John Gilbert's 59th minute strike was the difference between the sides at the Jakemans Community Stadium as Scott Davies' new-look side returned to Hampshire with an opening day victory.

Tom Cursons and Lenell John-Lewis had Boston's best chances at either end of the second half, but were denied by excellent Nick Hayes saves, while Jake Rooney was shown a late red card for a second bookable offence.

United handed out five full debuts ahead of kick-off, while Rooney, Jamie Grimes and Lennon Wheeldon all started their first matches as permanent Pilgrims.

The home side were bright in the early stages, with Jack Holmes forcing Hayes into a low save and Cursons firing two presentable efforts off target following good play from Wheeldon and Connor Teale respectively.

Louis Chadwick, preferred to Luke Faxon from the off, made an instinctive stop to deny Michael Stickland at the other end, as the game remained deadlocked at half-time.

United were again on the front foot at the start of the second half, with Wheeldon whistling an effort too high from 22 yards and then Hayes excelling to claw aside Cursons' close-range effort seven minutes after the restart.

Aldershot took a decisive 59th minute lead when Hakeem Sandah danced into the penalty area to pull the ball back for GILBERT to lash home a rising drive which left Chadwick powerless.

A flurry of United substitutions followed as Paul Hurst and Luke Waterfall chased a route back into the game, but the Pilgrims needed a big Chadwick save to deny Gilbert his second.

Nino Adom-Malaki also blazed wide when well-placed as United lived on the edge, but the Pilgrims' only chance of note in the closing stages saw John-Lewis denied by a low Hayes save.

Niall Canavan received a late caution but referee Richie Watkins also carded Rooney for a second time for a foul earlier in the move, having played an Aldershot advantage, to compound a deeply frustrating afternoon on home turf.

Boston (3-4-2-1): Louis Chadwick; Jake Rooney, Niall Canavan, Jamie Grimes; Connor Teale (Sai Sachdev 68), Terrell Agyemang, Ben Hammond (Nicholas Pozo 60), Lewis Shipley (Kai Mauro 81); Lennon Wheeldon (Lenell John-Lewis 68), Jack Holmes (Ken Aboh 60); Tom Cursons. Subs (not used): George Ward, Luke Faxon (gk).

Aldershot (4-3-3): Nick Hayes; Michee Efete, Kiki Oshilaja, Michael Stickland, Nino Adom-Malaki; John Gilbert (Elijah Oladunjoye 90), Jacob Borgnis (Conor Lawless 78), Dominic Odusanya; Basil Tuma (Kwaku Frimpong 78), Marcus Dinanga (Tristan Abrahams 90), Hakeem Sandah (Tyrece Dyce 83). Subs (not used): Jack Matton, Marcus Wyllie.

Referee: Richie Watkins.

Attendance: 2,384 (324 visitors).

PIC: Chris Bray.