Match Report

SUMMARY:

Altrincham lost their second successive game 3-2 and are still without an away win this season but it was a very controversial penalty award by referee Vaughan which ultimately cost Altrincham the points, though in the last quarter the home side wasted chances to make the game safe. It all started well for Altrincham as Colin Little expertly side-footed Chalmers's cross from the left into the corner of the net (24 mins). But the lead lasted barely five minutes as Alty failed to deal with Kenna's long throw, allowing Constable to head home Christie's flick-on (29 mins). It all went wrong for Alty in the last few minutes of the first half. As Christie, left of goal, surged past Scott into the left of the box, the Kiddy player went down. Mr Vaughan blew his whistle but seemed unsure why he had done so until, after several seconds, he unconvincingly pointed to the spot. Christie blasted the spot-kick home (41 mins). It got even worse before the break as Chalmers was booked for protesting then Little blasted wide with only Bevan to beat and finally Stephen Rose had to go off injured and be replaced by Gary Talbot, who had not played a competitive game for several weeks.

Joe O'Neill made it 2-2 on the hour mark, finishing off a good move but, just four minutes later, Coburn could only claw Harkness's freekick from 20 yards into the corner of his own net. Despite bringing on Thornley and Thomson, Alty rarely looked like levelling in the closing stages. Alty now drop into the relegation places for the first time this season.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. Roger Vaughan (Somerset)

Alty were without the suspended Karl Munroe and Steve Aspinall was dropped as Gary Scott moved to right-back and Warren Peyton to left-back. The Harriers had taken advantage of loans this season and included both Iyseden Christie, from Rochdale and James Constable from Walsall.

ALTRINCHAM (Pale and dark blue shirts, dark blue shorts, pale blue socks): 1. Stuart COBURN; 3. Gary SCOTT, 20. Stephen ROSE, 4. Peter BAND, 11. Warren PEYTON; 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL (capt), 8. Val OWEN, 14. Lewis CHALMERS; 9. Colin LITTLE, 12. Joe O'NEILL. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 5. Gary TALBOT, 10. Rod THORNLEY, 16. Peter THOMSON, 13. Richard ACTON (gk).

Altrincham substitutes:

KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS (Red shirts & socks, black shorts): 1. Scott BEVAN, 2. Jeff KENNA, 4. Gavin HURREN, 5. Mark CREIGHTON, 3. Jonny HARKNESS; 15. Simon RUSSELL, 16. Russell PENN, 25. Rob DAVIES, 11. Michael BLACKWOOD; 22. Iyseden CHRISTIE, 26. James CONSTABLE. Subs: 7. Jake SEDGEMORE, 9. Andy WHITE, 13. Steve TAYLOR, 14. Luke REYNOLDS, 18. Brian SMIKLE.

The game started after a minute's silence for a former Kidderminster director and it was Alty who settled the better. With the hundred or so visiting fans making their presence known, Alty won the game's first corner, off Hurren. Bushell's corner was cleared back to him but his resulting cross was fielded by Bevan, the former Tamworth keeper (9 mins). Then, after a Scott pass had put Peyton under pressure, possession was lost and Band had to be alert to clear the danger. Soon, an excellent ball forward by Peyton got Little in behind his marker but the ball just ran out of play. Next Peyton was busy again, clearing the ball in the Alty goalmouth after Blackwood's surge had taken the ball behind Coburn, and a home player then put the loose ball over the bar (13 mins).

As Kiddy improved, Alty had a narrow escape when good work by left-winger Blackwood led to Christie poking the ball past Coburn, only for his effort to rebound back into the keeper's arms (14 mins). Both sides let down promising build-ups with misplaced passes before the lively Russell sliced a shot badly wide (20 mins). Apart from thelr drum, the home crowd continued to be subdued as their team failed to impose themselves. It got worse for them when Bushell fed O'Neill on the left before the ball came back to Chalmers, on the left touchline, 25 yards out. His instant cross found Little who, from close range, deftly sidefooted the ball past Bevan, into the far corner of the net (24 mins). A minute later, Rose was booked for a challenge by Mr Vaughan but Harkness put the freekick wide. Alty soon threatened again when Band fed O'Neill but the forward lost control of the ball (27 mins). After Constable had headed Kenna's cross over the bar, the Harriers' striker equalised when Kenna's long throw from the right was headed on by Christie. Constable headed the ball firmly past Coburn (29 mins).

The goal lifted Kidderminster and they soon won a freekick, for which Band was booked. Harkness drove the freekick into the wall (31 minutes) but Kidderminster now won a corner (33 mins). After this, Davies fired narrowly wide, as Alty were kept on the back foot until Owen had a shot from 20 yards blocked (37 mins). The turning point in the game arrived after 40 minutes when Christie got past Scott into the left of the box, and went down as Band came across to challenge. Referee Vaughan, some 20 yards away, blew his whistle but delayed any confirmation of his decision for several seconds before pointing, without any conviction, to the spot. After Christie had driven the spot-kick high into the net, Chalmers was booked, presumably for dissent (41 mins).

