Match Report

SUMMARY:

In a very entertaining game, Altrincham were very unlucky to earn no points. After Halifax had dominated the opening stages and taken an early lead through Killeen (5 mins) when he converted a corner from the right which was nodded on to him by Young, Altrincham got back into the game. The Robins levelled after 61 minutes when Band, Owen and Robinson combined to feed Little who laid the ball off for Peyton to fire home from close range. Alty played some very good football but could not find a second goal, whilst the pace of Halifax caused problems throughout. But Halifax snatched a late winner when, just two minutes after Alty had made a double substitution, Thompson found substitute Senior unmarked left of goal and he fed fellow substitute Ryan Sugden who had a simple task of scoring from close range (88 mins).

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. R.L. Lewis (Shrewsbury)

Halifax had not won a league game at Moss Lane in four previous attempts, but had broken their duck with a 2-0 win at The Shay earlier this season.

TEAM NEWS

Ged Murphy was out injured after his bad injury at Crawley, so too was Chris Adams, whilst Colin Potts had not recovered from the knock which kept him out last Saturday. So, Gary Scott moved to left-back in place of Adams whilst Stephen Rose came in at right-back and James Robinson continued on the right flank, with Peyton on the left.

For Halifax, Steve Bushell, who had been at Moss Lane on loan earlier this season, was captain. The Shaymen also fielded new loan signing from WBA, Brian Smikle.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 21. Stephen ROSE, 4. Mark MADDOX (capt), 15. Peter BAND, 11. Gary SCOTT; 19. James ROBINSON, 8. Val OWEN, 2. Steve ASPINALL, 12. Warren PEYTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 10. Rod THORNLEY. Subs: 5. Gary TALBOT, 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 20. Kieran LUGSDEN, 26. Lee HENDLEY, 28. Pat McFADDEN.

ALTY SUBS:

HALIFAX TOWN (All yellow): 1. Jon KENNEDY; 2. Steve HASLAM, 5. Adam QUINN, 16. Greg YOUNG, 3. Matt DOUGHTY; 25. Brian SMIKLE, 4. Steve BUSHELL, 18. Tyrone THOMPSON, 26. Danny FORREST, 10. Lewis KILLEEN, 20. John GRANT. Subs: 6. Steve YATES, 8. Martin FOSTER, 11. Ryan SUGDEN, 15. Chris SENIOR, 23. Justin BOWLER.

REPORT

On a bitterly cold night, both Richard Norris and Eddie Hussin, who have been sidelined by injury all season, as well as the more recently injured Karl Munroe, were involved in the Altrincham warm-up. Halifax had brought good numbers of supporters despite this being a midweek game and being played against the competition of Champions' League football on TV. Also before kick-off, Alty's former Halifax striker, Colin Little, received his champagne award as Nationwide Conference Player of the Month for January.

The game kicked off a couple of minutes late, in blustery conditions, with Alty defending the Debbie Dawson (Golf Road) End. With good support for both sides, the atmosphere was good as the visitors immediately imposed themselves on Altrincham. With the Alty defence kept busy from the off, Aspinall was fortunate that a late lunge at a Halifax player passed by as the referee attempted to keep play flowing by waving "play on". Thompson was looking especially lively for Halifax in midfield whilst further forward the pace of Smikle and Killeen was impressive. Haslam soon won a corner for Alty off Band on the visitors' right. The corner was taken as an inswinger by Doughty and appeared to get nodded across the box by Young, to arrive at the feet of Killeen, left-centre inside the box. From close range the Halifax no.10 fired the ball past Coburn to give Halifax an early lead (5 mins). At this point, it looked as if Alty would be in for a long night.

Altrincham remained on the back foot as Halifax passed the ball about well and at speed but the Alty back four held firm with both Band and Maddox particularly busy. The next shot of note came when Grant, Bushell and Smikle combined for the last named to fire in a low shot which Coburn held well (11 mins). But Alty were now settling and constructed their first good attacking move after 13 minutes when Rose fed Robinson and he sent a good pass to Little. Little fed Thornley, to the right of goal, and his shot was deflected across goal. As Halifax sought to clear their lines the ball came to Robinson whose shot hit a defender amidst Alty claims for handball and a penalty, which went unheeded. Alty's improvement continued as Little got in a shot which was blocked but then another, much clearer handball by Halifax went undetected by the match officials to the annoyance of the Alty bench.

But Halifax were still a danger and Maddox was induced to trip Forrest as the Halifax man got past him, 35 yards out. However, Coburn caught the resulting freekick and soon Alty had one of their own from which Owen was judged to have fouled the keeper (20 mins). Alty were now settling into their game and won another freekick when, at the third time of asking, Alty's appeals for handball were answered. But from Aspinall's kick from the right, Maddox’s header was lifted off target by the wind (24 mins). Steve Bushell was booked, presumably for dissent, at this point. However, Town went even closer after this as Forrest fed Grant and he turned well but shot narrowly wide of the upright. Halifax were now somewhat fortunate to gain a corner when Band shepherded the ball out of play but appeared to be bundled over and was judged to have conceded the flag-kick. However, Coburn caught the corner kick (28 mins).

