Match Report

SUMMARY:

Above: Colin Little leads Val Owen and Kieran Lugsden off the pitch, having scored Alty's goal today.

Altrincham extended their unbeaten run to four games with a deserved draw at home to a Stevenage side shorn of three suspended players and the out of favour Anthony Elding. In a fairly even first half, Alty went behind after 40 minutes when Boyd nutmegged Aspinall on the Borough left and from his low cross, Stamp arrived at the same time as Scott but somehow squeezed the ball home. Stevenage looked fairly comfortable in the opening stages of the second half until Alty made their three substitutions (Potts for Murphy; Robinson for Thornley and Lugsden for Scott). It was an excellent first-time ball out to the right by Robinson which led to Potts's excellent cross from which Little headed home the equaliser, his 10th Conference goal of the season (75 mins). However, Potts picked up a fifth yellow of the season to earn a suspension.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr Jock Waugh

This was the reverse fixture of the opening game of the season when Stevenage had comfortably beaten Altrincham 3-0 at Broadhall Way. In 9 previous league clashes, Alty had never beaten Stevenage and indeed had lost all four encounters at Moss Lane. Borough share with Altrincham the unwelcome distinction of having won the Conference/Alliance and not been promoted to the league.

TEAM NEWS

Alty were again without Gary Talbot, Karl Munroe and Chris Adams (all injured) but captain Mark Maddox was back after the birth of his son last week, as was Val Owen who had recovered from injury. Despite illness in the week, Gary Scott was able to start. So Stephen Rose returned to the bench to accoommodate Maddox and Chalmers likewise gave way to Owen in midfield.

Stevenage had three players out suspended (Quinn, Henry and Nurse) whilst leading scorer Anthony Elding has been excluded from the side by his manager Graham Westley who has vowed that he will never again play for the Borough.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Steve ASPINALL, 15. Peter BAND, 4. Mark MADDOX (capt), 11. Gary SCOTT; 37. Ged MURPHY, 30. Steve BUSHELL, 8. Val OWEN, 12. Warren PEYTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 10. Rod THORNLEY. Subs: 7. Colin POTTS, 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 19. James ROBINSON, 20. Kieran LUGSDEN, 21. Stephen ROSE.

STEVENAGE BOROUGH (Dark blue shirts and shorts with pale blue trim, pale blue socks): 1. Alan JULIAN, 2. Michael WARNER, 6. Barry LAKER, 15. Danny BULMAN, 18. David PERPETUINI; 7. Danny WILLIAMS, 9. Dino MAAMRIA, 14. Matt HOCKING, 11. George BOYD; 27. Darryn STAMP, 22. Jefferson LOUIS. Subs: 31. Shane GORE (gk), 8. Michael BROUGH, 17. Ollie BERQUEZ, 24. Gary SCHILLACHI, 29. Chris SULLIVAN.

REPORT

On a dismal afternoon, as the teams ran out, it was again apparent that we were facing a physically bigger side. With the floodlights already on, Stevenage kicked off towards the Golf Road end and Alty won an early free kick for a foul by left-back Perpetuini on Murphy, 30 yards out on the Alty right. Murphy won a header from Aspinall's freekick but it went well wide of goal (2 mins). In the absence of Chalmers, who was on the bench, Murphy was soon involved taking throw-ins and from one of these a neat move was constructed in which Little did well to find Thornley and, via Owen, the ball came back for Murphy to shoot narrowly wide of Julian's left post (3 mins). Alty were enjoying the vocal support requested in the programme by manager Heathcote but it was the visitors who won the game's first corner when Louis found Perpetuini on the left and from Boyd's resulting cross, Aspinall was forced to put the ball out of play. A foul on Maddox gave Alty a freekick from the corner (6 mins). Bushell was again impressing for Alty in midfield but the nearest to a goalmouth chance in the next few minutes was a nod down by Maamria to Coburn (9 mins).

