Match Report

SUMMARY:

A moderate performance from Altrincham was just about enough to see off Southport. The visitors started the better and it was against the run of play when Alty went ahead. Aspinall's well-struck free-kick from 25 yards took a big deflection off Port striker Jackson and flew past the wrong-footed keeper Robinson (19 mins). After losing Band through injury, Alty made it 1-0 after 44 minutes when Munroe scored well from 18 yards. But a well-taken goal by debutant Paterson (77 mins) set up a tense closing period for Altrincham as Southport pressed for an equaliser. However, Alty held out to rise to 14th in the table and leave Southport in bottom place. Report to follow.

Right: Peter Band in action against Southport.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. C D Sarginson

Alty had won just once in the previous eight games and Southport had only gathered three points from the previous eight games and lay bottom of the table. The visitors had also seen some off the field problems with Carl Baker suspended for today's game for a breach of club discipline.

Altrincham kept the same starting eleven from Oxford last week despite the return to action in midweek of goalkeeper Stuart Coburn. However, the formation differed from the Oxford game with Peter Band deployed on the left of midfield and Lewis Chalmers on the right and Rod Thornley playing alongside Joe O'Neill up front. On the bench Justin Bowler got the nod ahead of Kieran Lugsden. Still missing, injured, were midfielder Steve Bushell, centre-back Gary Talbot and strikers Colin Little and Peter Thomson. Joe O'Neill was facing the side against whom he had scored a hat-trick on his debut for York City last season.

Southport were without Dino Maamria (injured) and Carl Baker (suspended by the club for a breach of discipline). Up front, Sean Paterson made his debut on loan from Blackpool.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 13. Richard ACTON; 2. Steve ASPINALL, 17. Karl MUNROE, 20. Stephen ROSE, 11. Warren PEYTON; 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 8. Val OWEN, 4. Peter BAND; 10. Rod THORNLEY, 12. Joe O'NEILL. Subs: 3. Gary SCOTT, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 15. Justin BOWLER, 22. Colin POTTS, 23. Eddie HUSSIN.

Alty Substitutions:

SOUTHPORT (All white): 1.Ryan ROBINSON; 22. Danny VENTRE, 26. Daniel KIRKUP, 5. Kevin LEE, 15. Stephen ROWLAND; 8. Liam BLAKEMAN, 4. Michael POWELL, 6. Mark BOYD (captain), 3. Lee HOOLICKIN, 14. Sean PATERSON, 18. Mark JACKSON. Subs: 2. Chris LANE, 11. James OLSEN, 12. John BAGNALL, 19. Joe FOWLER, 23. Francis BARRY.

REPORT

On a sunny afternoon, in front of Moss Lane's biggest gate of the season which was boosted by a good attendance from Southport, despite their league predicament, the visitors started the better. After a foul by Lawton on Blakeman, keeper Robinson’s long freekick won his side a corner on the right from which a Port header flew wide (3 mins). But then good work in his own half from Thornley saw him gain possession and sent a superb through ball to set O'Neill free against Robinson. O'Neill tried to slip the ball to the keeper's right but he made a fine one-handed save to push the ball wide for a throw in on the Alty right (5 mins). However, Southport continued to enjoy the better of the early exchanges. Next, Hoolickin lifted a shot over the Alty bar after a good build up involving Blakeman, Boyd and Paterson. Another Southport corner came after ten minutes. However, Southport did not have it all their own way as Band threatened inside the visitors' box and though he was pushed inside the box, play continued. Alty continued to misfire and Southport won their third corner through Ventre, after 16 minutes. Manager Heathcote who had started the game in the stand now became vocal as he tried to animate his team.

O'Neill was then caught by a clumsy challenge by Kirkup and had to leave the field after treatment. From the resulting freekick by Aspinall from 25 yards right-centre, the Alty leading scorer drove the ball, low, towards goal. But Jackson attempted to divert the kick but only succeeded in wrong footing his own keeper as the ball veered off his foot and inside the near post to Robinson's left to give Altrincham a fortunate goal against the early run of play (19 mins).

O'Neill. now back on the pitch, was then blocked off as he advanced on Robinson before a shot at the other end from Paterson was competently saved by Acton (20 mins). Alty's performance now improved but a fine turn and snap shot from Thornley went high over the bar from 25 yards. Following a throw from Chalmers, Band got into the box from which he emerged limping. Another foul on O’Neill on the edge of the Southport box led to Alty's first corner (24 mins). Thornley took the corner which came out via Lawton to Aspinall whose fierce shot from 30 yards went wide. Band now was off the pitch being treated by Andy Hosgood at the side of the Southport goal and though he soon came back on, it was clear that he was not going to continue for much longer (26 mins). After the lame Band had conceded a freekick, Hoolickin forced a good save from 30 yards by Acton (28 mins).

