Match Report

SUMMARY:

Without reaching their best, Altrincham gained another vital three points with a single goal, from Jamie Baguley (38 mins). The on-loan winger from Stockport finished well, from the left, after receiving a defence splitting pass from Ged Kielty. However, Alty made heavy weather of overcoming a Bradford side which, prompted by Serrant and Grayston, at times passed the ball about well but lacked punch up front.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr G P Johnson

Bradford had won in midweek after a barren run which had seen manager Trevor Storton leave the club. Alty had also had a morale-boosting win on Tuesday night to end their run of three straight defeats. It was good to see Alty's Danny Murphy taking part in the warm-up after being out injured all season.

TEAM NEWS

Altrincham were again without many first-team regulars (Adams, Scott, Thornley, Talbot and Hardy), and after fielding 3 young debutants last Tuesday again named the trio (Baguley, Bailey and Hutchinson) to start today in an unchanged side. Winger Jamie Almond, signed yesterday, was a spectator, along with Steve Lunt who was displaced from the squad by Steve Aspinall who returned from injury to sit on the bench.

Bradford's new caretaker player-manager Carl Serrant named himself as captain and included new signing Michael Naylor from Halifax Town on the bench.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Stephen ROSE, 3.Barry SHUTTLEWORTH, 4. Mark MADDOX, 5. Peter BAND, 6. Ged KIELTY, 7. Ryan HUTCHINSON, 8. Ian CRANEY (capt.), 9. Marcus HALLOWS, 10. Matthew BAILEY, 11. Jamie BAGULEY. Subs: 12. Stuart WRIGHT, 14. Steve LUNT, 15. Kieran LUGSDEN.

BRADFORD PARK AVENUE (All white): 1. Andrew BRITTON, 2. Andy QUINN, 3. Neil GRAYSTON, 4. Danny WALSH, 5. Ryan CROSSLEY, 6. Carl SERRANT (capt.), 7. Paul HELLIWELL, 8.Craig SMITH, 9. Rob PAINTER, 10. Jason MAXWELL, 11. James RUSSELL. Subs: 12. Tom GREAVES, 14. Michael NAYLOR, 15. Steve PICKLES.

REPORT

Altrincham kicked off towards the Golf Road end and within 15 seconds had won a freekick for a foul on Shuttleworth by Maxwell. But it was Bradford who had the game's first chance after a poor clearance from Maddox went to Maxwell and, from his feed, Russell shot into the side netting from left of goal (3 mins). For Alty, Bailey and Hallows soon combined well but the ball was just cleared before Craney could capitalise on it. With Graham Heathcote telling his charges to "stop panicking" the game continued fairly evenly but with no more goalmouth incident. Alty's first real opening came when a passing movement ended with Craney's clip to Baguley which found the young winger in space, left of goal. Having scored a fine goal from a not dissimilar position on Tuesday, it was disappointing to see Jamie screw the ball well wide of the far post on this occasion (14 mins).

Bradford continued to give as good as they got with the experienced Serrant and Grayston prompting their side forward. The visiting supporters were also making themselves heard to an extent that would shame some of the much more highly-placed and supposedly better supported visitors to Moss Lane this season.

After pulling up a little earlier with what looked like a muscle pull, Rob Painter had to be replaced by Pickles as early as the 20th minute. Painter had missed the midweek game through injury so perhaps had returned too early. Alty then won the game's first corner, off Crossley, who had recently been a Stalybridge transfer target. The corner was cleared to Baguley and it took a brave dive at the feet of Hallows by Britton to stop the Alty man getting in a shot (21 mins). Altrincham were still making too many mistakes to impose themselves on their opponents and manager Heathcote was kept busy cajoling his players to lift their game. For their part, Bradford continued to play some neat football but lacked serious penetration as the game progressed quietly along.

