Match Report

SUMMARY:

Above: Thornley (10 in blue) is held by a defender as Alty are repulsed.

Altrincham lost their opening game back in the Conference National to an impressive Stevenage Borough side, after a fairly even opening to the game. But, on 15 minutes, Alty allowed Borough too much space in midfield and from a cross by Warner from the right, Elding headed home. After Alty had lost Munroe injured, Stamp finished off a slick Stevenage move from Elding's pass to make it 2-0 (37 mins). Alty had a good spell early in the second half, but a penalty award against Owen for handball allowed Maamria to score from the spot (73 mins). The Robins did hit the post through Talbot's header but a rash challenge from Coburn gave Stevenage another penalty in injury time. Elding beat Coburn from the spot only to be ordered to retake the kick. Coburn saved the second attempt to leave the score at 3-0... but the travelling fans kept singing till the end.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr F. Graham

Altrincham could not have had a more difficult opening game in their first season back in the Conference National since the 1999-2000 season. Not only are Stevenage many people's favourites for the title, having reached the play-off final last season, they are a team that Alty have never beaten in eight attempts in the Conference. Both clubs share an unfortunate record of having won the Conference or Alliance but failed to gain promotion for their efforts. So, Alty were facing what promised to be a tough baptism to their third spell in the Conference.

There is a price to pay for promotion - not just in increased charges at Conference grounds but also in being segregated from the home fans and obliged to occupy a part of the ground chosen by the home club rather than by the individual spectator. In this respect Conference North had a lot to commend it! Nevertheless the Altrincham support was in good voice. But at least the facilities were excellent and the view was good in the modern all-seater stand.

The rain, which had followed Alty down the M6 and M1, arrived at Broadhall Way shortly before kick-off. Nevertheless, the stadium and pitch looked impressive but, disappointingly, the tannoy relay was virtually unintelligible so it was a good job that squad numbers were in use as otherwise the opposition would have been unidentifiable. Alty were wearing their new away strip for the first time, blue having replaced last season's yellow.

TEAM NEWS

Alty were without the unfit Eddie Hussin, Gary Scott, Steve Aspinall, Lutel James and Kirk Hilton, though the last-named was able to take part in the warm-up. Also missing was James Olsen. Making their Alty competitive debuts today were Karl Munroe and Gary Williams, whilst another newcomer, Nehru McKenzie, was on the bench. Two other summer signings, Peter Band and Steve Hawes, were also making their first competitive starts after re-joining Altrincham. Band started at right-back, rather then his more customary central defensive position. So, only six of the Altrincham side which had started the Promotion Play-Off in May started this game whilst Alty boss, Graham Heathcote, was also sidelined serving the first of a three-game touchline ban for his dismissal at Hucknall last season.

In contrast, Stevenage fielded a settled side which included last season's top scorer Anthony Elding and former Leigh RMI man Dino Maamria. Their squad includes several ex-Farnborough players who came to Stevenage to follow their manager Graham Westley. New summer signings on the bench for Boro were winger Danny Williams, signed from Hereford, midfielder Ollie Berquez, signed from Canvey Island and goalkeeper Shane Gore from Barnet.

STEVENAGE BOROUGH: (Red and white striped shirts, red shorts and socks): 1. Alan JULIAN, 2. Michael WARNER, 3. Justin GREGORY, 5. Jason GOODLIFFE, 9. Dino MAAMRIA, 10. Anthony ELDING, 11. George BOYD, 15. Danny BULMAN, 23. Simon WEATHERSTONE, 25. Ronnie HENRY, 27. Darryn STAMP. Subs: 7. Danny WILLIAMS, 14. Matt HOCKING, 17. Ollie BERQUEZ, 20. Jon NURSE, 31. Shane GORE (gk).

