Match Report

SUMMARY:

After almost a year without an away win before Saturday's triumph at Weymouth, Alty made it two victories at the seaside in little more than 72 hours with this excellent win at fifth-placed Morecambe. Alty, without Gary Scott and Val Owen, almost scored straight from the kick-off but finally did so after 19 minutes when Colin Little netted from right of goal, at the second attempt, from Senior's pass. After an error-ridden first half, the Shrimps improved in the second and applied plenty of pressure but the Alty defence and midfield did extremely well to restrict Morecambe to a few clear shots at goal, whilst Alty looked lively on the break.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr M BROWN

Alty's starting line-up saw two changes from that which began at Weymouth. So Karl Munroe replaced the injured Gary Scott, whilst the unfit Val Owen's place went to Chris Senior. Morecambe included old Moss Lane favourite, Danny Adams at centre-back. Also in the Morecambe side was Adams Yates who opted to join Morecambe at the start of the season in preference to an offer from Altrincham, for whom he had been on trial.

Morecambe were in the play-off places but their home from was not as good as their record on the road and, indeed, only Stafford Rangers had scored fewer home goals than the Shrimps this season. But Alty's away form was the worst in the league and they had only secured their first away of the season last Saturday.

The game was played on a dry and fairly mild night on a pitch which looked far better than recent reports had suggested.

MORECAMBE: (Red shirts, white shorts and socks): 1. Steven DRENCH; 2. Adam YATES, 5. Jim BENTLEY, 25. Danny ADAMS, 4. Michael HOWARD; 11, Garry THOMPSON, 6. Craig STANLEY, 32. Neil SORVEL, 9. Wayne CURTIS; 21. Matthew BLINKHORN, 15. Danny CARLTON. Subs: 30. Scott DAVIES (gk), 8. Garry HUNTER, 12. Ged BRANNAN, 17. Chris BLACKBURN, 26. Jamie BURNS.

ALTRINCHAM (Pale and dark blue shirts, dark blue shorts and pale blue socks). 1. Stuart COBURN, 20. Stephen ROSE, 4. Peter BAND, 17. Karl MUNROE, 11. Warren PEYTON; 12. Joe O'NEILL, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL, 14. Lewis CHALMERS; 9. Colin LITTLE, 19. Chris SENIOR. Subs: 5. Gary TALBOT, 10. Rod THORNLEY, 16. Peter THOMSON, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 22. Andy SCOTT.

Altrincham substitutes:

Altrincham kicked off defending the away end and almost engineered a goal straight from the whistle as Chalmers did well to get the ball up the left to Senior. He, in turn, did very well to lay the ball off for Little but Alty's leading scorer failed to control the ball, with the goal at his mercy. At the other end, following an error by Band, Morecambe won a corner off the covering Munroe (2 mins). The sides traded abortive moves during the next few minutes, with Blinkhorn's 22-yard shot, narrowly wide, the nearest to a goal (8 mins). But the home side was making errors to the annoyance of the impatient home crowd whose impatience may be a factor in the Shrimps' relatively disappointing home form. The home side were also conceding freekicks with regularity. But they gained another corner when Blinkhorn nutmegged Band and fed Carlton, who forced a great block by Coburn. The Alty keeper produced another excellent save a couple of minutes later, from Blinkhorn's attempted conversion of Thompson's right-wing cross (16 mins).

Alty responded with Senior's downward header, from Bushell's pass, which forced a good save, low down, by Drench (19 mins). But moments later, Alty took the lead. Munroe, Rose and Senior got the ball to Little, left of goal, and though Drench made a good block from Little's first shot, the Alty striker regathered the ball, evaded a challenge and drove the rebound, low into the net (19 mins)

But Alty soon conceded a freekick and then Band injured his shoulder and needed treatment. But Morecambe's unforced errors continued and the home crowd went quiet. Little now floated a cross from the left, which Drench dropped as he was impeded by Senior. The keeper took exception after the foul had been given against Senior and was lucky to escape a booking, as did Senior - both players being lectured instead (29 mins).

Chalmers epitomised Alty's spirit as he beat Yates to a ball that the defender was favourite to win. Next, after lengthy treatment for O'Neill, Alty endured another minute or two with ten men, as Senior changed his boots. The back four of Alty continued to repel Morecambe, as the visiting fans sang their support. Rose now struck a 25-yard shot narrowly wide (38 mins). Peyton then got away with a clear handball soon after Carlton had fired over for Morecambe (40 mins).

Following a freekick for a foul on Rose, the same player's freekick came from Little to Senior in a threatening position on the edge of the box but the Halifax loanee failed to gather the ball and it was cleared. But soon Alty had another freekick, taken by Peyton, after which Little's shot was deflected high over the target for a corner (43 mins). As two minutes of added time were announced, Coburn took a goalkick following a poor effort at goal from Thompson. There was then a strange incident when Yates, having been told not to steal yards at a throw-in, ignored the referee who promptly awarded a foul throw, to which decision Sammy McIlroy quite unjustifiably went ballistic, even coming onto the pitch to make his point. Another Alty freekick followed when Little was held back and yet another one arrived deep in added time. Morecambe left the pitch at the interval to booing from a section of their supporters in the Main Stand; Altrincham left to an ovation from theirs.

