our Young Whites needed to beat Aldershot to qualify for the knockouts, but goals from Dejan Tetek and Christian Maghoma saw Hayden Mullins’ side fall to defeat, despite Aaron Loupalo-Bi's late consolation.

In a first-half of Aldershot dominance, the hosts had an early opportunity which Ryan Jones sliced high and wide.

At the other end, the tricky Terrell Works saw a shot deflect wide after showing some quick feet to work space for a strike on goal.

Eddy Nsasi was well positioned to block a Maxwell Mullins shot inside the box, with the striker being picked out by a low Aaron Jones cutback.

Tetek broke the deadlock after 20 minutes as he arrived late to rifle home a sweetly-struck shot from the edge of the area, with the effort taking a cruel deflection off Samuel Amissah on its way through.

The Fulham goal was under siege – and Borto was at his best to react quickly to keep out Mullins’ bullet header from a corner.

It was Amissah’s turn to perform some defensive heroics on the half hour mark, throwing himself in front of Aaron Jones’ shot to make a vital block.

Playing on the right side, it was Jones who was finding himself on the end of most of Aldershot’s chances as he hit another effort into the side netting.

Five minutes after the restart, Nsasi was called into more defensive work, clearing Cameron Hargreaves’ goalbound strike with his head.

The Shots’ advantage was doubled on the hour mark as centre-back Maghoma scrambled home from a set piece.

With 12 minutes to play, Callum Osmand missed a golden chance to give our Young Whites a lifeline in the match, but he skewed a shot wide from six yards after being found by Loupalo-Bi in the box.

But there was late hope as Loupalo-Bi scored his fourth goal in two matches with five minutes to go, rounding Jordi van Stappershoef and finishing into an empty net.

However, there was no last-gasp equaliser and our U21s will be looking to put things right on Friday evening with a Premier League International Cup clash against FC Nordsjælland, 7pm kick-off at Motspur Park.

[Aldershot]

https://www.theshots.co.uk/match-report-fulham-u21s-h/

Things started off fairly evenly between the two sides who both had a chance of advancing into the National League Cup’s Knockout Stages. Tyler Frost got under a shot and fired over the bar in the tenth minute as a Luke Jenkins slide tackle superbly disrupted Fulham’s first foray into the Shots box three minutes later.

Maxwell Mullins was lining up against the side managed by his Father, Hayden Mullins, and keen to impress, he could have given the Shots the lead after receiving the ball from Jack Barham, but his shot was well blocked as it looked to be on target.

The Shots deservedly took the lead in the 20th minute via an unlikely source as Dejan Tetek’s deflected effort found the top corner. Barham was found in space down the right and his low-cross was cleared only as far as Tetek on the edge of the box whose powerful effort was probably heading in despite the extra help from a Fulham defender.

Aldershot’s physical superiority over the young Fulham side was evident early on and the home side were dominant from set-pieces. Mullins came close to doubling his side’s lead in the 27th minute as he rose highest in a sea of bodies but his header was very well saved by Alex Borto.

There was some very nice football on display at the EBB Stadium and there was a clear gulf in quality between the two sides as Aldershot began to control the game. Jack Barham and Maxi Mullins linked up to find Aaron Jones on the right but his effort was blocked on the half-hour mark.

HALF-TIME

The Shots continued their dominance into the second-half and were continuing put on a good display as Tyler Frost’s deep cross was headed down by Aaron Jones for Cameron Hargreaves to half-volley an effort at goal that had to be headed over the bar by a Fulham defender.

And another unlikely source doubled the Shots lead on the hour mark as Christian Maghoma turned in a goalmouth scramble. Luke Jenkins’ header from a corner had to be cleared off the line and after a scramble to turn the rebound in ensued, it fell to Maghoma to bundle in at the far-post.

Mullins was continuing to do well with a rare start and almost scored a wonderful goal 10 minutes later. Driving down the left and cutting in onto his right-foot, he curled an effort towards goal that was off target by a whisker and had Borto scrambling.

Fulham finally sent a warning that they were still in the game in the 76th minute as Aaron Loupalo-Bi did really well to advance down the right and to the byline where he pulled it back for Callum Osmand, but the substitute could only scuff his effort wide from just a few yards out.

And the Premier League youngsters had a route back into the game through Loupalo-Bi as a rare lapse in concentration from the Shots saw the attacker pounce on a soft pass and skipping past Jordi van Stappershoef to finish into an open goal.

Attendance: 367

Shots lineup: 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 4. Luke Jenkins (20. Haydon Vaughan, 74′), 5. Christian Maghoma, 7. Cameron Hargreaves (6. Theo Widdrington, 81′), 8. Tyler Frost, 11. Ryan Jones, 17. Aaron Jones (C), 18. Olly Scott (10. Josh Barrett, 81′), 22. Jack Barham (19. Jonny Stuttle, 55′), 24. Maxwell Mullins, 34. Dejan Tetek.

Subs not used: 28. Marcus Dewhurst, 27. James Henry, 40. Morgan Elliott.

