Match Report

SUMMARY:

Altrincham got back into winning ways, after four defeats, with this convincing win over a Hinckley side which looked a paler version of the team that had beaten Alty early in the season. A Colin Little hat trick earned him the Man of the Match award. Fielding a side again weakened by injury with Steve Aspinall and Rod Thornley out injured and Gary Scott only fit to be a sub, Alty gave league starting debuts to both Lewis Chalmers, a graduate of the youth and reserve teams, and Jonathan Mitten. Lewis impressed greatly displaying excellent heading skills, good crosses and long throw-ins.

Little opened the scoring after 13 minutes when Norris and Owen combined to put him clear and Alty's leading scorer composed himself well to beat Whittle. Talbot then back-headed a long throw from Chalmers into the net to make it 2-0 (19 mins). A good pass from Norris, who had an excellent first half, set up Little for the third goal, which he scored after he rounded the keeper (41 mins). Little completed his hat-trick, Alty's first since Rod Thornley's against Gateshead in August 2002, after 56 minutes when Stone lost possession to him. Hinckley got a consolation when Scott was judged to have fouled Barnes in the box and Lenton sent Coburn the wrong way from the spot (78 mins). Potts and Melling both limped off to keep physio Sean Riley busy again this week.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr N Smith

Alty had lost to Hinckley early in the season, to a goal which many had judged to be from an offside position. Neverthless, Hinckley's form that day and over the season as a whole suggested that they would be difficult opposition today for an Altrincham side without a league win in their last four matches and without a goal from open play in the league for 421 minutes.

TEAM NEWS

As well as the broken leg victims, Stephen Rose and Marcus Hallows, Altrincham were without captain Eddie Hussin, Kirk Hilton, Rod Thornley, Steve Aspinall and Gary Scott, whilst Colin Potts and George Melling played but were still suffering the after-effects of a viral infection and Chris Adams was carrying an injury. This situation prompted Alty manager Graham Heathcote to hand a first-team starting debut to midfielder Lewis Chalmers, who had graduated to the Reserves this season from last season's Youth team. Lewis, normally a central midfielder who can also play at centre-back, started out of his normal position today on the left of midfield, leaving Norris and Owen as the central pairing. Up front, Mitten started his first league game after 7 substitute appearances, at the cost of Kieran Lugsden's place in the starting line-up. Eddie Hussin was named on the bench after missing four league and cup matches, where he was joined by Gary Scott, Kieran Lugsden and reserve players Adam Brindle and Paul Tilley.

Hinckley, whose manager Dean Thomas was absent today, showed four changes from the starting line-up which had beaten Altrincham on 30 August 2004, with Mintus, McMahon, Lamey and Dyer replaced today by Stone, Burns, Lewis and Piercewright. Hinckley started the game in 7th place behind Altrincham, who were sixth, on goal difference.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. George MELLING, 3. Chris ADAMS, 4. Mark MADDOX, 5. Gary TALBOT (capt.), 6. Val OWEN, 7. Colin POTTS, 8. Richard NORRIS, 9. Colin LITTLE, 10. Jonathan MITTEN, 11. Lewis CHALMERS. Subs: 12. Kieran LUGSDEN, 14. Gary SCOTT, 15. Paul TILLEY, 16. Adam BRINDLE, 17. Eddie HUSSIN.

HINCKLEY UNITED (Amber & black striped shirts, amber shorts, black socks): 1. Tommy WHITTLE, 2. Neil CARTWRIGHT, 3. Jamie LENTON, 4. Richard LAVERY, 5. Gavin STONE, 6. Adam WILLIS, 7. Stuart STORER (capt.), 8. John BURNS, 9. Matt LEWIS, 10. Paul BARNES, 11. Brad PIERCEWRIGHT. Subs: 12. Chris SMITH, 14. Leon JACKSON, 15. Wayne DYER, 16. Craig WOODLEY, 17. Danny PITHAM.

