Aldershot Town slipped to a narrow 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United in the National League on Saturday.

Hady Ghandour had given the visitors an early lead, but first-half goals from Callum Roberts and Zain Westbrooke were enough to send the Shots home empty handed.

The hosts came out the blocks quickly. A corner found Andrew Boyce, whose header crashed off the post before the Shots were able to clear their lines.

The Shots took the lead in the 12th minute. Kiban Rai crafted space for a central shot from range that took a heavy deflection from Ghandour, deceiving Scunthorpe goalkeeper Rory Watson and nestling into the bottom right-hand corner.

Scunthorpe got back on level terms on 18 minutes when a corner rebounded around Aldershot’s box and Roberts headed home the rebound.

Ryan Jones was finding joy down the left hand-side for the Shots, regularly beating his man and earning his side several corners through cleared crosses. The Iron defended the centre of their box well though, allowing little space for Ghandour, Tristan Abrahams or Rai.

Westbrooke gave Scunthorpe the lead in the 32nd minute, converting another rebound from a ball into the box.

The Shots had a late flurry of corners on the left-hand side at the end of the first half, but were unable to create any clear-cut chances.

Shortly after the break, Ben Jackson picked up the first yellow card of the afternoon, with a late challenge to try to halt a Scunthorpe counter.

The home side looked the brighter of the two teams at the start of the second half, but the Shots grew back into the game and Ghandour nearly equalised when his effort was deflected behind for a corner. The resulting corner grazed the head of Will Armitage, and Scunthorpe were able to clear.

The Shots then enjoyed their best spell of the game, with the home crowd growing frustrated with the time and space afforded to the visitors. Scunthorpe reacted with a double chance on the hour, bringing on Dec Howe and Joey Dawson to try to regain control.

The second half sparked to life when Abrahams appeared to be tripped in the box by Watson, but referee Dale Baines waved play on to the dismay of the Aldershot bench.

Scunthorpe went straight down the other end and looked for a third goal, but the Iron were denied by a superb goal-line clearance by Jackson.

Kwame Thomas soon entered the fray for Aldershot, replacing Ghandour in the 70th minute.

Thomas was involved almost immediately, seeing a close-range header somehow kept out by a combination of a Watson save and the underside of the crossbar.

With ten minutes to play, Keane Anderson and Toby Nelson replaced Cameron Hargreaves and Jones as the Shots desperately pushed for an equaliser.

Ciaran Gilligan picked up a yellow card for the Shots in the 83rd minute for a late challenge, and Armitage followed suite as the game became scrappy.

Tyler Frost made his first appearance of the season for Aldershot, replacing Abrahams late on, and Maxwell Mullins replaced Archy Taylor with five minutes to go.

A stoppage-time penalty shout for Aldershot was ignored by Baines as the ball went out of play for a corner. The Shots sent nearly everyone forward, but the corner was well gathered by Watson.