Sunderland-born Kevin Dillon has been manager of Aldershot since November last year, succeeding Gary Waddock when he went to Wycombe.

On the field, he played more than 100 league games for Reading, and then made over 450 league appearances, many of them in the Premiership, for Newcastle, Portsmouth and Birmingham.

With Marvin Morgan getting 15 goals, and young midfielder Scott Donnelly weighing in with 13, the Shots reached the League Two play-offs last season, ending in sixth place.

That came after a great finish to the campaign, scoring a bundle of goals and losing just once in ten games.

But they were beaten in the play-offs by Rotherham, with the prolific Adam Le Fondre inevitably bagging two goals for the Millers, and have been unable to recapture the magic so far this season.

But although he has lost Donnelly to Swansea City, Dillon believes he has a stronger squad than last season with several good captures.

One of them, Wade Small, proved a handful to United in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Another, Glen Little, who like Dillon played for both Reading and Portsmouth, was held back in midweek, saved for the Oxford United game.