Band had to bow to the inevitable and limped off to be replaced by Scott, who slotted in at left-back, allowing Peyton to revert to his preferred left-midfield role (29 mins). However, Southport soon won another corner on the right. From Hoolickin's corner, Lee headed over the bar (32 mins). The game's first booking came a minute later as Powell committed a late foul on Thornley. Folowing Aspinall’s freekick, Chalmers got into the box but was closed down well. The game was now more even than in the opening quarter of an hour as Alty got gradually better but in terms of quality this game was not to be a classic. After 38 minutes Alty did threaten when a good ball from Munroe reached O'Neill who was brought down but managed to get the ball to Thornley. However, the move eventually faltered and led to a Southport goalkick. Manager Heathcote was not too happy, telling his side to stop "giving the damn thing away" as passes went astray (40 mins).

An excellent cushioned header from Rose led to a corner as the ball went forward via Chalmers, Lawton, and O'Neill before Peyton's good cross from the left (42 mins). Thornley's corner again led to a low shot from distance by Aspinall which was half blocked and came to O'Neill, who won another corner. Following Thornley's corner O'Neill's shot struck Rowland and came back for Chalmers in the box. He got the ball across to Munroe who turned and volleyed the ball expertly into the net from about 18 yards left-centre of the box to make it 2-0 (44 mins). It was Karl's first goal for Altrincham and made him the eleventh Alty play to score a Conference goal this season. Southport almost got back in the game before the break when Owen conceded a freekick for a push and Hoolickin curled his freekick narrowly wide of the junction of bar and upright, to Acton's left (45 mins). Alty got through two minutes of added time with Graham Heathcote still not happy as he shouted instructions to his charges. But they went to the dressing room with a two-goal lead which was a little harsh on the Sandgrounders.

Alty kicked off the second half, attacking the Southport supporters in the 20/20 End but it wasn't long before Stephen Rose picked up a booking when he was judged to have fouled Blakeman despite the latter seeming to jump in with a two footed lunge from which he came off the worse (49 mins). Alty almost added to their lead when a fine cross from the left by Peyton was met by an acrobatic scissor-kick at the back post by Chalmers, which the keeper beat out but which led to a corner for the home side on the left, taken by Thornley (51 mins). This was cleared and play went through an unexceptional spell in the next few minutes. Southport attempted to shake things up by bringing on Fowler for Jackson (56 mins) but it had little effect in the short term before the Port made another change with former Alty man James Olsen replacing Hoolickin (64 mins). After Chalmers had been dumped on the ground after the ball had gone by Rowlands, the referee allowed play to continue until Munroe was penalised for a foul and was then lectured for pointing out to the referee that he had missed the foul on Chalmers (67 mins). Southport then had a freekick 35 yards out but Acton saved Boyd's deflected shot. Alty were now sitting deep and Southport tried to keep the pressure on . But when Lee dawdled and was dispossessed by Thornley the Alty striker undid his good work with a poor cross. It was Thornley's last act as he was now withdrawn in favour of Pat McFadden up front (69 mins). At the same time Southport made their final change bringing on Lane for Lee. With both substitutions the fourth official got into a time-consuming tangle with the arcane mysteries of the electronic substitutes' board - surely there is a gap in the market for something easier to use - perhaps a set of cards with numbers on might be a radical solution?

Within five minutes McFadden had won a corner (74 mins) but Ventre cleared Peyton's kick. Owen, who had a good second half, was working hard in midfield but Alty's next effort was Peyton's freekick which went straight to Robinson. Southport set up a tense finale for Altrincham when they scored after 77 minutes. The goal came when a throw in by Rowland was relayed via Kirkup, Fowler and Lee to Paterson. From inside the box, left of centre, Paterson turned cleverly past Munroe before placing a good low shot past Acton's left hand into the bottom corner of the net. Alty fans nervously remembered the Woking game earlier this season when a 2-0 lead had been squandered but the team responded this time with a move which almost set McFadden free, only for Rowland to make a great tackle as he entered the box. Alty now won two corners in succession but these came to nothing. As the minutes ticked away, Potts came on for O'Neill up front for Alty, the latter seeming to be limping as he came off (84 mins).

Robinson soon had to race 15 yards out of his penalty area to clear as his team-mates pushed forward for an equaliser (85 mins). But they failed to threaten the Alty goal seriously before the end of the 90 minutes by which time rain had started to fall. A surprisingly long four minutes of added time were announced . In the first of these a foul by Owen gave Southport a freekick 22 yards out centrally. From this Boyd fired narrowly over the bar. But the visitors' frustrations came through in the final minutes as, firstly, Olsen took out Chalmers from behind but escaped with no more than a freekick against him. There was then a quite bizarre pantomime as Aspinall's freekick was charged down by the encroaching Paterson who was not booked. The referee rightly made Alty re-take the kick only for Paterson to repeat identically his encroachment to charge down the ball. Unbelievably, Paterson actually had the nerve to argue when the referee booked him for his senseless behaviour (90+4mins). But another booking was to follow when Potts was fouled by the right corner flag and Rowland saw the yellow card brandished at him. Eventually after five minutes of added time the whistle went to record a vital win for Altrincham which moved them up to 14th in the table and left Southport at the bottom.

The visitors put plenty of effort into the game and had the misfortune to concede a fortunate first goal to Altrincham from a deflection. But up front they did not threaten too often and now face a rearguard action to get clear of the relegation zone. For Alty, Munroe was named as Man of the Match.