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.