There was more controversy as Little was given offside when the ball had come to him off a defender. Both sides continued to get forward at every opportunity but there were no serious threats of a goal over the next few minutes, even when the otherwise dependable Quinn miskicked the ball inside his own box (37 mins). After Rose had been judged to have fouled Forrest, Quinn rose well to meet Bushell's freekick but headed just wide of the goal into the side netting (40 mins). There was then an exhilarating moment as centre -back Peter Band broke from the Altrincham half and advanced fifty yards towards the left corner-flag before finding Peyton well. He in turn crossed for Little to head goalwards but the ball was deflected out for an Alty corner on their right (42 mins). Band was soon in more familiar territory as he executed an excellent tackle on Smikle and set Thornley going forward up the left. From Peyton's resulting cross, Thompson conceded a corner as the fourth official held aloft his sign indicating a minute of added time. Robinson's corner was poor so Alty went in for the break trailing 0-1 and having stabilised the game after Halifax's very impressive opening spell.

Alty kicked off towards Golf Road but soon Killeen fired in a 30 yard shot at the other end which forced a good save by Stuart Coburn, who tipped the ball up and then gathered it (46 mins). After Forrest had stumbled and appeared to fall into Maddox, the Alty captain was penalised and given a lecture by Mr. Lewis. From Doughty's freekick from the right, Quinn headed into the net but the flag went up and the goal was ruled out (49 mins). As in the first half, Halifax started this second period the better but gradually Alty got back into it.

After each side had had a freekick, there was a goalmouth skirmish at the Halifax end in which Thornley was involved and the ball seemed to loop up and come back, possibly off the bar (53 mins). Graham Heathcote was annoyed with one of his own men when another promising Alty move ended as Robinson was penalised for a needless push against a defender (55 mins). Altrincham were now pressing forward and soon Robinson made amends with a clever pass to find Owen in space in the right of the box. But Owen 's low shot missed the far post (57 mins). Little then got in a shot which was comfortably saved but Alty's leading scorer was having a good game as his close control set problems for his markers. But Alty had an escape at the other end when Grant forced an excellent save from Coburn. Alty continued to press and soon got their reward. Band fed Owen who, in turn, got the ball to Robinson. He passed inside from the right to Little. Little gathered the ball and held it momentarily before slipping it further left to the incoming Peyton who had stolen up unmarked. Peyton slammed the ball left-footed past Kennedy to make it 1-1 (61 mins).

Soon after the restart, Alty won a corner as their supporters replied to the visiting fans' earlier chants of "Easy, easy" with "It's not so easy any more". Alty now had Halifax backpedalling and their manager exhorted them to "Keep the tempo going". In response, Halifax replaced Forrest by Bowler who was posted out on the left. Soon after this, Thornley fired in a shot which Kennedy saved, following a Rose throw-in (66 mins). Rose's tackle then stopped a Halifax attempt to get forward and led to an excellent move via Robinson, Thornley and Little which ended with Little's shot flashing across the face of goal from the right (68 mins). But substitute Bowler was soon showing ominous pace on the flank for Town but when Halifax did win their next corner it was in rather fortunate circumastances, for Maddox's clearance hit Rose in the back and cannoned out of play (70 mins)

Halifax now began to contain Alty's attacking burst before making another switch, bringing on Ryan Sugden, who was recovering from injury, to replace Grant (74 mins). Almost immediately a mistake by Aspinall saw Sugden surge past Band into the Alty box but as Band raced after him the Halifax man fired in a shot which Coburn kept out, possibly with the help of the upright. Altrincham now made their first swap, bringing on Lugsden in place of Rose, who had done well following his recall to the starting line-up (76 mins). However, the lightning fast Bowler and Sugden then conspired to win a corner, which Coburn caught. Play was now end to end as Owen had a shot blocked , Band broke up an advance by Bowler and then Lugsden did well, laying the ball inside to Little only for the striker to lift his shot over the bar (79 mins). This was an excellent advert for Conference football and Alty added to the enjoyment by winning a corner from Aspinall’s cross off Haslam. The aftermath of the corner produced an Alty freekick but this ended up from Aspinall's kick in the arms of Kennedy. Halifax made another change after 82 minutes when Senior came on for Smikle. As the sides traded attacks, Alty prepared an unexpected double substitution, with Alty withdrawing two attacking players in Thornley and Robinson and bringing on centre-back Gary Talbot and midfielder Lewis Chalmers (86 mins).

Within two minutes the game was decided as Killeen advanced on the left and found Sugden. Although Peyton made an excellent clearance, the ball soon came back as Thompson fed Senior, who was left of goal towards the by-line. He slipped the ball across the box to Sugden who had a simple conversion to make from close range to secure all three points (88 mins). After all their hard work, Altrincham were left chasing an equaliser in the two remaining minutes plus three added minutes, with Peter Band now supplementing the strike force. In that time they created one reasonable opening when Aspinall's free kick found Little but he hooked his effort wide. The match sponsors named Lewis Killeen as Halifax’s Man of the Match and Rod Thornley as his Altrincham counterpart.

This was a very disappointing ending to Altrincham's evening. Having weathered a very impressive opening spell in the first half and conceded just once in that time, they regrouped after the interval and got themselves on level terms only to fall to a late blow. Whether the double substitution just before the winner had any direct effect on the outcome will never be known but, on the positive side, more performances like this from Alty against sides less accomplished than Halifax will surely get their reward.