Match Report

SUMMARY:

Ten-man Altrincham outclassed Northwich Victoria in today's match at Moss Lane. On 21 minutes Colin Little was harshly sent off for pushing a Northwich player who had fouled him on the edge of the box. But Rod Thornley opened the scoring after 24 minutes when he netted following a freekick on the right by Bushell, which had come when Lawton was brought down, arguably inside the box. After 80 minutes a foul on O'Neill did give Alty a penalty, which Aspinall converted with his normal efficiency. Lawton then made it 3-0 after 82 minutes from McFadden's lay-off.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. K. G. Evans

Val Owen was again missing with his calf injury so Rod Thornley continued in the starting line-up after his lively 45 minutes in the fog at Tamworth last Tuesday. Steve Aspinall also continued, at right-back, in an unchanged side from the one that started that abortive FA Trophy match at The Lamb. But on the bench Stephen Rose replaced Justin Bowler to give Alty four potential defensive substitutes.

For the Vics, chairman's son Ben Connett was in goal whilst the captain was Stuart Elliott, over whom hangs an FA charge for racial abuse against a Halifax Town player. Many of the Vics' faces were unfamiliar to Altrincham but former Birmingham City and Hucknall Town defender John McCarthy played at right-back, whilst ex-Hucknall, Tamworth and Alfreton striker Mark Sale was a familiar face on the bench.

BACKGROUND:

This was the first derby for Altrincham against Northwich since 1999-2000 season when Alty had won the corresponding fixture 2-0 before being relegated. Northwich had returned to the Conference National this season and had shown more impressive form away than at home.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN; 2. Steve ASPINALL, 4. Peter BAND, 17. Karl MUNROE, 11. Warren PEYTON; 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL (capt), 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 10. Rod THORNLEY; 9. Colin LITTLE, 12. Joe O'NEILL. Subs: 3. Gary SCOTT, 5. Gary TALBOT, 16. Peter THOMSON, 18. Pat McFADDEN. 20. Stephen ROSE.

Altrincham substitutes:

In front of Moss Lane's biggest gate for a league match since May 1991, when the Vics were also the visitors, Alty's Lewis Chalmers and Joe O'Neill kicked off towards the 20/20 End, which was well populated by visiting supporters. The floodlights were on from the start on a dull December afternoon with both sets of supporters in good voice, the visitors also having brought a drum with them. Within forty seconds Steve Aspinall found himself in the referee's book for kicking the ball away after a freekick had been given when he had attempted to retrieve a short pass from Band, a refereeing decision which was to set the standard for Mr. Evans's subsequent performance. However, Altrincham won the game's first corner when Band found Lawton, who got into the Vics' box before the flag-kick was conceded (2 mins). The game was being played at a fast pace and the large crowd was lending a good atmosphere to the proceedings. Chalmers was soon making an impression, playing in central midfield, with Thornley also looking lively, on the left flank. Soon, indeed, Thornley's shot at goal from the left had to be saved by Connett (7 mins). Chalmers was then laid low when Aspinall's clearance hit him but the ball rebounded safely to Coburn. For Alty, captain Bushell was having a shaky start with three misplaced passes in the opening minutes but he was soon more productive as he was involved in a move which got Lawton into the box but the Alty right winger could not control the ball after a neat move up the middle of the pitch by Altrincham (11 mins).

Altrincham soon threatened again when another well constructed build-up found Thornley, who jinked past two men in the box to force a fine block from Connett, the ball ballooning up off the keeper and over the crossbar. Soon afterwards Bushell found Little but his toe poke went well wide of the target. Next, Alty won a corner when Thornley forced McCarthy to concede the flag-kick on the Alty left (13 mins). Thornley continued to keep McCarthy busy on the right of the Vics' defence but soon Lawton also moved to the left as Alty applied more pressure. Roca responded for Vics with a run up the middle but his progress was checked. However, the Vics won a corner after 16 minutes when Mayman's wayward shot was adjudged by Mr. Evans to have taken a deflection as it sailed over the Golf Road roof. Vics threatened again when Bushell was penalised on the edge of the Alty box in a central position but Gallimore's freekick was well off target (19 mins). Altrincham then moved to the other end and O'Neill played in Little, who got past Charnock on the edge of the box, only for the defender blatantly to body-check him. The freekick was given but the Vics man took hold of Little who responded by pushing the offender away. Amazingly, Mr. Evans produced a red card for Little before showing a yellow to the Vics' man, who was also, arguably, the last defender. So, Alty were reduced to ten men after just 21 minutes.

Aspinall drove the freekick into the wall but Vics continued to live dangerously as now Lawton got to the by-line, right of goal and as he entered the box, was brought down. Mr. Evans judged the offence to have occurred inches outside the box rather than awarding a penalty. However, Vics paid for their foul when Bushell's freekick found Thornley at the back post. His initial header was beaten out but Thornley hit the loose ball back past Connett to put Altrincham deservedly ahead (24 mins).