ALTRINCHAM: (Pale blue shirts and socks, dark blue shorts) :1. Stuart COBURN, 15. Peter BAND, 4. Mark MADDOX, 5. Gary TALBOT, 3. Chris ADAMS; 17. Karl MUNROE, 12. Steve HAWES, 8. Val OWEN, 14. Lewis CHALMERS; 19. Gary WILLIAMS, 9. Colin LITTLE. Subs: 7. Colin POTTS, 10. Rod THORNLEY, 13. Richard ACTON (gk), 20. Kieran LUGSDEN, 25. Nehru McKENZIE.

REPORT

Boro kicked off, towards the away end (South Stand) but in the opening stages, Altrincham generally held their own. In fact, Alty won the game's first corner when Hawes's shot from the edge of the box was deflected over the bar (7 mins). But referee Graham harshly booked young Lewis Chalmers on his Conference debut for his first offence and it was disappointing to see the Borough captain Goodliffe needlessly complaining to the referee about the challenge. Mr Graham further upset the travelling fans when he gave Boro an early corner for what looked like an Alty goal-kick.

Boro first threatened after 13 minutes, when a Maddox error let in Elding but he over-elaborated and lost the chance. Moments later, Stevenage had the ball in the net after Maddox had let the ball go, but Maamria was given offside. The respite was short, as Stevenage's opening goal arrived after a good combination on the Alty right by Williams and Munroe saw the latter's cross punched clear by Julian as Little arrived. Borough counter-attacked quickly and Alty allowed Weatherstone too much space up the middle and he found Stamp. He passed the ball to his right to Warner and the resulting cross was met by Elding at the near post. Though Coburn got his hands to Elding's header he could not stop it crossing the line as Maamria followed it into the net (15 mins).

Stevenage are well versed in the ways of professional football, with subtle nudges and blocks on opponents and Elding soon annoyed the away fans with a blatant dive in the box. But the home side were, nevertheless, impressive with their accurate passing and switching of play from one flank to another. Indeed, they went close again when Coburn came out, left of goal to head clear, only for the ball to spin to Weatherstone. His low cross/shot from wide left was cleared well by the covering Maddox as it crossed the goal. Stevenage next won a corner, which came to nothing.

Then, after Bulman's short freekick, Coburn made a fine save from Boyd. But, soon, Chalmers was flattened by a knee in the back from Goodliffe, who was booked. Soon after this, Munroe went down, injured. After treatment to what appeared to be his ankle, Munroe limped off and gingerly made his way round the pitch to the Alty bench as his side played on with 10 men. After good work by Boyd, Boro won a corner; at which point Potts came on for Munroe (30 mins).

When Coburn came out of his box once again to clear, he was fouled by Elding but, soon afterwards, Potts conceded a freekick following which Coburn saved well from Stamp, low down to his left (34 mins). However, Alty relieved the pressure when Hawes's pass for Chalmers yielded a corner for them, but Julian caught Hawes's flag-kick well.

After a Band header had fallen to Maamria in midfield, a slick move involving Stamp, Weatherstone and Boyd ended with Stamp receiving the ball near Coburn's left post and slotting the ball home to make it 2-0 (37 mins). It was an impressively worked goal. A minute later, Elding shot wide but was offside in any case. Alty were not causing Boro keeper Julian many problems as his tall back four kept Alty at bay. But, despite events on the pitch, the travelling fans were in good spirits, taunting the opposition with chants of "What's it like to lose at Stoke?" - an allusion to Borough's loss there in May's play-offs and Alty's win in their own play-off at the Britannia Stadium.

Williams now won a corner for Alty, which eventually came to Julian's hands. Boro then made a change with Williams replacing Weatherstone (44 mins). The referee signalled 3 minutes of added time as Boro won a corner off Adams, which Chalmers cleared. Half-time arrived with Boro good value for their lead and Alty looking to re-group. Alty had discovered the difficulty of dealing with full-time opposition who spread the ball around well, were adept at getting their bodies between the ball and the opposition and who made fewer errors than the visitors.

