A NON-LEAGUE side were forced to play TWO STRIKERS in goal in bizarre scenes.
Aldershot Town are managed by ex-Southampton midfielder Tommy Widdrington in the National League.
TNT SportsAldershot Town had to call on striker Lorent Tolaj to go in goal[/caption]
TNT SportsKwame Thomas also took the gloves in the shambles of a game[/caption]
And the gaffer’s call to have no substitute goalkeeper in his matchday squad at Eastleigh on Saturday proved a costly one.
That is because on 34 minutes, No1 Jordi van Stappershoef saw red for wiping out Eastleigh forward Aidan Barlow just outside the penalty area.
Widdrington could not call on a back-up stopper – so instead turned to Swiss striker Lorent Tolaj to come on as a substitute for fellow forward Tommy Willard.
But Tolaj entered the field in the spare Shots goalkeeper kit and put a pair of gloves on before taking his place in between the sticks.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, though, his very first piece of action was to pick the ball out of the net as Chris Maguire scored directly from the resulting free-kick following Van Stappershoef’s foul.
And it got worse for Tolaj and Aldershot after half-time when Enzio Boldewijn doubled the hosts’ lead.
At that point, Woddrington decided to mix it up.
And he opted to swap Tolaj with Kwame Thomas, another striker but who had started the match in his usual position up front.
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However, it was not a case of third time lucky for Aldershot’s goalkeeper as Thomas also conceded without touching the ball as Boldewijn grabbed his second on 70 minutes – and the clash finished 3-0.
TNT Sports commentator Adam Summerton tweeted: “Never thought I’d commentate on a game where one team had three different goalkeepers.”
And fans took to social media to blast the whole shambles of a situation.
One said: “I’m glad the TNT audience gets a glimpse of 90 minutes of Aldershot Town. Football heritage.”
Another wrote: “Aldershot subbing on a non-goalkeeper for another non-goalkeeper after our goalkeeper got sent off is vintage non-league.”
A third added: “Absolutely shocking. All started with a very rash decision from a poor goalkeeper. Embarrassing. End of.”
And a final user commented: “Just play rush keeper.”
Paul MarriottWiddrington took over at Aldershot after two years with King’s Lynn[/caption]
He came through the ranks at SouthamptonRex