From the re-start, Little ambitiously tried to chip Bevan from 40 yards but missed the target, after which referee Vaughan went over to lecture manager Graham Heathcote, presumably for protesting about the dubious penalty decision. It got worse as Rose went down injured and had to be taken off. But ten-man Alty then had a golden chance to equalise when Coburn's punt put Little clear only for Little to blast his shot wide, just as he had done in a similar situation in the opening minutes against Burton last Saturday.

Gary Talbot, who had been out injured for several weeks, now came on for Rose (45+1 mins). Band then did well to block a Christie shot and in the third added minute, from Constable's feed, Russell's fine, low shot produced a superb save by Coburn, low to his right, which gave the home side a corner. But half-time arrived with Alty trailing, thanks to Mr Vaughan's penalty decision.

Gary Talbot spent the interval going through warm-up procedures on the pitch with assistant manager Dalton Steele, testimony to the defender's lack of match practice since his last Conference appearance on 9 September at Rushden. Soon, Christie threatened but as he delayed his shot, Peyton made an excellent block and Kidderminster wasted the resulting corner. Alty also won a corner through Lawton, after good work by O'Neill. Bushell's low corner caused panic in the home box, as two or three Alty shots were blocked in quick succession at the cost of another corner, which Bushell overhit (51 mins). Play was now end to end with Lawton having another impressive game, driving forward on the right. After Owen had been penalised for alleged foot up, the Alty midfielder argued with Mr Vaughan to no avail but moments later when the man in black fell over, it raised the biggest cheer of the afternoon (54 mins).

Soon afterwards Owen was tripped by an opponent 20 yards out as he surged towards the box but Little curled the resulting free kick straight at Bevan (59 mins). But Alty got level a minute later after Chalmers had got in well to win a tackle. The ball was worked to the right to Lawton whose low cross was met by O'Neill's shot past Bevan for his second goal of the season (60 mins).

Alty briefly played with ten men as Chalmers received attention to a hand injury and, during this period, linesman Martin failed to flag for offside forcing Alty into a desperate block to clear a Kidderminster attack. Referee Vaughan then awarded Kidderminster a freekick 20 yards out following a routine Alty challenge and his decision again proved costly as freekick expert Harkness curled the ball just inside Coburn's left post, the Alty keeper getting his hands to the ball but only being able to help it into the goal (64 mins). Alty came back at their hosts but their next attack saw Lawton caught accidentally in the face but play continued as Christie again got the benefit of linesman Martin's decision and fed Russell whose shot, from the right, curled just over the bar (69 mins).

Chalmers was now back on, playing with a bandaged hand as a foul on Owen went unnoticed much to the midfielder's annoyance. Owen's frustration led him to commit a challenge which saw him booked (70 mins). Linesman Martin's baffling decisions continued as he gave Kidderminster a throw when Lawton had clearly kept the ball in play but Alty were soon fortunate to see Christie head over the bar from five yards as the lively Blackwood got past Band (72 mins). Then Constable missed a sitter as he fired a good 15 feet over the bar from Russell's lay off from the right. Alty were now forced on the defensive. Owen was then flattened by Penn but, after treatment for the Alty midfielder, Mr Vaughan re-started play with a bounce up. Alty now got back to the other end but O'Neill saw his shot blocked before Owen fired wide from 20 yards after a freekick for a foul on Chalmers (77 mins).

Referee Vaughan then missed Penn's handball before Alty made a substitution as Thornley replaced Chalmers on the Alty left (79 mins). An excellent surge forward from Lawton led to O'Neill being halted in the Kiddy box but the cleared ball came to Thornley whose first-time hook cleared the bar comfortably (82 mins). Alty attempted to maintain their momentum with another change as Peter Thomson replaced Joe O'Neill up front (82 mins) as Christie received treatment, before being helped off the field and replaced by Reynolds (83 mins). Bushell almost got his side into trouble as he attempted to dribble out of trouble from his own by-line and slipped in the process. However, Blackwood shot wide from left of goal (85 mins).

After Little's underhit shot at Bevan, an underhit pass from Bushell led to panic in the Alty defence which ended with Coburn's slice into touch. Alty's subs, Thornley and Thomson were seeing little of the ball as Kidderminster maintained pressure at the other end. Referee Vaughan indicated five added minutes of play at the end of normal time and, in the first of these, Blackwood shot wildly wide from 25 yards. From an Alty throw-in the left Thornley got in a cross but found no colleague before Scott became Alty's fifth booking when he jumped in on Reynolds in midfield (90+3 mins). The final whistle went to confirm Alty's second successive 3-2 defeat.

The NL Paper indicated that Alty committed nine fouls in this game and picked up five yellow cards compared with Kidderminster who committed ten fouls and got no cautions. Alty's ratio of card per foul was the highest today, not just in, the Conference, but also in the entire Football League and Premiership as well. Indeed Halifax, for example, committed 20 offences and saw one yellow today! In the end Kidderminster were deserved winners but the effect of the penalty decision on Altrincham is incalculable. Alty dropped into the relegation places as a consequence both of today's defeat and of a run of 14 games in which only two have been won.