Portsmouth have been knocked out of the first round of the FA Cup after Aldershot Town edged out the League Two side 1-0 at the Electrical Services stadium this evening.
Mark Molesley's scruffy late goal was enough for the Conference side as they scraped past the 2008 winners at the second attempt.
The visitors had a whole host of first-half chances and a goal-mouth scramble resulted in Jaydon Gibbs clearing off the line.
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Jed Wallace was denied an acrobatic effort with a save by Shots' stopper Phil Smith before Joe Oastler's fierce effort was well blocked by Jack Whatmough up the other end.
Aldershot had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down after Ryan Taylor appeared to use both hands to move the ball.
Wallace had the ball in the net just two minutes into the second half, but his finish was incorrectly ruled out for offside.
Paul Jones was nearly embarrassed when he lost his footing trying to control a back-pass but the goalkeeper made amends moments later with a low save on 70 minutes to thwart Brett Williams.
Portsmouth had Nicky Shorey to thank for keeping it at 0-0 five minutes later when he reacted quickest to clear off the line from a goal-mouth scramble.
Dan Holman then went close with a dipping effort from range, but once again Jones was equal to the effort as he parried it wide.
However, from the resulting corner, another goal-mouth scramble was eventually turned home by Molesley with just eight minutes of normal time remaining.
Paul Gorst
