Match Report

SUMMARY:

Above: Colin Little lines up a freekick.

Alty showed plenty of spirit but were fortunate only to lose by one goal as Burton at times threatened to overrun them. Clare put the Brewers ahead after 8 minutes when he converted Gilroy's cross expertly with a shot into the bottom corner. Little headed wide when he should have scored, following good work by O'Neill who was Alty's best player tonight. The Alty goal led a charmed life in the second half, with Burton hitting the post twice and going close on several occasions. But a well struck goal, from the left, by Chalmers got Alty level (64 mins). More Burton pressure finally told and they were allowed to advance unchallenged up the right to feed the unmarked Clare who again scored with a well-placed shot (79 mins). Neverthless, the outcome could have been better for Altrincham as, with the scores level, Little had fired a good chance wide and then O'Neill had almost snatched a late equaliser when he headed Bushell's freekick onto the bar (89 mins).

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr A S Watts

Altrincham were without the supended Karl Munroe, whilst Burton's Brayford was missing for the same reason. So Stephen Rose came in to replace Munroe, with Pat McFadden being added to the bench. Burton's Webster was unfit but their other injury doubts Darren Stride and Keith Gilroy were both in the squad .

BACKGROUND:

Alty, with only 3 wins in their previous 22 league games, and without an away win all season were decidedly the underdogs against Burton who, despite some indifferent form recently, were still pushing for a play-off place. This game, Altrincham's fourth away match out of the last five games, had been switched to a Friday night because of a clash on tomorrow's date with a Derby County game; apparently Albion do not have their own stewards so use the Derby's stewards instead. However, Derby's game had since been switched back to Saturday so why this game remained an inconvenient Friday night game, forcing away players and supporters to take time off work, was a mystery. In the event, the game appeared to be marshalled, at least partly, by stewards from Chesterfield. The gate was Burton's lowest of the season despite a good turn out from Altrincham considering the inconvenient timing.

After a sunny day, this game was to be played in rain throughout. Today's referee, Adam Watts, was the man who abandoned Altrincham's FA Trophy match at Tamworth in January, when the Robins were leading.

BURTON ALBION (Yellow shirts, black shorts and socks) : 30. Kevin POOLE, 2. Gary ROWETT, 6. Ryan AUSTIN, 5. Darren TINSON, 4. Andy CORBETT; 28. Alex NICHOLLS, 10. Andy DUCROS, 27. Lee BELL, 11. Keith GILROY; 16. Jon SHAW, 9. Daryl CLARE. Subs: 7. Darren STRIDE, 13. Martin TAYLOR (gk), 14. Shaun HARRAD, 15. Tony HENSHAW, 20. Nigel CLOUGH.

ALTRINCHAM (Dark/pale blue shirts, pale blue shorts and socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 3. Gary SCOTT, 4. Peter BAND, 11. Warren PEYTON; 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL, 8. Val OWEN, 14. Lewis CHALMERS; 9. Colin LITTLE, 12.Joe O'NEILL. Subs: 5. Gary TALBOT, 10. Rod THORNLEY, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 19. Chris SENIOR, 22. Andy SCOTT.

Altrincham substitutes:

Alty kicked off as rain fell on the Pirelli Stadium and following a foul on O'Neill Burton's Austin got an early yellow card (4 mins). A seemingly excellent tackle by Rose was harshly penalised and from the freekick Burton won the game's first corner. After this, good work from Bell was undone by Clare's header which took the ball away from goal (6 mins). From Chalmers's throw from the left 20 yards from Albion's goal, Bushell headed the ball to an opponent who prompted a break up the left. From a good run by Gilroy, the ball came to Clare, who turned well before placing a firm, low shot past Coburn (8 mins). Burton continued to set the pace, with most of their attacks going up the left. Bushell was then booked for reasons that were not clear (15 mins).

As the rain intensified, Altrincham began to get into the match, with O'Neill working well up front. But when Band delayed a clearance, Shaw interchanged passes with Nicholls before firing wildly wide (20 mins). Burton conceded a freekick which Little laid off for Bushell whose shot was charged down. Play was now more even than in the opening stages but then Alty allowed Bell to advance and Coburn had to make a good stop before Rose was unable to clear and the keeper had to block again but Alty then had to survive a penalty appeal against Band for handball before they could breathe again (29 mins).

Despite the pressure the visiting fans kept up excellent support from the away end. After Bushell's cross had been nodded to Little by O'Neill, the ball came to Chalmers, whose excellent scissor kick just cleared the bar (33 mins). Following a Burton attack, Lawton did well but had to concede a corner on the Burton left from which they headed across goal (36 mins). Just before the break Alty had a great chance to level. O'Neill did superbly on the left, winning the ball, evading a foul challenge and putting the ball onto Little's head at the back post, but the out of sorts striker failed to hit the target from six yards (43 mins). Alty won two corners in succession as 2 minutes of added time began. From the second Little fired narrowly wide (45+1 mins). Half-time arrived with Alty having got themselves back in the game but Burton deserving of their lead.

