With City having finally overcome the away-day jitters at Altrincham, Paul Tisdale had the luxury of naming an unchanged starting XI for the visit to Aldershot - Paul Jones in goal, a back four of Billy Jones, Tully, Edwards and Todd, a midfield quartet of Elam, Challinor, Gill and Cozic, with Stansfield and Logan continuing up front. The bench consisted of Rice, Taylor, Seaborne, Phillips and Mackie.

One criticism levelled at City in recent away matches has been that the start of matches has tended to be cagey and defensive. Not so this time - City flew out of the traps, and had Aldershot on the back foot right from the off. Lee Elam was getting through a lot of positive work on the left, while Stansfield and Logan continued to show the benefit of their recent time in the side. The first clear chance fell to Challinor, the ball laid off to him as he cut in from the right, but he will feel aggrieved to have pulled his shot wide - especially as he has become the panto villain whenever he plays his former club.

This was only a temporary respite, however, as City deservedly took the lead on around 10 minutes. A lovely through ball had Stansfield chasing hard, and he beat Nikki Bull in the Aldershot goal to the ball. With the angle extremely narrow Stansfield showed superb awareness to flight the ball across goal where Lee Elam was on hand to finish from close range for his 6th goal since joining City in January.

City did not appear to be finished there, and continued to make all the play - Matt Gill ballooning over from just outside the box. However, Aldershot showed one or two signs of life, and as has been too often the case in recent weeks, scored a soft goal to equalise. After clearing a dangerous free kick for a corner, Paul Jones flapped at the inswinging ball under heavy pressure, and Day was on hand to bundle the ball home.

Then came a decisive moment in the game. A slight slip by Edwards allowed Aldershot in, and from the distance to the away end - not to mention with a view obscured by several players - it looked as if the striker had beaten Paul Jones to the ball, only to skew his shot wide and beyond the onrushing forward. However, the Ref had spotted an infringement and gave a free kick, and to the bewilderment of the away fans (and players) flashed the red card in Paul Jones' direction. Richard Logan, who had been excellent up to now, had to be sacrificed for Rice, and Edwards too appeared to have taken a knock and made way for Seaborne. The free kick came to nothing, as did a few other shots Aldershot had in the half as City's defenders threw themselves in front of everything.

Aldershot's nippy little winger Williams soon found himself in the Referee's book after a cynical foul on Challinor when the ball was miles away - the away fans, baying for blood after the sending off, urged the Ref to even things up, but it was instead the yellow card that was flashed.

City, despite being a man down, continued to show plenty of attacking invention, and thought they might have had a penalty as the Shots' defender appeared to charge down a shot with his hand, while several niggling fouls were ignored - mostly by the linesman who was more intent on practicing his tap dancing moves than actually officiating and would only raise his flag (even for throw-ins) if the Ref woke him up long enough to do so. Contrast this with the other linesman who was so enthusiastic he seemed to earn a rebuke from the Ref!

Whatever plans Paul Tisdale made for the second half were undone right from the kick off. Aldershot launched a nothing ball forward. Seaborne was under it, but ducked under it, letting Dixon in behind him to fire home. By Seaborne's actions and reaction it was clear he had heard a shout, but it was unclear who from as Rice had stayed on his line.

For the first time City looked a little downbeat, as did the fans behind the goal, who had up to now been superb. And the mood was dampened further when Aldershot scored for the third time - another soft goal. Another ball up the right channel saw Dixon run through onto it, and while the linesman stood tap dancing instead of raising his flag for what looked like a possible offside, Dixon slotted calmly home past Rice.

Far from being dead and buried, City took this as a cue to launch a rousing comeback, and were back to 3-2 within minutes. City forced a corner, which was flighted in onto the head of the beanpole Seaborne, who placed his header perfectly inside the far post to give the players and fans renewed hope. Once again the 10 men started to dictate play, and Challinor forced a superb save out of the substitute keeper (Bull having been replaced at half-time). Sub Jamie Mackie (on for Elam) created an opportunity for himself, eventually firing wide - unfortunately once again his honesty and appetite for the game let the side down here, as he was clearly fouled at least once on his way through and was off-balance when he shot. A more "clever" move would have been to go down as it would have been a stonewall penalty. One could argue that the Ref ought to have given a penalty anyway, but when was the last time a penalty was given when the player didn't go to ground?

With about 10 minutes to go Aldershot introduced a sub, Ryan Scott. And, about 10 seconds later, Scott decided he'd had enough. He came on as Aldershot had an attacking throw-in. City won the ball back, and Scott launched himself into a disgraceful studs up challenge on Challinor. The Ref took his time before issuing the red card, surely one of the quickest in history in terms of time spent on pitch.

City continued to press in hope of an equaliser, but it just wasn't to be as Aldershot closed out the game effectively. While again this was points dropped in the quest for promotion, nobody could question the desire and hunger of the players, matched by crowd backing that was poles apart from the whinging and barracking of the previous week. Despite playing most of the match a man short, City always looked very dangerous - it helped that City flew out of the traps at the start. However, in the debit column must be that the goals conceded were all too avoidable - until recently it looked like it would take something very special to penetrate the defence, but at the moment City are gifting goals to the opposition. This has got to stop. Also, Paul Buckle is very much missed in the middle of the park - it is no coincidence that his injury has coincided with the recent dip in form.

But let's not end on a sour note. Despite the result, almost inevitable at City's bogey ground, there were a lot of positives to be taken into the last five matches. It may now need four or even five wins to gain that playoff place, but anything is possible. Bring on Tamworth!