First half goals from Lorent Tolaj and Josh Stokes were enough to give Aldershot Town a 2-1 win at Oxford City.

Rollin Menayese missed out through suspension so Coby Rowe slotted into defence in his place. Hady Ghandour, recalled from loan at Farnborough, made the bench alongside academy graduate Ollie Turner.

Oxford were bottom of the league and the Shots took full advantage of their superior form within ten minutes. Ollie Harfield played a ball over the left hand side which evaded Brooklyn Kabongolo and landed on the chest of Stokes, who played a simple pass to Stuart O’Keefe. The Shots skipper picked out James Daly in the Oxford box, Daly squared to Tolaj and he tucked it into an empty net.

Oxford then equalised after some poor defending. Ryan Glover tried a couple of clearing headers but could only find Josh Parker, who whipped the ball back into the box, and nobody picked up the late run of Lewis Coyle as he volleyed home from just inside the box.

But Shots were the better side and in the 38th minute they regained the lead. The ball bounced around and found Tolaj just outside the Oxford box. He fed it through to Stokes, who showed good strength and anticipation to hold off Jacob Roddy and put the ball low beyond Oxford keeper Tom Watson to make it 2-1 to the Shots.

Aldershot pressed for a third goal after the interval but struggled to make any clear openings. Tolaj and Daly had half chances, and just after the hour Stokes hit an effort just wide.

Stokes had a good chance in the 74th minute but after receiving the ball in a pocket of space from Dejan Tetek on the edge of the Oxford box he could only fire his effort on to the top of the stand.

Tyler Frost almost added a third, running on to a failed clearance and hitting an effort hard and well towards the bottom right of the Oxford net, but a mix of players denied him a great goal.

Moments later Frost picked up the ball after a corner and sent it into the box for Kwame Thomas to head just wide.

Jordi Van Stappershoef made his first save in added time, a routine one as Josh Parker chased a ball over the top but failed to get any power behind his effort.