Swindon Town humbled against Aldershot Town in the FA Cup

The Shots were three to the good inside ten minutes as Jack Barham had a quick-fire brace, before Josh Stokes turned home.

Lorent Tolaj then added a goal in first-half stoppage time, before Cian Harries bagged a penalty, Tolaj got his second not long after the break, and Barham completed his hat-trick before an hour was played.

Town have now been knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league opposition six times in the last decade and this is the tenth cup match in a row in which Swindon have been defeated.

Michael Flynn made three changes from the defeat against MK Dons as Dan Kemp, Tom Brewitt, and Harrison Minturn were all restored to the line-up. Jake Young was not given permission by his parent club Bradford City to feature, meaning that Harry Gray and Fletcher Hubbard were called up from the youth team to make the substitute bench.

Austin robbed of possession (Image: Callum Knowles)

Aldershot were wearing their changed strip for this game, an Argentina-style blue-and-white-striped shirt, but they may as well have been the World Champions with the way they started as inside a minute they took the lead as they drove straight at Swindon, Josh Stokes picked up a good position in the box and set up Barham to tuck low beyond Mahoney.

Bad went very quickly to worse as Mahoney came out to the corner flag to try and deal with a long ball but was robbed by Barham again. He turned and clipped the ball over the head of the goalkeeper and inside the far post.

Ten minutes were not even on the clock when Swindon found themselves three goals down. Frazer Blake-Tracy was beaten to the ball too easily by Barham. He played the ball back to Lorent Tolaj, who found Stokes free at the far post, and he passed the ball into the bottom corner.

Tyrese Shade during the first half (Image: Callum Knowles)

Swindon finally created a chance after 19 minutes when Kemp was able to find space in the penalty area on the left and chip a cross to the far post. Charlie Austin did his best to get on the end of it, but Cian Harries was there to head the ball to safety.

A bit of sustained pressure again found Kemp in a good area as he faked to shoot and drove into the box, before having a shot deflect off a defender and into the arms of Jordi Van Stappershoef.

Remeao Hutton got around the back and played a ball to the far post, which Tyrese Shade kept alive with a header back across goal. Austin got to the ball and tried to flick the ball over a defender before Ollie Harfield motored in to clear the ball behind.

Godwin-Malife tries to get Swindon going (Image: Callum Knowles)

Just before the half-hour mark Hutton again got space and played a pin-point cross onto the head of Austin, the striker stepped back and sent his header towards goal, but it went over the top from ten yards out.

Kemp was again the orchestrator as he made a great run from outside to in and played Shade behind the Aldershot backline, but his shot was flicked over the crossbar.

Town were lucky to just be three down when Tolaj got in behind and looked to have beaten Mahoney with a strike, but the ‘keeper got just enough on it to change its direction to hit the post.

Hutton on the wing (Image: Callum Knowles)

But Swindon did not learn their lesson and in first-half stoppage time, Tolaj was in behind again and this time made no mistake with a fierce low finish into the bottom corner.

Things did not get better after the break as within three minutes Minturn committed a foul in the area that allowed Cian Harries to clip a penalty up the middle and score on his return to the County Ground.

There was still no respite as Tolaj was stabbed through the middle and he let off a rocket from 25 yards out that flew into the top corner of the net.

Kinsella came on before the break (Image: Callum Knowles)

Swindon were finding new ways to make this worse as Barham completed his hat-trick as he nodded in from the goal line after 58 minutes.

Aldershot had the ball in the net for an eighth time as they headed home another cross, but the assistant referee quickly raised his flag to prevent even more egg from being spilt on Swindon’s collective face.

Dan Kemp netted twice in the second half (Image: Callum Knowles)

Kemp scored the consolation of all consolations as he cut inside the penalty area and pulled his shot accurately into the near post.

A few minutes later the on-loan midfielder had another and it was an even better goal as he drove inside from the right touchline and slammed home a fierce drive from 20 yards out.

In second-half stoppage time Austin headed home twice to cap off a bizarre day at the County Ground.

STFC starting XI: Mahoney, Hutton, Blake-Tracy, McEachran, Khan, Kemp, Brewitt, Godwin-Malife, Shade, Minturn, Austin.

STFC substitutes: L. Ward, Clayton, Genesini, Kinsella, Hart, Obodo, Hubbard, Gray, Alston.

ATFC starting XI: Van Stappershoef, Mnoga, Harfield, Harries, Widdrington, Frost, Tolaj, Stokes, Glover, Jones, Barham.

ATFC substitutes: Shiek, Rowe, Haigh, Mullins, Willard, Turner, Tetek, Thomas.

Attendance: 6,372 (1,278 away)