Match Report

SUMMARY:

Altrincham failed to capitalize after Colin Little had headed them ahead, from Peyton's freekick, just after the interval (48 mins) and they allowed the home side to come at them in the final half hour and snatch a late victory. It was not until the 87th minute that the Lambs equalised when Aspinall conceded a freekick on the right edge of the Alty box. From Cooper's kick, Taylor headed home. Worse followed when Stevenson got into the box and though Coburn made a great stop from Law's effort, the ball came back to Stevenson who netted - in the third minute of added time

Right: Rod Thornley in action for Alty at Tamworth.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. Adam Watts (Kidderminster)

With Owen suspended and Bushell out, injured, the Alty line-up had O'Neill in an unaccustomed role on the right flank and Thornley on the left as Chalmers and Lawton occupied the central midfield in what looked an attacking formation. Suspensions, injuries and flu left Tamworth with only four on the bench, one of them a youth player, whilst manager Mark Cooper played himself in midfield in an initial 3-5-2 set-up.

BACKGROUND:

This was a replay of the abandoned first attempt to play this FA Trophy first round match, which was called off by today's referee, Adam Watts, as Alty led 2-1 at half-time and with the foggy conditions marginally improving. Alty arrived still without an away win since last April and having been put out of last season's FA Cup at the same ground as today's match.

TAMWORTH (All red): 1. Jose VEIGA, 21. Tom KEMP, 2. Adie SMITH, 28. Ryan LAIGHT; 20. Daryl TAYLOR, 31. Simon HESLOP, 16. Mark COOPER, 14. Graeme LAW, 24. John McGRATH; 11. Matthew WILLIAMS, 9. Steve BURTON. Subs: 10. Jon STEVENSON, 25. Kevin SPENCER, 27. Luke KEEN, 40, Dale BELFORD (gk).

ALTRINCHAM (Pale and dark blue shirts, dark blue shorts, pale blue socks): (Pale and dark blue shirts, dark blue shorts, pale blue socks): 1. Stuart COBURN; 2. Steve ASPINALL, 17. Karl MUNROE, 4. Peter BAND, 11. Warren PEYTON; 12. Joe O'NEILL, 7. Robbie LAWTON (capt), 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 10. Rod THORNLEY; 9. Colin LITTLE, 16. Peter THOMSON. Subs: 13. Richard ACTON (gk), 3. Gary SCOTT, 5. Gary TALBOT, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 20. Stephen ROSE.

Altrincham substitutes:

On a cold, dull afternoon, Alty kicked off, up the slope but with a gusty wind behind them. Possession was lost almost immediately and the opening stages saw untidy play from both sides as the teams tried to cope with the soft pitch and unpredictable wind. Tamworth wasted an early freekick from the front edge of the box, which McGrath hit very weakly into the wall (5 mins). Soon afterwards, a tug on Thomson earned Alty a freekick, 25 yards out in a central position, which Aspinall hit only narrowly wide as Veiga scrambled across his line unconvincingly (8 mins). Soon, Alty threatened again as Lawton and Little advanced but when the ball was headed away by a defender to Little, he fed Thornley but the Alty left winger crossed wildly (11 mins).

Munroe was then involved twice in quick succession, making good clearances, the second of which raised a cheer when it struck the back of the referee's head. The conditions continued to rule out fluent play before Burton won his side a corner on their left, following which Tamworth were caught offside, a fairly regular occurrence in the opening stages (17 mins). Neither keeper had been tested before Burton fed Taylor who forced a save from Coburn (19 mins).

Following a Chalmers throw from the left, Thornley won Alty's first corner and Aspinall was fortunate to see his poor, low kick gain a second corner off a defender . McGrath then wasted another freekick for the Lambs with a wild effort which gave Alty a goalkick (25 mins). Next, Munroe did well to block a Williams shot as play remained reasonably even. After a fairly uninspiring few minutes a neat move from Alty earned a corner from Lawton's cross. Following this, Lawton hooked an effort to the keeper, Veiga (33 mins). Play continued in a competitive, rather than inspiring, fashion until another good attack ended when Thornley won a header in the box from Aspinall's cross but Veiga made a good save, low down (37 mins).

