Match Report

SUMMARY:

The eventually wide margin of victory did not look likely till Farsley tired in the second half. Indeed, the visitors had taken the lead after 21 minutes when the referee ignored a hold on Hussin and the ball went forward to Stammar who finished well. Alty levelled when Marcus Hallows drove home a low shot after a defensive error (26 mins). Alty improved in the second half though they laboured at times till Hallows got his second, a tap-in from Peter Wright's pass (64 mins). Marcus has now scored 6 in his last 6 league and cup games. Hussin nodded a third (81 mins) before Colin Little drove home the fourth in added time. In the end the win was comfortable with Coburn, who had recovered from injury in time to play, having little to do.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr R Merchant

This was the first ever meeting between these two sides and had come about after Farsley had defeated Marine 4-0 in a replay in the previous round. In the league Celtic are having a good run after a poor start to the season in the UniBond Premier. Alty for their part are also on song, with manager Graham Heathcote just named as Conference Manager of the Month for September.

TEAM NEWS

Altrincham were without left-back Chris Adams, injured on Tuesday, but goalkeeper Stuart Coburn had recovered from his dead-leg to play, though Kurt Edginton had been re-signed to sit on the bench. Also present was Ian Senior who has also re-joined Alty as further goalkeeping cover. Mark Maddox was back in the side after being injured against Nuneaton whilst Gary Scott was on the bench after missing seven league games through his knee injury against Bradford.

Farsley included the former Barnsley player Curtis Bernard and, up front with him, was Michael Midwood, who has been a prolific scorer in non-league circles for several years.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Stephen ASPINALL, 3. Barry SHUTTLEWORTH, 4. Mark MADDOX, 5. Gary TALBOT, 6. Peter BAND (capt.), 7. Colin POTTS, 8. Eddie HUSSIN, 9. Marcus HALLOWS, 10. Colin LITTLE, 11. Stephen ROSE. Subs: 12. Niell HARDY, 13. Kurt EDGINTON (gk), 14. Peter WRIGHT, 15. Gary SCOTT, 16. Stuart WRIGHT.

FARSLEY CELTIC (All blue; shirts with white trim): 1. Tom MORGAN, 2. Chris STABB, 3. Timothy SMITH, 4. Andy SHIELDS, 5. Lee CONNOR, 6. Jon DYSON, 7. James KNOWLES, 8. Amjad IQBAL, 9. Curtis BERNARD, 10. Michael MIDWOOD, 11. Roy STAMMAR. Subs: 12. Matt RUSSELL, 14. Matthew SMITHARD, 15. Stefan ZOLL, 16. Mark BETT, 17. Andrew PATERSON.

REPORT

On a sunny but breezy afternoon, Farsley kicked off towards the 20/20 End. After little more than a minute Colin Potts was hobbling after a tackle on him but he carried on. After three Alty throw-ins in succession, Shields fed Smith on the Farsley left and his cross saw Midwood launch himself full-length and unchallenged at the ball, but his header went just over the bar (4 mins). Alty's slow start continued as Farsley contrived another chance. This time, Coburn had to finger-tip Bernard's cross off the head of Midwood (6 mins). Alty finally sprang into action when Aspinall and Potts fed Hallows, whose well struck cross produced a corner from Connor's header (9 mins).

However, the overall mood of the home team was subdued and they were not yet able to string together any sustained movements. Alty did, however, win a corner (10 mins). Potts then went down in the box under a challenge but no penalty resulted (16 mins). At the other end Midwood skilfully teed the ball up for himself and then chipped a shot just over the bar from the edge of the box (17 mins). Referee Merchant then ignored a clear push on Little in midfield and allowed Bernard to get clear but he shot straight at a grateful Coburn (20 mins). An Alty freekick from Shuttleworth did cause something of a melee in the Celtic box but that was Alty's best threat to date. Soon after this, for the second time, Mr Merchant overlooked a clear push in midfield when Hussin, attempting to shield the ball facing his own goal, was manhandled off the ball and Bernard got the ball to Stammar, left of goal, just inside the box. Stammar drove a firm, low shot across Coburn and into the bottom corner to the keeper's left to put Celtic a goal ahead (22 mins).

Farsley looked comfortable for the next few minutes until a routine aerial ball up the middle was missed by Connor and dropped for Hallows. His first time drive, low to the keeper's right found the bottom corner and put Alty on level terms (26 mins).