REPORT

Altrincham started the game playing towards the 20/20 (Hale) End and young debutant Lewis Chalmers was soon showing that he was not at all nervous at making his first start in Nationwide North as much of the opening few minutes was played on the Alty left flank where he was operating. Mark Maddox made an early, excellent tackle to stop Burns before Little had Alty's first effort at goal, a sliced shot which went wide (6 mins). After a foul on Mitten, Potts overhit the resulting freekick from 25 yards out (10 mins). Then, after Little had fed Potts, who got into the box but saw his cross cleared by a defender, the ball came to Norris who found Owen. He put Little in the clear and the striker had time to compose himself and advance to drive a shot firmly past Whittle for his 30th goal of the season (13 mins). Alty then played some good football with Norris especially impressing in midfield. Piercewright then had to leave the field for treatment to his leg as Norris threaded a good pass to Mitten who put the ball in the net but was given marginally offside (15 mins). Woodley now came on to replace Piercewright (17 mins). Chalmers, Norris and Potts then combined well to win a throw on the Alty right. Chalmers's first effort gleaned a second throw in, nearer to the Hinckley goal on the Altrincham right. This time, Chalmers's long throw found Gary Talbot unmarked in the centre of the box and his back header looped into the far corner of the net with the Alty captain looking as surprised as anybody when he turned to see the ball enter the goal. The long throw had not been a weapon in Altrincham's armoury till recent weeks, until Melling had broken into the side, but Chalmers has an even more powerful throw which Alty exploited here to full effect (19 mins).

Chalmers also has the knack, once displayed by Danny Murphy, of being able to time his jumps to perfection and he frequently won headers today against taller and more solidly built opponents. Hinckley threatened when Woodley got the ball to Cartwright on the right and he got past Adams to cross the ball but Burns volleyed wide at the end of a good attacking move (23 mins). But Altrincham were the better side so far, although their next effort was a tame shot from 25 yards by Little from a Norris feed, which ran to the keeper (25 mins). Next, a flowing Alty move, which began with Norris and went via Potts, led to an excellent Chalmers header which reached Val Owen. From his pass, Chris Adams's cross from the left found Little who, unfortunately, mis-hit his shot well wide (26 mins). But Alty were soon back again with Little's pass setting Chalmers running past Storer and as he was just about to enter the front edge of the box, the Hinckley captain brought him down and was rightly booked. Potts put the freekick wide of the keeper's right post (28 mins).

A Hinckley moved then induced a foul from Mark Maddox on Burns and the Alty man picked up his eighth yellow card of the campaign (30 mins). Next, Mitten got in a half-hit effort which ran easily to Whittle (34 mins) before Little did well to jink into the box but was well tackled by Willis. Owen was performing well in midfield and it was he who started the next good move, the ball going via Chalmers and Mitten to Potts before it came out to Norris on the right. He got past the keeper to the right of goal but his shot came off a defender for a corner on the right. Two more Chalmers throw-ins followed the corner by Potts. After Maddox had cleared a Hinckley attack, Little was then caught offside from a Norris and Mitten build-up (40 mins). But Alty's top scorer was soon on the mark again when he got onto Norris's forward pass, rounded the keeper and, from the left of goal, kept his head well to score despite the arrival of retreating defenders to try to cover the empty net (41 mins).

Hinckley were posing little threat at this stage and after Burns had been caught offside, another good Alty move ended with Norris feeding Potts who, from 35 yards, spotted Whittle off his line but his shot just cleared the cross bar as the goalkeeper retreated to his net (45 mins). After a couple of minutes of added time the interval arrived with Altrincham comfortably in control.

At half time Hinckley brought on Wayne Dyer and for the opening few minutes the visitors applied some pressure without seriously threatening to break through the organised Alty defence. After Owen had impeded Burns, Lenton's freekick was easily held by Coburn from 20 yards (50 mins). Alty now replaced the ailing Potts by Lugsden (52 mins) and three minutes later Hinckley brought on Smith up front to replace Burns (55 mins). There was almost a mix up just outside the Alty box as Maddox was slow to react to a through ball and it needed Coburn's legs to stop the ball rather fortunately as he ran out of his area to confront an attacker. But, almost immediately at the other end, a mis-clearance by Stone fell to Little and the Alty top-scorer made no mistake in driving the ball home for his hat-trick, the first by an Altrincham player since Rod Thornley's against Gateshead in August 2002 (56 mins).