Alty played their best football of the match in the opening period of the second half as they took the game to Borough following their tentative first-half showing. After left-back Gregory had been booked, presumably for a verbal offence (51 mins), Alty put together their best move of the game as Little, Maddox, Williams and Potts combined to get Band to the opposition by-line, but his cross from the right was cut out by Henry. Moments later, however, Potts was booked for felling Boyd (53 mins). Alty continued to improve but lacked a telling final ball against a well-organised defence. But the home side was dangerous on the counter-attack, with Stamp getting in an overhead shot, which went wide (59 mins). Play was now end to end as Williams fed Potts but his cross was poor. Potts then made for the dugout as his number was displayed on the electronic substitutes' board. But this was an error, with Williams actually the player to be replaced; Lugsden was the man who came on, up front (62 mins).

Stevenage now began to impose themselves again as Alty brought on Thornley for Chalmers (68 mins). The tall wide-man Boyd did very well again, advancing left of centre and forcing a great save from Coburn at the cost of a corner (69 mins). With Thornley and Lugsden now up front for Alty, Little had moved to the left of midfield as Alty continued to look as if they might just get back into the game, showing more confidence going forward than in the first half. But then disaster struck when Val Owen, moving across his own penalty area, attempted to control an awkwardly bouncing ball only for it to strike his hand and be judged to be a penalty. It was the sort of bad luck that Alty could have done without on what was a difficult day under any circumstances. Maamria stepped up to beat Coburn, though the Alty keeper, an expert penalty stopper, very nearly got to the ball as he dived to his right (73 mins).

Coburn soon did make a great save as he kept out Bulman's header from Boyd's cross from the left (75 mins). But then Alty won two corners in succession as Potts began to threaten on the Alty right. From the second of these, the ball was half cleared only for Talbot to head the loose ball against the post as the keeper, Julian, scrambled to his right in vain (77 mins). Then Alty created another opening after a Hawes free-kick but Potts failed to get in a telling shot (79 mins).

Borough now brought on new signing from Canvey Island, Ollie Berquez, for Dino Maamria (80 mins), and they soon won a corner, which was cleared. Next, Boyd fired firmly from 30 yards but comfortably wide. Then, after Little had lost possession, Stevenage put the ball in the net but were clearly offside and a freekick was awarded (82 mins). Nurse now came on for Stamp as Stevenage finished strongly. A mis-kick by Coburn did not help the visitors as it gave Boyd the ball but his shot was deflected wide for a corner. A crude foul by Warner on Lugsden over by the left touchline earned Borough their third yellow card (86 mins) but, not for the first time, Alty seemed unclear what to do with a set-piece and Adams's kick went to waste as it overran Thornley.

There was time for Bulman to shoot wide from the right before a surprising three minutes of added time were announced. In the first of these, Lugsden laid the ball off well but Band sliced his shot wide of Julian's left post as the Alty fans continued their non-stop singing with a chorus of "We're only warming up". But the action was not yet over. Coburn rushed out to the right of goal but was beaten to the ball by Nurse who got the ball across goal but was caught, late, by Coburn. For the second Saturday running the Alty keeper's heart was in his mouth about possibly being sent off in the dying moments of a game, but referee Graham sent him away without a booking, or worse. Mr Graham did, however, award a penalty. With Maamria having been substituted, Elding stepped up for this spot-kick and sent Coburn the wrong way with a shot to the keeper's right. But encroachment, apparently by Williams, forced a re-take and this time Coburn kept up his reputation for penalty stops by pushing the ball away as Elding again hit the ball low to the keeper's right (90+4 mins). Moments later the final whistle sounded and, as on their last return to the Conference (in 1999), Alty had lost the opening game of the season to Stevenage.

But Alty won't come up against as strong a side every week and, having got the nerves out of the way, should be able to settle more quickly in future than they did today when the first forty five minutes saw them tentative in their approach. The injury to Munroe also disrupted their plans and a harsh penalty award did not help things either. Nevertheless, the 150 to 200 travelling fans confined to the South Stand served notice that, as the phrase goes, "The Alty are back" even if their team has yet to record its first goal and points in the Conference National in 2005-06.