With Alty boss Graham Heathcote having come down from the directors' box to the by-line after the penalty incident, his managerial counterpart, Stvee Burr, looked on as Vics continued to give a stuttering performance which belied their good away record this season. When a ball ran out of play Roca pushed Bushell away without reason but, unlike Little, escaped with just a yellow card for raising his arms (28 mins). Play resumed with no more than an Alty throw-in. Vics' best effort to date was a wide shot from Mayman (31 mins) but as Alty adjusted to their one-man deficiency, the Vics enjoyed plenty of possession at this stage. When Brown handled the ball, referee Evans did not book him as he had done earlier with Aspinall. Peyton's well taken freekick from the right, 40 yards out, was met by a great leap from Chalmers which forced Connett to save the ball as it headed to his top left-hand corner (34 mins). But Coburn soon had to make an even better save as Brayson was allowed to get free in the box but the Alty keeper managed to beat the ball away for a corner on the visitors' left (34 mins).

The Vics continued to see plenty of the ball without making too much productive use of it as Band and Munroe stood firm in the Alty defence. The out of sorts Mayman now overhit a cross from a promising position on the right but that was as dangerous as Vics got at this stage (36 mins). At the other end, a fine advance by Aspinall unfortunately ended in a mishit shot (40 mins), before the game went into three added minutes of first-half time. Connett in the Northwich goal continued his nervous display with an awful goalkick to Joe O'Neill, but the Alty striker's shot was blocked (45 mins). In the second added minute Chalmers did well and advanced up the centre and, via O’Neill, the ball came to Lawton but he lifted his shot over the bar at the end of a good Alty move. Half-time arrived with Altrincham deservedly leading despite playing with only ten men, thanks to Mr. Evans, who left the pitch to a chorus of booing.

Steve Burr was obviously unhappy with this ineffectual team and made a double change at the interval, replacing Brown by Byrne and Roca by 6ft 5inch Mark Sale. The first shot of the half was a wild, wide effort by Allan (47 mins) but soon Lewis Chalmers fed Lawton who made a hash of a presentable chance. O'Neill continued to work hard in his lone role up front but it was Thornley who went close for Altrincham after 56 minutes, firing a first-time shot just over the bar. Vics won a corner, after a slice by Aspinall, but Elliott shot a good 20 feet over the bar following the flag-kick. With Sale now making a three pronged attack, Vics looked marginally more threatening than they had been in the first half. At the other end, Thornley and O'Neill combined well and fed Lawton but his first-time volley flew very wide. Sale then did well to knock a cross across the face of the Alty goal before Coburn fielded a well hit shot from wide left by Byrne.

Another dreadful clearance from Connett almost went to Thornley before a Vics' cross was met by Carr's header which seemed to come off Sale to Coburn. Lawton seemed not to have his shooting boots on this afternoon as he again shot wildly at goal, a chance which came from O'Neill's selfless chasing down of the Northwich defender Gallimore (62 mins). Thornley’s lively performance continued when he fired in a superb volley from left of goal which Connett did well to beat out (63 mins). Vics continued to labour against ten-man Altrincham as the home side looked the far sharper team. But the Vics did win a corner, off Peyton, after 66 minutes, following which Elliott lashed a shot well over the bar from the edge of the box. But Coburn was forced to make a tremendous save soon afterwards when Mayman got behind Peyton in the box, the Alty keeper making a superb stop. The loose ball soon came back to Mayman who, this time, fired across the face of goal.

Alty now brought on Scott for Thornley, who left to a deserved round of applause. Scott slotted in at left-back, with Peyton taking Thornley’s position on the left of midfield (69 mins). After referee Evans had given Vics a goalkick from what looked a clear Alty corner, two fouls in succession from Carr failed to move the man in black to produce a card with the alacrity he had shown in the first half against Aspinall and Little. Alty continued to contain Northwich comfortably but Coburn had to make his third fine save of the afternoon, tipping over Byrne's shot after a rare error from Chalmers (76 mins). The resulting corner was cleared. Next, a Lawton surge forward fed O'Neill who tried to get past Charnock only for the defender to catch O'Neill in the face and concede a penalty kick, though no further admonishment from Mr. Evans. Aspinall allowed Connett to dive prematurely before placing his penalty into the other side of the net, thus restoring himself as Alty's leading scorer this season with five goals, all spot-kicks (80 mins). At this point Altrincham brought on Pat McFadden up front for the hard-working O'Neill, whilst Battersby replaced captain Elliott.

Just when Alty supporters thought it could not get any better than a 2-0 win over their old foes, Alty made it 3-0 when Bushell found McFadden right of goal and the young striker coolly laid the ball into the path of Lawton who, this time, unerringly found the far corner of the net with a firm drive from just inside the box (82 mins). The demoralised Vics made forlorn appeals for a penalty when Brayson went down in the Alty box but they nearly conceded again at the other end when Gallimore’s error allowed McFadden a shot at goal which went narrowly wide from 20 yards (84 mins). Play soon went into four minutes of added time during which the Vics fired well over the bar from left of goal before more good work from McFadden earned his side a corner. The final whistle soon arrived with Altrincham having scored three goals for the first time this season and the first time in a Conference match at Moss Lane since beating Aldershot 5-1 last January.

Lewis Chalmers was a deserved Man of the Match, with veteran defender John McCarthy the recipient of the award for the visitors. The win lifted Alty out of the relegation places, from 21st to 17th and gave them confidence for next Saturday's encounter against fellow strugglers Forest Green Rovers.