After a foul by Laker on Little, Aspinall found Little on the right where he jinked past Perpetuini and a couple other opponents with great skill before clipping the ball into the box where a deflection set up a volley for the incoming Maddox, but he could only lift the chance over the bar (10 mins). In this first fifteen minutes Alty were playing well and matching Stevenage comfortably. The visitors' next effort came from Bulman who fired over the roof at the Golf Road end from 25 yards (13 mins). As Stevenage then began to press, Little had to come deep to defend his own lines with a clearance from a Stevenage probe up their left flank. Stevenage were soon back again with Maamria rising well to get on the end of a Boyd cross from the left but he headed wide (17 mins). Play was then stopped for Maamria to receive treatment to his head or face. A few minutes later, Coburn had to be alert to smother the ball at the feet of the giant Louis, recently signed by Borough from Worthing. But the ball broke loose and came to Williams who was allowed time and space by the Alty defence to compose himself for a shot which was deflected out for a corner, which was poorly taken. But soon, another Stevenage cross yielded another corner for the visitors, taken from the right by Boyd but Maddox and Bushell combined to clear the Alty lines. Thornley then got up the right and after he had won a throw off Warner, another throw saw Thornley win a corner from the by-line right of goal. Peyton's corner was cleared but Alty maintained some pressure with two throws in succession up the right flank from which central defender Peter Band found himself in a right wing position from where he fed Murphy for a sliced up and under from the right which almost dropped over Julian's head but the keeper caught the ball well just under the bar (25 mins).

Owen was still looking a little rusty after his injury lay off and when he lost possession, Alty were glad to see the resulting cross by Warner clear their bar (26 mins). Following a freekick conceded by Peyton, Stevenage won a corner when Williams's shot from the right was deflected out of play. Alty then had a promising moment although it started with Owen and Thornley colliding 30 yards out but Owen fed Murphy before the move was blocked off. Play continued fairly evenly as the half-hour mark was reached. Following an Alty freekick by Coburn, the lively Bushell found Aspinall but Stevenage won possession and from the counter-attack Bulman fed Louis, who got past Band on the Stevenage left before curling a shot well wide (33 mins).

Stevenage did have the ball in the net soon afterwards when Boyd advanced on the left and, via Louis and Perpetuini, the ball arrived for Stamp to beat Coburn from close range. But the Alty keeper had already stopped, having seen the flag go up for offside and the whistle soon followed to rule out the goal (36 mins). However, despite the evenness of the game so far, Stevenage took the lead after 40 minutes when the highly-rated Boyd nutmegged Aspinall on the Stevenage left, 30 yards out and advanced towards the by-line, left of goal, from where his low cross arrived in the goalmouth. With Scott and Stamp arriving simultaneously in the centre of the 6 yard box, the Stevenage man did enough to guide the ball into the net and put his side ahead (40 mins). Altrincham almost levelled the score two minutes later when Peyton fed Bushell to the right of goal and his cross was met at the back post by a header from Thornley which the keeper saved well (42 mins). A minute later a foul by Hocking on Little gave Alty a freekick on the edge of the box, left of centre. Referee Waugh, who had a generally good game, marched out the 10 yards for the Stevenage wall but seemed to stop doing so after only eight paces, as the home crowd counted them out loud! Peyton's low freekick evaded the wall but also went wide of Julian's left upright (44 mins). As the game entered the one minute of added time, Bulman was booked as he conceded a freekick, following which Alty were caught offside. Half time arrived with Alty trailing by a goal but having given a good account of themselves against higher-place opposition.

Alty, playing now towards the Golf Road, won two early corners as Colin Potts prepared to come on as a substitute. The second corner, by Peyton, ended with Julian's catch under the bar. After Thornley had appeared to be brought down by Hocking play did stop but only because the referee had seen Warner down near his own goal line (48 mins). He resumed after treatment and soon an audacious volley from 30 yards out on the right by Stamp had Coburn scampering back but the ball dropped onto the roof of his net (50 mins). "Reds, it's got to be better,. we're just hoping it's going to happen" shouted manager Heathcote to his troops, before telling Val Owen to make sure the referee was reminded of the opposition's timewasting. But to their credit, Stevenage did generally keep playing football unlike the woefully negative Woking side who had been the last southern visitors to Moss Lane, who were having players booked for delaying tactics immediately after half-time.