Burton kicked off the second half, with rain still coming down. The first keeper in action was Poole, who fielded Band's header following a long throw from Chalmers from the left (47 mins). Little continued his recent struggle to regain his touch but the travelling fans maintained their vocal support for their team. There was little noteworthy in the opening stages of the half before Chalmers headed Peyton's freekick, from the right, wide of goal (54 mins). Following this, Bushell won a free kick when he was obstructed but Rose's freekick from half-way went straight to Poole. Soon afterwards, an Alty header went to a Burton player and the ball came to Clare whose header hit the post before rebounding for a Burton shot which Coburn stopped at point blank range. The danger was not over as the loose ball fell to Band who nudged the ball towards his own goal before the danger was cleared (55 mins).

Alty responded by going to the other end, where O'Neill's header went narrowly wide but his appeal for a corner went unheeded (56 mins), Burton then did gain a corner, off Peyton, on their right wing. Alty had all eleven players back in their own box defending the corner and it was cleared but when Peyton's attempted clearnce was blocked soon afterwards, Burton won a throw on the right from which another corner resulted. Coburn got the ball partly clear but from a resulting cross Rowett headed towards goal only for the covering Owen to head away from the near post. When Little lost possession soon after this, Burton pressed again. Clare fed Gilroy who accelerated into the box but his excellent shot came back off the upright to deny him what would have been an excellent goal. But the siege continued as Burton won two more corners in as many minutes, the second coming off Chalmers's overstrength header intended for Coburn (62 mins). From this last corner, the ball came to Bell whose fierce shot narrowly cleared the bar. Austin then received a lecture for a lunge at Chalmers near half way. Now, against the run of play Altrincham equalised. The goal came after Rose had done well and the ball found its way to Chalmers to the left of goal. The midfielder ran into the box, evading a challenge, before planting an excellent low shot into the far corner of Poole's net to make it 1-1 as the game went into the 64th minute. Soon another trip on Chalmers, by Shaw, gave Alty another freekick and Shaw found himself booked for his offence (66 mins). Alty were now enjoying a good spell and, when Owen dispossessed an opponent, the ball came via O'Neill to Little, who was free of the defence, But Little failed to hit the target as he attempted to curl the ball into the far corrner, to Poole's left (68 mins). It was the sort of chance that Little would have buried last season.

But Alty played a dangerous game when they allowed Nicholls to advance unchallenged on theight and, though they got away with it this time, they were not to be so lucky later on. In the meantime Altrincham continued to do well with Owen prominent in midfield. When Band was fouled by Bell, Rose's freekick went to Poole but the Alty defender did better soon afterwards when he bravely put his head in the way of Rowett's rasping shot from outside the box, the Alty centre-back's intervention diverting the ball narrowly wide of Coburn's left post for a corner (71 mins). The corner created danger as, first, Band cleared only for Bushell to have divert a follow up narrowly over his own goal for Burton's sixth corner of the second half, which Chalmers cleared (71 mins). Rain was now pelting down as Burton came at Alty again. Now, a fierce Burton shot took a slight touch from Coburn to give the Brewers another flag-kick. Bell was then booked for Burton after an incident over on the far side of the pitch which produced an Altrincham throw-in.

Altrincham now made a change, with Senior coming on up front for Little (76 mins). Soon afterwards Lawton was booked for a challenge on Austin but, from the freekick, just outside the box, Clare hit the ball poorly over the bar (78 mins). Nicholls was then allowed to run 40 yards or more from the right flank well inside his own half and when he cut in, unchallenged, he found the unmarked Clare in the left of the box. The Burton top-scorer duly netted a well-taken goal with a low shot into Coburn's left corner of the net (79 mins). Alty could make no headway in the next few minutes and substitute Senior had, as yet, hardly seen the ball since his introduction. Darren Stride then came on to replace Bell for Burton (83 mins), as Thornley and McFadden waited also to come on, for Altrincham. However, it was two minutes later before the two attacking substitutes were introduced, replacing Chalmers and Lawton respectively on the left and right flanks respectively (85 mins).

With four minutes left, a punt by Coburn into touch did not help the cause. However, with a minute of normal time left, Thornley won a freekick on the left. From Bushell's kick, O'Neill rose well but saw his header bounce off the top off the crossbar for a goalkick (89 mins). Now Clare, having scored four times against Alty this season, gave way to Harrad for Burton (90 mins). Four minutes of added time were announced, during which a sliced shot well wide by Owen was Alty's best effort (90+2 mins). So Alty succumbed to their fifth defeat in a run which now comprises seven games without a win. Despite some excellent football from Burton, Altrincham responded to the pressure and with a bit of luck might have taken something from the game to aid their fight against relegation.