As half-time approached Potts and Band found Aspinall on the right. Aspinall advanced, and moved up the centre before his shot forced a diving save from the visitors' keeper from 25 yards. A corner resulted on the right. Maddox headed Potts's flag-kick over the bar. A good ball from Hussin then set Little skipping past Dyson on the Alty left but his cross went weakly to Morgan. Alty's improvement continued as Rose played a fine ball for Hallows and he won a corner off the keeper as added time began. After this, the half ended with a left footer from Hussin which just cleared the bar.

After their slow start, Alty had finished the half in the ascendant.

Farsley made a double switch at the interval with Smith and Dyson withdrawn in favour of Russell and Smithard. Alty started the half well but soon went off the boil again. Peter Wright was called to prepare himself to come on and he duly did so after 51 minutes, replacing Barry Shuttleworth on the left flank. Graham Heathcote was still busy instructing his team from the technical area as Midwood got in a shot at Coburn (52 mins). The Alty manager was calling for a quicker tempo from his charges but Farsley responded when Shields's ball into the box from 35 yards only just cleared the bar and landed on the top of the net as Coburn back-pedalled (53 mins). Till now, Farsley had looked as good as several of the Conference North outfits to have visited Moss Lane this season and Alty certainly had a contest on their hands. The visitors won a corner as Alty continued to play in subdued mode.

Band did provoke some action when his hustling won the ball and he strode on to shoot narrowly wide from the edge of the box (59 mins). Alty fans were beginning to wonder if they would need to get a Leeds road atlas for a Tuesday replay when suddenly the home side went ahead. A ball from Aspinall prompted Potts to produce a defence splitting step-over which led to Hussin setting Wright free to the left of goal. Wright did well to avoid a challenge from Russell and thread the ball across the face of goal to Hallows who completed the formality of knocking the ball into the net from close range (64 mins). It was Marcus's sixth goal in his last six games. The crowd now came back to life with chants of "Marcus is God!"

This goal was the turning point as Alty now maintained some pressure. But Hallows then found himself falling over his own feet twice in as many minutes as Alty sought to press home their advantage (68 mins). Coburn was now a spectator in the Alty goal. A foul on Wright led to the game's first booking, as Russell's name went down in the ref's book (70 mins). Farsley made a now rare excursion to the other end and Midwood was allowed by Alty to stop the ball just before it ran over the by-line to the left of goal but his cross was headed clear by Band. Band soon headed wide at the other end before Farsley's last sub, Bett, came on for Knowles (73 mins).

This prompted an upturn in Farsley's game and, indeed, Stammar soon had the ball in the net but the whistle had already gone for offside and Coburn had stood aside from the shot to allow it into the net (75 mins). "You're too casual" shouted Graham Heathcote as he tried to rouse his team once more. However, things did not immediately improve as Maddox was booked for throwing the ball away when the referee judged his challenge on Midwood to be a foul (76 mins). Alty remained on the back foot as Midwood shot wide (78 mins) and then another shot from the blond striker hit one of his own team mates in the penalty area.

But Alty responded with a goal. Potts's cross was cleared by Smithard but possession was lost to Wright. He fed Hallows in the centre, just outside the box and Hallows executed a neat turn and pass to the right wing from where Band crossed the ball. The ball was knocked on, to the back post, where Hussin's close-range downward header found the back of the net to make it 3-1 (81 mins).

Alty then brought on Gary Scott for Marcus Hallows (83 mins) and the striker left the field to a sustained ovation (83 mins). Altrincham were now well in control, with Maddox and Talbot seeing off any potential response from Farsley. In the first minute of added time, a Maddox clearance went via Potts to Little, left of goal, and from just inside the box he drew the keeper and drove a firm low shot into the far bottom corner - the third such goal of this game. At this point Marcus Hallows was deservedly named Man of the Match. Alty pressed forward again and Potts had a shot blocked before the final whistle sounded.

Once again Altrincham had produced a stronger second half performance than their first-half showing and had recorded their third 4-1 home win of the season, with 10 of the 12 Alty goals in those games coming after the hour mark. Graham Heathcote will have had every reason to be proud of his team at the final whistle but they certainly made the manager work hard on the touchline to coax the goals out of them! Alty's impressive form continues, particularly at home where in eight league and cup games to date they have won seven and drawn one scoring 21 goals and only conceding five.