Match Report

SUMMARY:

With their most disappointing home display of the season Altrincham surrendered their unbeaten league run with barely a whimper, at the 13th hurdle, against a Moors side who deserved their win. Defeat was compounded by what looked like a serious leg injury to Eddie Hussin. Moor Green's Mark Owen had two good chances early on; one was brilliantly saved by Coburn and the other he put into the side netting. The visitors finally took the lead when Trainer was left in space by Aspinall and he drove the ball into the far corner from left of centre (36 mins). Alty captain Eddie Hussin got injured making an innocuous challenge in midfield and after lengthy treatment was replaced by Norris (42 mins). The Robins were marginally better in the second half but still failed to trouble Moor Green keeper Rachel. A bad mistake by Mark Maddox allowed the ball to get to Owen who drove home the second goal after 80 minutes. Gary Scott was given the Alty Man of the Match award but Stuart Coburn, making his 250th appearance, would have also been a worthy recipient on a day when few home players were impressive. In 10 games this season against the bottom 8 sides, Alty have now won only twice, whereas in 9 games against the top 5 they have lost only once.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr C.L. Mawson

Moor Green had been unlucky not to win the game against Altrincham at their Moorlands ground in December but, since the fire at their ground, they had not won a match. Alty, however, had gone 12 league games without defeat.

TEAM NEWS

Gary Talbot returned at the expense of George Melling, which resulted in the displacement of Paul Tilley from the bench which had faced Stafford on Tuesday night.

Moor Green had Mark Owen up front, the striker having scored twice against Alty for Worcester City earlier this season. But leading scorer Darren Midleton was only on the bench, where Moor Green could only field four players.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Steve ASPINALL, 3. Chris ADAMS, 4. Mark MADDOX, 5. Gary TALBOT, 6. Eddie HUSSIN (capt), 7. Colin POTTS, 8. Val OWEN, 9. Marcus HALLOWS, 10. Rod THORNLEY, 11. Gary SCOTT. Subs: 12. George MELLING, 14. Richard NORRIS, 15. Kieran LUGSDEN, 16. Kirk HILTON, 17. Jonathan MITTEN.

MOOR GREEN (Dark & light blue shirts, dark blue shorts & socks): 1. Adam RACHEL (capt.), 2. David FOY, 3. Richard FOLLETT, 4. Lee COLLINS, 5. Guy SANDERS, 6. Ben PETTY, 7. Peter FAULDS, 8. Sean CANHAM, 9. Mark OWEN, 10. David BRIDGWATER, 11. Phil TRAINER. Subs: 12. Neil DAVIS, 14. Darren MIDDLETON, 15. Jae MARTIN, 16. Junior ENGLISH.

REPORT

On a sunny and breezy afternoon, Alty kicked off against the wind but towards the Golf Road. The home side started slowly and the visitors almost took the lead after just three minutes when Owen got behind Talbot, to the left of centre, and fired in a well-hit low shot from 12 yards which Coburn saved brilliantly, beating the ball out to his left. Alty continued to look jaded in the opening stages and it was Moor Green who won the first corner. Coburn pushed this out to Bridgwater whose shot just cleared the bar (6 mins). Coburn then made another important intervention, getting his hand to the ball just ahead of Canham to the left of goal. The Moors continued to set the pace, belying their 18th position in the table. At the other end, their back line was having little trouble dealing with the Alty balls played forward for Hallows and Thornley and the two Alty strikers were not getting much of a look in.

At last, Alty got a sight of goal when Hussin fed Potts, whose cross from the right was just a little overhit and Hallows, at the back post, could only direct his header wide. By now, manager Graham Heathcote had come down to the touchline, to assist Dalton Steele in upping the tempo of the home side. But it almost got worse for Alty as Mark Owen again got behind the defence and should really have hit the target rather than the back of the side netting from the left of goal (15 mins). In the aftermath of this escape, Coburn and Maddox had a heated exchange (15 mins). Alty did win a corner a minute later when Trainer put Aspinall's cross out of play on the Alty right. Hussin was then injured as his attempted clearance saw him actually kick Canham's foot rather than the ball but the Alty captain recovered to play on.

Moor Green continued to pass the ball around neatly as Alty laboured. A sliced clearance from Scott was fortunately cleared before the same Alty player got on the end of a Potts cross from the right but, under pressure, directed his header just wide of Rachel's left upright (21 mins). Graham Heathcote echoed the crowd's sentiments when he shouted at this team, "You're second best all over the park" - it was a collective off-day so far. But Gary Talbot won his side a corner off Sanders, following which Maddox and Owens went for the same ball and between them sent it 30 feet over the bar into the Golf Road. The dangerous Mark Owen, who had scored twice for Worcester against Alty already this season, then hit a left-foot volley just over the bar.