Lenton soon got in a trundling shot at Coburn before Whittle had to come out to head clear from the advancing Little. Alty were then penalised for offside right on the half way line before a Hinckley attack was seen off by Owen who fed Mitten, whose poor control saw possession lost. This led to a blocked shot from Smith and further pressure before the danger was finally cleared. Mitten still looks short of match fitness after the lengthy suspension he served on arrival at Altrincham from Ashton United. Hinckley then had their best effort of the game to date when Smith got to the right corner and his cross was met by Barnes's header which forced Coburn to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. The short corner led to a cross which Coburn punched clear. Altrincham now brought on Paul Tilley for Mitten (64 mins) and the Golf Road choir greedily chanted "We want five". From Maddox's freekick Chalmers rose on the left and powered a great header goalwards from 20 yards which the keeper did well to take under the crossbar.

Hinckley won another corner which Coburn punched well clear before Little was caught offside as Alty went forward. Hinckley then won two more corners in quick time, the first coming when Cartwright's drive struck Owen, the second when Tilley did well to clear. Altrincham now used their last substitute when Gary Scott came on at right-back for a limping George Melling who had a problem with his left leg (69 mins). After a fine clearing header from Adams, Lugsden's trickery fashioned an opening for a cross from the left but Kieran unfortunately miskicked the ball. Lugsden soon had the ball in the net, however, but his effort was ruled out by a premature whistle from the referee for a foul on Little just outside the penalty "D". Little lifted the freekick over the bar (73 mins). Lugsden was then the object of a couple of foul tackles but, as ever, he got up and got on with the job without any fuss. Hinckley were having more of the ball than in the first half and it took a great Maddox tackle to see off Barnes. Then, at the other end, Lugsden's harrying of the keeper led to a defensive mix up and loss of possession and from Little's unselfish pass, Tilley shot narrowly wide of Whittle's left upright from the Alty right.

But Hinckley got an unexpected lifeline following a mysterious freekick award on their right wing. From the freekick, Scott was judged to have fouled Barnes near the penalty spot which annoyed Alty boss Graham Heathcote, who had disputed the original freekick award. Lenton strode up and sent Coburn the wrong way, the ball entering the net off the underside of the crossbar (78 mins). Soon, another long throw from Chalmers reached Lugsden who was again fouled, with the offender Stone also accidentally catching the prostrate Lugsden as he retreated back to defend the freekick which had been awarded.

Chalmers then won Alty a corner which he took himself from the left and from Lugsden the ball came out to Owen who fed Chalmers for a cross which Whittle caught. In the technical area Eddie Hussin was deputising for Dalton Steel, who is away on business, as Lugsden did well on the right but his cross was just too high (83 mins). Another long throw from Chalmers yielded a corner for Altrincham but, by now, the young midfielder was looking tired and seemed to have cramp or some other leg problem. Nevertheless he kept going. From a short throw by Chalmers, Little fed Lugsden whose shot went narrowly wide of the far post (88 mins). As the game reached the end of ninety minutes, Coburn gathered the ball well from a low shot by Dyer and after a minute of added time had been announced and completed, the whistle went to signal a comprehensive win for Altrincham after their string of defeats. Once again, the team had shown great character with many of the players overcoming injuries and illness to complete the ninety minutes.

Apart from Little's well taken hat-trick, which takes him to 32 goals this season, the brightest part of the afternoon was the impressive debut of Lewis Chalmers whose arrival in the first team is testimony to the youth team management of George Heslop and Neil Thomason last season and to Neil Brown's further development of the young midfielder in the reserve team this season. When it is considered that Lewis was not even playing in his normal central midfield position, his performance was all the more praiseworthy. It was also good to see Richard Norris having a good game, especially in the first half, as he settles into the side after a long period of relative inaction at Northwich before he joined Altrincham recently. Hopefully, given time, the same will be true of Jonathan Mitten who has yet to show the sharpness which brought him 11 goals earlier this season in a struggling Ashton United side. But with Melling and Potts both limping off, the remaining games of the season will still be a test of stamina and spirit as Altrincham seek to get back in touch with the play-off places. Not surprisingly, Colin Little deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award.