Morecambe kicked off the second half attacking the home end and, no doubt animated by a lecture from Sammy McIlroy at the interval, they briefly went at Altrincham. But Alty got in the first shot of note when O'Neill, who had another excellent game on the right flank for Altrincham, fed Little, who exchanged passes with Senior before sending a low shot which was comfortably saved by Drench (47 mins). Chalmers, too, was playing well and showed a strength which belies his appearance to hold off a challenge and find Rose. But Morecambe now won the half's first corner, on their left, when Yates’s cross was deflected out off Munroe (52 mins). When Curtis threatened the Alty goal soon afterwards, it was O’Neill who had back tracked almost to the by-line to make the important block and he even won his side a goalkick, to boot (55 mins). After a Little shot had run to Drench, the Shrimps' keeper’s clearance went straight to O'Neill about 40 yards out and, after an exchange with Senior, O'Neill's well-placed and well-hit shot from 20 yards was tipped away smartly at the foot of his right upright by Drench. But the loose ball soon came back in from the left for O'Neill to force a corner with a header at goal. But the corner was wasted (57 mins).

Altrincham got in a bit of mess soon after this when Coburn came out to the front of his box and miskicked. As he scampered back to his line, Blinkhorn tried to lob him from left of goal but was comfortably off target (58 mins). Altrincham continued to look dangerous on the break and another excellent chance came and went when Chalmers made a great interception 40 yards out and advanced into the box. But instead of blasting a shot at goal as he entered the penalty area, he tried unsuccessfully to lay the ball off to his right and it was cleared (60 mins). Play was now end to end but Morecambe were not creating clear openings as the whole Altrincham team worked hard to close them down successfully. For their part, Morecambe continued to make unforced errors. A clear obstruction on O'Neill by Adams as the Alty man went up the right touchline gave Altrincham another freekick from 28 yards out. But this was cleared and the Shrimps went to the other end and won a corner, which Lawton cleared. Then Stanley shot very wide from 20 yards before Chalmers's winning tackle was harshly penalised for a Morecambe freekick; immediately after this Peyton was penalised for a tackle and a freekick resulted, on the front edge of the Alty box. From Carlton’s freekick, Curtis headed well over the bar (66 mins).

Next, Senior went down after a challenge with Adams with what appeared to be cramp but play continued for some time before he was allowed treatment. Now Morecambe withdrew Carlton in favour of Burns (69mins) and Curtis pushed up front alongside Blinkhorn. As Morecambe attacked again Coburn and an opponent collided and the Alty keeper emerged hobbling, as his manager engaged in "pleasantries" with the baying home supporters behind his dugout. But from a Morecambe freekick soon afterwards, the recovering Alty keeper made a comfortable catch. Morecambe continued to press without creating any real chances, though Rose had to do well to block a shot after 73 minutes. Alty then wasted another good chance when Coburn's punt found Chalmers and, from Little, the ball was crossed low, from the left to Senior, who mis-kicked from close range with the goal at his mercy. Altrincham had now wasted three close-range chances in the game, which was three more such clear opportunities than Morecambe had created as the home side continued to labour unproductively.

As Morecambe continued to go forward a great team effort from Altrincham closed them down, with the energy expended by them belying their part-time status against a full-time side who were in the play-off positions. It was all getting too much for Sammy McIlroy who, once again, came onto the pitch and received a lecture from referee Brown for his pains. However, an unnecessary foul by Little gave Morecambe a freekick from which a corner followed and Altrincham soaked up more pressure soon afterwards, with everyone back in his own half. At another Morecambe corner, Alty made a change up front, as McFadden replaced Senior (78 mins). Coburn was fouled when the corner was taken and soon McFadden did well on the left but when he passed the ball right into the heart of the Morecambe goalmouth, Alty had no player in the box to take advantage (80 mins).

Morecambe continued to press the closing ten minutes but excellent defending and slips by Morecambe combined to keep them at bay. McIlroy encroached onto the pitch yet again as his side failed to unlock Altrincham and on the counter-attack a 25 yarder from Lawton just cleared the bar at the other end (89 mins). McFadden then got in a cross but it went to Yates as four minutes of added time were announced. A wild Morecambe shot from 25 yards ended in Row Z behind the goal as former Alty defender Danny Adams was announced as the home side's Man of the Match (90+2 mins). At this point Thornley came on for Alty's Little. With the game in the fourth added minute Adams was lucky to escape a booking when he took a kick at McFadden off the ball but the final whistle soon came to record Alty's third successive win and their second away from home in the space of three days.

This was a superb team performance from an Altrincham side lacking both Val Owen and Gary Scott, who had been regular starters recently. Coburn made a couple of excellent first half saves but Morecambe otherwise did not trouble him greatly whilst, for their part, Altrincham spurned three close range chances which could have made the margin more emphatic. Though Alty are now on a fine run, they still need another nine points form their remaining ten games to meet manager Graham Heathcote's target to avoid relegation. But with things so tight at the bottom, it could be that the target may have to be revised upwards. Alty's next test is at home to Oxford United on Saturday.