Fulham lineup: 1. Alex Borto, 2. Olly Gofford, 3. Bradley De Jesus (15. Jon Esenga, 87′), 4. Samuel Amissah, 5. Eddy Nsasi, 6. Chris Donnell (C), 7. Lemar Gordon (16. Tom Olyott, 61′) , 8. Chibby Nwoko, 9. Aaron Loupalo-Bi, 10. Imani Lanquedoc (14. Callum Osmand 61′), 11. Terrell Works.

Subs not used: 13. Marco Underwood, 17. Alfie White, 18. Tom Wingate, 19. Damon Park.

[Melbourne Red]

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2025/janu ... ulham-u21/

Fulham Under-21s’ National League Cup campaign came to an end with a 2-1 defeat at Aldershot Town.

Despite victories over Wealdstone and Woking in the group stage, our Young Whites needed to beat Aldershot to qualify for the knockouts, but goals from Dejan Tetek and Christian Maghoma saw Hayden Mullins’ side fall to defeat, despite Aaron Loupalo-Bi's late consolation.

So Maxwell Mullins’ dad was managing against him last night!

[Ascot Shot]

Well we all know where the power in the game lies so replays we're always going to go and they aren't coming back.

It's very patronising to tell people they're being suckered into watching a football match. If you'd been you'd notice a different tempo, a quicker game in some ways, more passing football, but still lots of hard running and effort. You'd have seen one of the best midfield performances of the season from Tetek. You'd have seen Luke Jenkins on his way back to fitness, and a solid half an hour of work from Stuttle to reassure us rhat our eyes haven't been deceiving us.

Aldershot played a game last night. You might not like it but some of us chose to spend our evenings watching. We were rewarded. Don't tell us we were suckered into it.

Spot on. I was also of the mindset that us and non league clubs in general were being sold out by the bigger clubs, particularly with FA Cup replays. Our opponents Tamworth on Saturday deserved a replay and possible further TV coverage against Tottenham recently. What a pay day and and fantastic experience it would have been for them and their fans.
But out of curiosity, I have been to a couple of these u21 games which have been both very competitive and enjoyable to watch. No way are these games a training session with some very skillful young players on show. Its a pity that so few are watching it. Maybe the powers that be will be forced to increase the prize money to make it more worthwhile.

COYS.

[RC-Moderator]

My understanding is that NL teams will get £10k for participating, £8k for a group win, £4k for group draws, £15k for knockout round wins, £60k to winners and £30k runners up.

There is also a split on "leftover money" with the other clubs in NL and NLS/NLN (eg U21 sides are not eligible for prize money so that goes back into a shared pot)

So I reckon worst case that is £50k to us already, best case could run to nearer £150k. For a company that only has potential to generate circa £1.5m, that is significant.

- £34k up in prize money so far,
- Potential for adding £60k or £90k if we can get to the final (eg win 2 more matches, perhaps against our peers)
- Maybe matches against NL opposition would bring some gate money?
- An unknown share of the remaining pot, but I guess £10k using the following maths.

Group stages
16 clubs participating: £160k
24 NL group stage wins so far: £192k
14 draws so far in group stages: £56k

knockout guesswork
There are some matches left - but as it stands 5 out of 8 clubs progressing right now would be NL
Lets presume 3 out of 4 semi finalists are NL - thats £45k
Lets presume worst case and both winning semi- finalists are NL - thats £120 across semis and finals.

distribution
So from the £1m that is 573k distributed (plus the remaining group matches)
So its probably £400k to be spread across the rest of the league.
£200k for NL, and £200k for NLS and NLN combined (mu guess)
==>MIght be another £10k for us via the unspent money.

[RC-Moderator]

For context here is the FA trophy prize money:

Third round: Winners receive £4500, losers receive £1250
Fourth round: Winners receive £5250, losers receive £1500

----> we are here now
Fifth round: Winners receive £6000, losers receive £1750
Quarter Final: Winners receive £7500, losers receive £2000
Semi-Final: Winners receive £15,000, losers receive £5000
Final runners-up: £30,000
Final winners: £60,000

Summary: we have made much more money from the NL cup than the Fa Trophy so far (34k v 11,5k)
But potential earnings from both are about the same (approaching £150k).

Obviously the FA trophy is coming with better gate receipts IF you get a HOME tie drawn. NL cup is biased to make sure we get home matches, but no-one is turning up, so gate money is negligible.

[Fuggletim]

Well we all know where the power in the game lies so replays we're always going to go and they aren't coming back.

It's very patronising to tell people they're being suckered into watching a football match. If you'd been you'd notice a different tempo, a quicker game in some ways, more passing football, but still lots of hard running and effort. You'd have seen one of the best midfield performances of the season from Tetek. You'd have seen Luke Jenkins on his way back to fitness, and a solid half an hour of work from Stuttle to reassure us rhat our eyes haven't been deceiving us.

Aldershot played a game last night. You might not like it but some of us chose to spend our evenings watching. We were rewarded. Don't tell us we were suckered into it.

