Aldershot Town vs Hartlepool United Preview
Hartlepool United travel to the EBB Stadium this weekend as they face Aldershot Town in the Vanarama National League. Continuation of poor form now sees the Pools just three points adrift from falling into the relegation zone and despite finding a win a fortnight ago against Woking for their first win of 2018, form still continues to be a problem for them.
Hartlepool also failed to score in their previous two fixtures, so caretaker manager Matthew Bates will hope his chosen frontman can find the net, which has been a consistent issue for the Pools this season, with the midfield producing a higher percentage of goals this season than the strikers.
Aldershot manager Garry Waddock will be looking for all three points in this one to continue his side's push for a stable position in the Vanarama National League Playoffs.
Despite a total of just two points out of a possible nine, the Shots left North Wales last week with a point over playoff rivals Wrexham, goals coming from Adam McDonell and current club top goal scorer Shamir Fenelon.
Michael Ledger is currently undergoing treatment at parent club Sunderland so the on-loan defender looks unlikely to travel to the Hampshire based club.
Elsewhere, both Ryan Donalidson and Aaron Cunningham are making good progress in recent weeks following their surgeries, while Kenton Richardson is still recovering from surgery on his fractured collarbone.
Shots have reassigned Shamir Fenelon and Scott Rendell to the starting line-up for the 2-2 draw at Wrexham after their recoveries last weekend and the pair are likely to keep their places in this one Bobby-Joe Taylor is another player pressing for a place in the starting eleven, while Cheye Alexander will hope to return from an eye infection.
Nick Arnold remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Aldershot will be looking to push as high as they can to cement the best chance they have in the playoffs and with Hartlepool continuing to fail to impress, the Shots will have an easy ride here and another clean sheet for Hartlepool's opponents.
Andy's Prediction: Aldershot Town 3-0 Hartlepool United
Credit to Hartlepool United for the imagery used in this article.