A Murphy shot won Alty a corner off Perpetuini but after this Murphy gave way on the right to Potts as Alty made their first substitution (51 mins). Soon Aspinall had a great long range shot blocked and though Peyton could not get onto the deflection, a corner was won. From this the ball was half cleared to Owen whose feed to Thornley led to a cross cum shot that was cleared. Alty further signalled their attacking intentions when Robinson was brought on up front in place of Thornley (55 mins). Referee Waugh curiously allowed play to be delayed whilst a Stevenage player sat down and changed his boots on the pitch at a Stevenage goalkick. First Coburn and then Maddox saw off some Stevenage attacking play before the tall Stamp fouled Coburn in the air before pushing the Alty goalkeeper over in the aftermath. Amazingly the referee did not even take the name of Stamp who was then booed whenever he touched the ball (60 mins).

Borough now won two corners in succession before Alty gained a freekick near half way. But Alty soon pressed again and following an Aspinall freekick Peyton nodded the ball into the goalmouth from where it was half cleared, leading to a badly overhit cross by Potts from the right (67 mins). From a Stevenage freekick on the left by Boyd, Maamria headed just wide as the visitors looked to be capable of keeping the three points. Each side now made a change with Berquez coming on for Stevenage's Hocking and Alty's Lugsden coming on for Scott, who had been ill during the preceding week (70 mins).

Coburn then made a good save with his feet at the near post as Louis's feed allowed Stamp to fire in a low shot. But Alty responded well with a good move involving Bushell, Robinson, Potts, Peyton and Owen ended with a hack clear by Stevenage's Laker from Alty's Little (72 mins). Alty now went on to produce a grandstand finish with the pace of Robinson and Lugsden a significant factor. However, Stevenage won the next corner, which Alty scrambled clear before the home team equalised with an excellent move. Little and Bushell got the ball to Robinson, 30 yards out and with his back to goal. He instinctively hooked the ball to the wide right to Potts, who produced a superb long cross which was met by Little who headed the ball into the net from a central position to make it 1-1 (75 mins). Yet again Alty had come from behind in a game this season.

And it almost got better when great skill from Potts was only thwarted by keeper Julian (76 mins). With Little pushing on from left midfield to join Robinson and Little, the atmosphere in the ground was raised a notch as Alty now looked the more likely to get a decisive goal. But when Potts went in heavily on Perpetuini, the Alty sub picked up his costly fifth booking of the season (84 mins). But Alty kept pressing and from a Lugsden shot, two corners in succession came. Then, with Alty pressing again, referee Waugh inexplicably stopped play for treatment to Williams whose injury was to his leg, though he soon recovered after treatment and left the field to a chorus of "cheat" from the home supporters who felt his injury had been tactical rather than genuine. It had the effect of breaking up Alty's pressure and the full ninety minutes came to an end without a further goal. But three minutes of added time were signalled and in the first of these Lugsden was brought down just outside the box by Laker, who was booked (0+1 mins). Potts produced a superbly struck low freekick which was arrowing to the bottom corner until Julian got down well to push it round the post for a corner on the Alty right (90+2 mins). Though Alty won two further corners in the remaining minute of play and were about to take yet another corner when referee Waugh blew for time, the home side's rousing finish went unrewarded. Overall, a draw was probably a fair outcome but, disappointingly, Alty's creditable draw against one of the pre-season title favourites and last season's play-off losers, saw them drop a place in the table to seventeenth. But they continued to put distance between themselves and three of the teams below them, Crawley, Scarborough and Southport, who all lost today. Warren Peyton was named as Alty's Man of the Match but once again, above all, this was a good team effort from Altrincham.