Spot on. I was also of the mindset that us and non league clubs in general were being sold out by the bigger clubs, particularly with FA Cup replays. Our opponents Tamworth on Saturday deserved a replay and possible further TV coverage against Tottenham recently. What a pay day and and fantastic experience it would have been for them and their fans.
But out of curiosity, I have been to a couple of these u21 games which have been both very competitive and enjoyable to watch. No way are these games a training session with some very skillful young players on show. Its a pity that so few are watching it. Maybe the powers that be will be forced to increase the prize money to make it more worthwhile.

COYS.

It is an individual’s choice at the end of the day. The principal about the competition, what may or may not have been taken away and the future possible connotations is the deciding factor that I don’t wish to go along. It may be a great game and have potential rewards but, as I said, I fundamentally disagree with the tournament.

[Peter macdonald]

Well we all know where the power in the game lies so replays we're always going to go and they aren't coming back.

It's very patronising to tell people they're being suckered into watching a football match. If you'd been you'd notice a different tempo, a quicker game in some ways, more passing football, but still lots of hard running and effort. You'd have seen one of the best midfield performances of the season from Tetek. You'd have seen Luke Jenkins on his way back to fitness, and a solid half an hour of work from Stuttle to reassure us rhat our eyes haven't been deceiving us.

Aldershot played a game last night. You might not like it but some of us chose to spend our evenings watching. We were rewarded. Don't tell us we were suckered into it.

Spot on. I was also of the mindset that us and non league clubs in general were being sold out by the bigger clubs, particularly with FA Cup replays. Our opponents Tamworth on Saturday deserved a replay and possible further TV coverage against Tottenham recently. What a pay day and and fantastic experience it would have been for them and their fans.
But out of curiosity, I have been to a couple of these u21 games which have been both very competitive and enjoyable to watch. No way are these games a training session with some very skillful young players on show. Its a pity that so few are watching it. Maybe the powers that be will be forced to increase the prize money to make it more worthwhile.

COYS.

It is an individual’s choice at the end of the day. The principal about the competition, what may or may not have been taken away and the future possible connotations is the deciding factor that I don’t wish to go along. It may be a great game and have potential rewards but, as I said, I fundamentally disagree with the tournament.

Yes that’s my view as well

[MidlandsShot]

My understanding is that NL teams will get £10k for participating, £8k for a group win, £4k for group draws, £15k for knockout round wins, £60k to winners and £30k runners up.

There is also a split on "leftover money" with the other clubs in NL and NLS/NLN (eg U21 sides are not eligible for prize money so that goes back into a shared pot)

So I reckon worst case that is £50k to us already, best case could run to nearer £150k. For a company that only has potential to generate circa £1.5m, that is significant.

- £34k up in prize money so far,
- Potential for adding £60k or £90k if we can get to the final (eg win 2 more matches, perhaps against our peers)
- Maybe matches against NL opposition would bring some gate money?
- An unknown share of the remaining pot, but I guess £10k using the following maths.

Group stages
16 clubs participating: £160k
24 NL group stage wins so far: £192k
14 draws so far in group stages: £56k

knockout guesswork
There are some matches left - but as it stands 5 out of 8 clubs progressing right now would be NL
Lets presume 3 out of 4 semi finalists are NL - thats £45k
Lets presume worst case and both winning semi- finalists are NL - thats £120 across semis and finals.

distribution
So from the £1m that is 573k distributed (plus the remaining group matches)
So its probably £400k to be spread across the rest of the league.
£200k for NL, and £200k for NLS and NLN combined (mu guess)
==>MIght be another £10k for us via the unspent money.

Thank you, this is really helpful

Sent from my SM-A546B using Tapatalk

[lowerbourneshot]

I have no interest in watching an Under 21 side in a cup game or even if it did become a lge fixture in years to come . The same applies to groundhopping ,I would never watch a first team v a reserve team .

[Peter macdonald]

I have no interest in watching an Under 21 side in a cup game or even if it did become a lge fixture in years to come . The same applies to groundhopping ,I would never watch a first team v a reserve team .

That’s the reason why I wouldn’t go to this type of game Ian because I would feel guilty of writing it down in my matches attended book!

[Birdman]

Remind me of our former goalkeeping coach whose actual playing days were well behind him and who turned out for us one evening in an Isthmian League Cup match because we didn’t have a fit ‘keeper available. I think that he would’ve been in his late 40’s. I’m sure that it was a home game against (iIrc) Bromley.

That would be Paul Priddy

Thanks for that, WS. I remembered what he looked like but as you can tell his name completely escaped me.
The reason that I mentioned him was really in response to lowerbourneshot’s comment (p5) about Wayne Andrews and I quote “Wayne Andrews aged 47 came on for Wealdstone v Brighton tonight . What a serious competition”. Wealdstone are struggling to get players available for NL games and so they brought on Andrews. We had Paul Priddy in goal because we didn’t have an available ‘keeper so really it was a very similar scenario. Paul was three months shy of his 46th birthday and that game against Bromley was his one and only appearance for the club.