Another corner arrived for Altrincham, from a defender's slice. Baguley's flagkick found Craney and he in turn got Bailey in for a stooping header which ran comfortably to Britton (27 mins). Hallows, despite being caught offside a couple of times, looked lively for Altrincham up front whilst at the back Band and Rose were having good games. However, Rose was now rather harshly booked for a foul on Smith in midfield. From a headed clearance by Bradford, Kielty and Rose found Bailey whose hooked shot was deflected into Golf Road for a corner on the right. Baguley's corner was caught by a sudden gust of wind as a sharp shower arrived over the ground (31 mins). Following a foul on Rose, the injured party took a free-kick which came out to Shuttleworth who lashed a 30 yard effort very wide of the target (36 mins). With rain now pouring down, BPA won their first corner, on their left.

When Bailey was fouled deep in his own half, Stuart Coburn took the freekick quickly. It was half cleared to Kielty about 25 yards out in a central position. He threaded a fine low pass diagonally forward to his left where he found Jamie Baguley. The youngster, in space, kept his head well and drove the ball across the keeper into the far corner for his second well-struck goal in two starts for Altrincham (38 mins). With perfect timing, a rainbow appeared over the back of the Popular Side terrace! As the rain continued to fall steadily, Altrincham now upped their game. Baguley and Hallows combined for Bailey to get in a shot at Britton but his effort was only half-hit (42 mins). Alty were still not firing on all cylinders and as half-time approached their manager was telling Ged Kielty to fire-up his colleagues: "Get some energy into them all", he shouted. Though Bradford won a corner just before the break, which Coburn punched clear, Altrincham arrived at the interval with their lead intact and the fans were left hoping for some more fluent football in the second half.

The second half started in bright sunshine and the rain had stopped but the game continued in its low-key way and even the periodic chanting of both sets of supporters could not raise the tempo on the field. Alty were having the better of the game as they made their first substitution, with Aspinall coming on for Hutchinson, who had had a quiet game on the right. Rose moved forward to right midfield as Aspinall slotted in at right-back (57 mins). At the same time, Bradford brought on Naylor, their new signing from Halifax, with Russell going off.

Rain started falling again as Craney surged forward but he ran into trouble, leaving Hallows pleading for a pass to his right. (58 mins). Band continued to excel at the back before a small-scale skirmish between Rose and Grayston saw both players lectured and Bradford awarded the free-kick near the centre-line (60 mins). Craney and Hallows then linked for Bailey to be able to force a corner from the BPA defence. This came to nothing but soon afterwards Alty went closer when Rose and Hallows fed Craney, who advanced to the edge of the box before shooting narrowly over the bar (63 mins). Soon Craney again surged forward but again ran into trouble inside the box. It then took a fine bit of covering from Shuttleworth to see off Bradford on their right and then Helliwell got a shot in across the scrambling Coburn which only missed the goal narrowly (67 mins). With Bradford showing distinct signs of life, Alty took off Bailey and brought on Wright. This released Baguley to play up front with Hallows (68 mins).

Soon, another Bradford attack saw Coburn punch clear when he might have caught the ball and then, after Rose had been dispossessed in centre-field on the Bradford left, Bradford won a throw from which Serrant and Grayston got Maxwell to the by-line left of goal. From his low cross, as Naylor was about to turn the ball into the net from close range, a desperate Alty tackle blocked him (71 mins). Things improved when from Rose's feed, Baguley cut in from the right and shot from 22 yards but the keeper made a fairly comfortable save (73 mins). Bradford then won a corner through Quinn, which Coburn caught (76 mins) before they brought on Greaves for Pickles (77 mins). Though Alty won a corner soon afterwards (80 mins), their lead still did not seem totally secure. A couple of minutes before the end of normal time, Alty brought on Kieran Lugsden for Jamie Baguley up front. Three minutes of added time were played during which Lugsden got in a shot at Britton The final whistle arrived with the result being more important for Altrincham than the patchy performance that achieved it.

Jamie Baguley was named man of the match and, indeed, he was lively throughout and took his goal well. Hallows also had a good game up front whilst, at the back, Band was also a candidate for the man of the match accolade.