Aldershot Town manager Tommy Widdrington was full of praise for his side after they sensationally won 7-4 at League Two Swindon Town in the first round proper of the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.

The Shots raced into a 7-0 lead thanks to goals from Jack Barham (3), Josh Stokes, Lorent Tolaj (2) and Cian Harries before the Robins pulled four goals back late on through Dan Kemp (2) and Charlie Austin (2).

Widdrington was delighted with his side’s performance as they claimed the scalp of a Swindon side who play one division above the Shots.

“I was hopeful that we were going to turn up and give a really good account of ourselves in the manner that we want to play the game,” said Widdrington.

“We knew Swindon are a good football side. I know the score’s a bit weird, but I thought we deservedly won. To have scored seven goals – it’s like everything went in the goal. It was one of those days where our forwards did exactly what we wanted them to do, but I thought out of possession early in the game was why we got our noses ahead.

“We used the ball sensibly and by the time the goals started going in at our end we’d changed half of the outfield players.

“There’s nothing but praise for the playing staff – they’ve been outstanding. We’ll be tearing the last 20 minutes apart when we’ve conceded four goals – we’re not happy with that – but even I can cut them a bit of slack.

“We wanted to be in the hat for the next round and if we’d taken them back to our place we would have taken that at the start of the game.

“I’ve got nothing but praise for the lads, and I’m delighted for the fans because I’m aware that they haven’t had great times of late but this will go down in their memories. It’s a scoreline you cannot ignore and the players absolutely fully deserve it because they worked so hard.

“It was an unreal situation. I’ve been in games when we’ve been winning 3-0 at half-time and we’ve not won the game.

“We showed them the most respect and we wanted to get out the traps in the second half.

“They’ve got some quality players. I’m delighted – I’m absolutely over the moon. It’s great when a plan comes together.

“It was our day – we’re not going to get carried away.

“If we turn up like that at our own level of the game then we’ll do what we’ve done so far this season – what we can’t do is switch it on and off like a tap.”

Hat-trick hero Barham added: “It shows what we can do on the pitch. It was a real test for us but it goes to show how far we’ve come since Tommy’s come in.”