A fourth win in six outings for Altrincham moved them up to fourteenth and left Southend back outside the play-off places into which they had moved in midweek.

After a fairly even opening period, Altrincham won their second corner of the afternoon when Weaver went close following Crawford's ball from the left, which was heped on by Howe.

From the corner, taken from the right, the ball came back from Cooper's header from beyond the back post and out to Humbles who drove the ball into the net from inside the box (14 mins).

But, otherwise, the Altrincham defence limited the visitors' opportunities and the Robins enjoyed several threatening attacks themselves.

The win leaves Altrincham with a game in hand on two of the three clubs who are currently within two points of them in twelfth and thirteenth places.

SCORERS:

• 14 mins: Liam HUMBLES (ALTRINCHAM 1 Southend United 0)

REFEREE: Mr Dean Watson

ATTENDANCE: 2,101 (389 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

On a sunny afternoon at the J. Davidson Stadium, the hosts were without ten players, nine injured (Ross, Banks, Sass-Davies, Breckin, Khan, Olson, Kosylo, Crankshaw and Forde) and one suspended (Sassi).

Howe started after being ineligible last time out, with leading scorer Knowles dropping to the bench. The other change saw Reddin come in from the bench to start at the expense of Reed who went in the opposite direction.

Southend had beaten league leaders Rochdale in midweek and had signed Alfie Massey on loan from Millwall on the eve of the match.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with with white pinstripes, black shorts and white socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 23. Tylor Golden, 5. Jake Cooper, 6. Josh Grant, 33. Eddy Jones, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 28. Liam Humbles, 8. Isaac Marriott, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 17. Lucas Weaver, 9. Declan Howe. Subs: 3. Sam Reed, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 24. Sam Barnes, 25. Joel Bailey, 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 18. Owen German, 40. Charlie Kirk

SOUTHEND UNITED (Yellow shirts with blue sleeves, yellow shorts, dark blue socks) 30. Collin Andeng Ndi, 16. Harry Taylor, 26. James Golding, 15. Joe Gubbins, 33. Harry Boyes, 22. Keenan Appiah-Forson, 23. James Morton, 10. Sam Austin, 9. Andrew Dallas, 14. Tom Hopper, 28. Oli Coker. Subs: 6. Ben Goodliffe, 7. Jack Bridge, 11. Josh Walker, 18. Slavi Spasov, 10. Alfie Massey, 24. Charley Kendall, 26. Noah Mawene,

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham were in decent form having won four of their last six fixtures. But they had lost last time out to a disappointing late goal at Scunthorpe.

In contrast, Southend arrived after an impressive midweek win over league leaders Rochdale.

REPORT:

With the sun shining,on an immaculate surface, Southend kicked off defending the well populated away end and for the entire first minute they did not give Altrincham a kick.

Nevertheless, it was Altrincham who earned the first corner, through Weaver on the left (5 mins). Soon afterwards, Humbles fed Golden whose well-struck effort hit a defender (7 mins).

Appiah-Forson did now land a shot on target for Southend but it produced a comfortable save by Hutchinson in what had been a fairly even start to the game (10 min). Alty soon went close as Crawford's ball from the left was helped on by Howe and Weaver almost turned it in but for a good save by the keeper at the cost of a corner.

The corner went beyond the back post where Copper nodded it back into the goalmouth where the ball found its way out to Humbles who struck the ball firmly into the net from around 12 yards (14 mins).

Almost immediatley a needless foul on Dallas by Crawford gave the Shrimpers a freekick from 23 yards but this was struck into the defensive wall, a Southend corner soon followed this but it went straight to Hutchinson (19 mins).

The Alty keeper was soon in more menaingful action as he used his legs to block an effort from the left by Gubbins (23 mins).

Next a Boyes shot earned a corner which led to a team-mate's wild shot from 25 yards (28 mins).

The visitors were now enjoying the better of things and Alty were grateful that Coker played a poor final pass inside the Alty box when the home goal was at risk (32 mins).

But play switched to the other end where the advancing Andeng-Ndi just managed to get a hand to the ball as Weaver attempted to lob the advancing keeper (33 mins).

After Coker had been booked for a foul (34 mins) Dallas won his side a corner with a deflected shot before Alty, not for the last time, allowed the tall Golding to advance into the box before being halted.

As half-time approached Morton hit an effort high into Golf Road, followed by a good Altrincham move which ended with a goalbound effort by Marriott which was deflected (44 mins).

Alty spent much of the early stages of the second half on the back foot and it took a save at his near post by Hutchinson to keep out the visitors just three minutes in.

Once again Golding was allowed to advance unchallenged up the middle before Dallas won his side a corner (52 mins) But Coker's effort a little later flew high and wide.

Hutchinson's proclivity to waste time was again in evidence as early as the 54th minute but the keeper earned his wages with three saves in a two-minute spell, pushing away an effort by Boyes before saving a follow-up before saving again after the visitors had been given the frerdom of their left wing (56 mins).

Howe was then booked for a foul near halfway (56 mins) before Appiah-Forson won a corner. For the first 14 minutes of the second half Alty had remained almost entirely on the back foot but finally they got some relief when Crawford prompted Weaver to win a corner (59 mins).

As Alty belaedly got into the second half, Kevin Maher made two changes with Spasov (61 mins) and Bridge replacing Hopper and Gubbins (62 mins)

By the midway point of the half Altrincham were more in the game and they now made a double swap with defenders Barnes and Reed replacing Grant and Reddin (68 mins).

But Southend soon threatened again without creating a clear opening, though Hutchinson did have to stop a 25 yarder (72 mins).

A corner apiece was won between which Reed got booked for a foul on Austin .

Southend soon made a triple change with Walker, Massey and Goodliffe replacing Appiah-Forson, Morton and Golding (78 mins) and, in the same stoppage, Altrincham withdrew Weaver and Humbles for Knowles (79 mins) and Kirk (80 mins).

After a Southend corner had come to nothing, Hutchinson picked up his sixth booking of the season for timewasting (87 mins). However, Alty kept Southend at bay as the game reached added time, five minutes of which had been computed.

Alty then wound down time at the corner and introduced German for Howe who had needed treatment (90+5 mins)

There was late drama as Bridge went down under what seemed to be a trip but the referee declared it was simulation rather than a penalty and booked the Southend substitute to the annoyance of his manager (90+7 mins).

And so the match ended with three points to the hosts who ended the afternoon fourteenth whilst the visitors dropped out of the pay-off places.

Altrincham's defence had recorded its third clean sheet in four with a resolute performance which belied the fact that half a dozen defenders were not available for selection for this match.