There was then a comedy of errors as, firstly, McGrath sliced a shot so badly that he himself retrieved it well left of the Alty goal and then, from the resulting cross, O'Neill sliced the ball across the face of his own goal (40 mins). Not long afterwards, Coburn sliced a back-pass from Munroe out of play for an unnecessary corner (42 mins). As the 45 minutes ended, two minutes of added time were surprisingly signalled despite their being no injuries, bookings or other stoppages during the half. But the interval duly arrived with Alty, who had led 2-1 at that stage in the abandoned first game, now having to settle for a 0-0 scoreline.

As the second half started, drizzly rain was in the air and the wind was still gusty. Soon, Thornley was flattened from behind by Kemp, who escaped without censure other than a freekick to Alty. But his offence was costly, despite Thornley having to go off after receiving treatment. Peyton's well-taken freekick, from the left, about 35 yards out, evaded a defender at the near post, allowing Little to loop a header over the keeper to put Alty ahead (48 mins). Tamworth then created a free header for Burton, who headed woefully wide, and he will have been thankful to see the flag go up for offside (53 mins). After Heslop had shot wide, Alty wasted a great chance to wrap up the game. Thomson was set free, one on one, against Veiga but he was not sharp enough and the ball ran to the home keeper (57 mins).

Tamworth continued to enjoy possession but were let down by poor balls in the final third of the pitch as, for their part, Alty failed to push forward to build on their lead. After 62 minutes both sides made changes. Tamworth replaced Williams and Burton by Stevenson and Spencer, whilst McFadden replaced Thomson, who looked short of match fitness in only his second start of the season for Alty.

Soon, Little had a shot blocked but when Tamworth attacked at the other end, Coburn gathered the ball, only to be bowled over, late, by Spencer. Again, the tolerant referee gave a foul but did not even talk to the offender despite awarding the freekick (66 mins). Alty now, rather unexpectedly, brought on the right-footed Gary Scott to replace the more attack-minded Rod Thornley on the left flank (68 mins). Now, Tamworth continued to enjoy the upper hand with a wide effort from McFadden being Alty's only effort in the next few minutes. Pat's shot appeared to be deflected but the referee awarded Tamworth a goalkick (73 mins). A foul on Chalmers by Spencer, earned the home substitute the game's first yellow card (75 mins).

Altrincham then conceded a freekick and soon afterwards a corner. Before this could be taken, Chalmers needed treatment but the flag-kick, when it was eventually taken, was badly overhit. Indeed, Tamworth's dead-balls were generally very poor this afternoon and, soon, another freekick was hit far too long, to Stuart Coburn (84 mins). But, despite the home side's failings, Altrincham were having to absorb pressure and when Aspinall pushed Stevenson from behind, as the Tamworth player headed away from goal just outside the right side of the Alty penalty area, a threatening freekick was awarded to the Lambs. This time they made good use of the set-piece as their player-manager, Mark Cooper took the kick and found Taylor, one of the smallest players on the pitch, unmarked at the back of the box, from where he headed past Coburn to level the scores as the game went into the 87th minute.

Almost immediately after the re-start, Taylor was booked for a foul on Lawton but, when the full 90 minutes ended, four minutes of added time were signalled. In the first of these, Alty got to the other end and Little fed McFadden whose swerving shot went to Veiga. Then Veiga miskicked a clearance to McFadden, but a covering defender dispossessed the Alty striker before he could capitalize on the goalkeeper's error (90+2 mins). But, in the third added minute Tamworth got the ball to Stevenson inside the front of the box and from his lay-off, Law's close-range shot forced a brilliant save from Coburn, who beat the ball out. However, the ball was immediately worked to Stevenson who slotted the ball past Coburn from about 10 yards in the centre of the box, to put Alty behind in a game which they had been leading just six minutes earlier.

Alty can only blame themselves for allowing the home side back into the match and not pressing home their one-goal advantage. Nevertheless, there was still time for Alty to feed Joe O'Neill for a snap shot from right of goal, but this went comfortably wide and so, for the second season running, Alty had been dumped out of both FA competitions (Cup and Trophy) at the first hurdle, which meant that no prize money has been won at all in that period to help the club's tight financial situation. Defeat was all the more galling for Altrincham, as they had been ahead deservedly 2-1 when the previous attempt to play this game was abandoned before Christmas.

Alty's misery was compounded with the news of Stafford's league win at Cambridge which dropped the Robins a place in the table, to fifteenth.