Next, a ball forward over the Moor Green defence allowed Thornley a shot which was blocked by Rachel but Rod's goalbound follow-up, from right of goal, was cleared off the line by a defender with his keeper stranded (26mins). From the resulting corner, by Potts, Hallows headed narrowly over the bar (27 mins). With midfielders Owen and Hussin, both carrying injuries, they were understandably a little less dominating than usual and it was the visitors who continued to have the upper hand, as Foy's cross came off Maddox for a corner (30 mins). Alty's misplaced passes continued and it took a good piece of covering from Talbot to stop Mark Owen once again. But the respite was short. Following a punt by Rachel, Val Owen lost possession and via Faulds, Mark Owen and Bridgwater the ball came to Trainer who was unmarked in an inside left position, with Aspinall having been drawn inside him. Trainer made no mistake as he drove the ball past Coburn into the far corner of the net (36 mins). "It's no more than you deserve" was Graham Heathcote's crisp comment to his underperforming team.

Things soon got worse when, about ten yards inside his own half, Hussin went down with an agonising cry as he emerged from an innocuous 50/50 with a Moor Green player. As he writhed in agony, referee Mawson immediately halted proceedings. It was something of a surprise that, after lengthy treatment, Hussin was even able to get to his feet but he was obviously in no state to continue and he was replaced in central midfield by Richard Norris (42mins). Gary Scott took the armband and soon Moor Green had nearly doubled their score. From Trainer's pass, Canham was forced to the right of the pitch beyond the penalty area but he turned well to fire in a superb shot from 20 yards or more which left Coburn flat footed. The ball bounced off the top of the cross bar near the far post (45 mins). Three minutes of added time were played during which Talbot did well to get in front of Mark Owen to concede a corner. Alty left the field a goal down but fortunate to be no further behind after their most lacklustre 45 minutes at Moss Lane this season.

With Mark Maddox now wearing the captain's armband, Alty started the first half a little better with Potts' cross from the right only just too long for Scott. But, soon after, Aspinall's sliced clearance recommenced the first-half pattern of errors. Keeper Rachel was already taking his time over dead ball kicks with more than 40 minutes to go as Alty now began to enjoy a little bit of pressure, winning a corner from Aspinall's cross from the right (51 mins). But Alty were not looking like scoring before the Moors won a freekick 25 yards out which Bridgwater hit into the defensive wall. The Midlands side had another chance soon afterwards when Canham fed Trainer from the left but he sliced his shot well wide (55 mins).

Alty tried to shake off their lethargy with a change of personnel, Aspinall giving way to Mitten (57 mins). Scott moved to right back and Thornley went to the left flank as Mitten joined Hallows up front. Thornley immediately won a corner off Follett as Potts closed in (58 mins). Val Owen headed well wide from the corner and, on the hour mark, at the other end, Mark Owen hooked an effort narrowly wide from Bridgwater's pass. With Alty still second best, Coburn had to be alert to get to a through ball just ahead of Canham.

A mix up between Scott and Coburn, which epitomised Alty's day, gave Mark Owen an unnecessary corner (66 mins). And, a minute later, successive errors by Talbot and Scott, who both failed to clear the ball, let Mark Owen get one on one against Coburn. The striker took the ball round Coburn in the outer part of the box and he seemed certain to score but as he went to shoot, Coburn stuck out a hand at Owen's feet to make a magnificent save (67 mins). It was the Alty keeper who had so far kept his side in the hunt with just a one-goal deficit when they could easily have been two or three behind.

Alty then won a corner, which came to nothing (69 mins), followed by another four minutes later. Potts took virtually all of the corners this afternoon but none of them seriously threatened to prompt a goal. An underhit back pass from Maddox then saw Coburn hurriedly clear the ball to Faulds whose quick shot was then well saved by the recovering Alty keeper (74 mins). A corner to the Moors resulted from this save, as Kirk Hilton prepared to come on for Alty. Before he did so, Alty won a corner as Mitten chased Adams's ball and Rachel put it out of play (76 mins). Hilton now replaced Hallows, who had had a quiet game, and Thornley moved back up front as Hilton settled into left midfield. With the Alty fans still hoping that one bit of magic might rescue something from the game for their side, a defensive lapse ensured that their hopes would not be realised. A relatively routine clearance was called for from Maddox but he somehow miscued the ball from a position to the right of the Alty penalty spot. The ball ran off his leg to Mark Owen, inside the box, and from left of goal he beat Coburn with a well struck shot to make it 0-2 (80 mins).

Top scorer Darren Middleton now replaced Canham for the Moors (81 mins) but Alty soon won another corner, taken by Adams. Alty had a chance to score when a freekick from the left by Potts was whipped across the goalmouth but Maddox was unable to connect inside the box (84 mins). Middleton was now booked for kicking the ball away but Moor Green soon had the ball in the Alty net again. Collins got free behind the defence and passed inside for Owen to score but he was offside (85 mins). Alty won two more corners, both of which were wasted by Potts. As three minutes of added time were played out, Gary Scott was named Man of the Match when most spectators would have struggled to name a single outfield player for the award. Stuart Coburn would have been an apt recipient, given that he made several excellent saves and that it was his 250th appearance.

In injury time, Davis replaced Mark Owen for the visitors, who then won a corner when Middleton outpaced Owen up the middle. As the Alty fans started to drift away, the game drew to a conclusion with Altrincham again having once more faltered against a team at the wrong end of the table. But it is difficult to be too critical of an Alty side built on a shoestring, lacking their leading scorer, and in which several players (Hussin, Owen and Adams to name three) started the game carrying injuries. It is to be hoped that Hussin's further injury today does not prove to be as serious as it initally looked.