Match Report

REFEREE: Mr. R J West

Altrincham had injury doubts before the game over captain Darren Tinson and striker Chris Senior but both started the game. However, Colin Potts and Val Owen were ruled out, so the squad was down to the bare bones for this game. Gareth Whalley returned in central midfield whilst Colin Little came in, up front, in place of loan player James Dean who had not been cleared to play for Altrincham in the FA Cup by his club, Bury.

Kendal included a few familar faces. Up front was former Alty striker Peter Wright, whilst another ex-Southport player, Lee Mulvaney was also in the Kendal side.

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham arrived at Parkside Road lying 21st in the Blue Square Premier, whilst Kendal lay two divisions below them, in mid-table of the UniBond premier. But Alty's historic record at Kendal (or Netherfield as the club was then known), was poor, with just one win in eleven visits. In their previous FA Cup encounter in a 2nd Qualifying Round Match, played at Moss Lane on 28 September, 2002, Alty had beaten Kendal 1-0.

Alty physio Sean Riley had been previously employed at Kendal Town whilst manager Graham Heathcote played there for Altrincham in his youth.

LINE-UPS

KENDAL TOWN (Black & white striped shirts, white shorts and socks): 1. David NEWNES, 2. Jonathan FORBES, 3. Paul BYRNE, 4. Tony HALLAM (capt), 5. Dene WHITTAL WILLIAMS, 6. Michael COLE, 7. Craig HOBSON, 8. Callum WARBURTON, 9. Gareth ARNISON, 10. Peter WRIGHT, 11. Lee MULVANEY. Subs: 12. Zac CLARK, 14. Nick DYSON, 15. Rob HENRY, 16. Lewis WILKES, 17. Nathan WOODS.

ALTRINCHAM (Pale and dark blue striped shirts, pale blue shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN; 15. Chris LANE, 5. Darren TINSON (capt), 16. Ryan SHOTTON, 3. Gary SCOTT; 12. Joe O'NEILL, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 21. Gareth WHALLEY, 11. Warren PEYTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 19. Chris SENIOR. Subs: 13. Richard ACTON, 2. Steve ASPINALL, 4. Karl MUNROE, 6. Jake SEDGEMORE, 22. Carlos LOGAN.

Alty Subs:

On a dismal, drizzly afternoon Altrincham kicked off up the very marked slope at Parkside Road. Alty won an early corner but Newnes caught Whalley's kick well (1 min). Kendal responded with a corner of their own, following Cole's cross. The pitch was very wet and the players were having some difficulty in keeping their feet but Kendal should have gone ahead in the ninth minute when Arnison was put clear but shot badly wide. The Cumbrians soon threatened again when Coburn had to make a superb save to beat out a fine shot from 25 yards by former Alty striker Peter Wright (12 mins).

Kendal continued to press, almost exclusively using the left flank to do so (12 mins). For Alty, O'Neill was winning headers regularly but his colleagues could not take advantage, with Little shooting weakly wide from one such flick-on (18 mins). When Coburn came out of his box to clear, and confidently dribbled round Hobson, he slipped over and was fortunate to see a defensive colleague clear the danger. Moments later, a rare error from Tinson allowed Mulvaney, the former Southport man, to fire over the bar (23 mins). The two-division gulf between the sides was certainly not evident.

However, Scott continued to play well at left back and from his throw, Senior turned well but shot wide (27 mins). When Cole was harshly judged to have handled with intent some 30 yards out from the Kendal goal, he was also booked. Lawton seemed to be angry, even before the booking, for reasons that were not clear but whilst he escaped a booking for his petulance, Gareth Whalley was cautioned for taking the kick before the whistle sounded (29 mins).

Newnes was not exuding confidence in the Kendal goal and this impression was underlined when he spilt a routine catch, though he recovered to gather the ball. Soon after, following Shotton's throw from half way on the left, the ball was worked to the right and from the edge of the box, the ball was lobbed by Lawton towards the back post, where Newnes seemed favourite to get the ball ahead of Little. But Kendal's keeper failed to gather it and Little clipped it into the net to give Alty the lead (32 mins).

Kendal might have levelled four minutes later when the ball came off Shotton's shins, as he faced his own goal, 20 yards out. This allowed the tall striker, Arnison, a free shot, which he put over the bar. The weather had now improved but Alty were still not imposing themselves on their opponents, giving the ball away far too often. Though Alty won a corner after 41 minutes, this came to nothing. However, O'Neill did force a save from Newnes after a Senior cross deflected to him off a defender (43 mins).

As half-time approached, another Alty move foundered when Little took advantage of a defensive mix-up. He elected to try a back heel to try and find a colleague but failed to do so successfully (44 mins). Before half-time, Kendal gained two corners, but Altrincham reached the interval with their lead intact.

After a short half-time break of little more than 10 minutes, Kendal kicked off up the slope. Soon they were pressing forward as Alty continued to squander possession cheaply. This, combined with Kendal lacking the guile to break down Alty meant that the game was a poor spectacle. There was little of note in the second half until Shotton conceded a freekick against Wright and Cole curled a freekick just wide (63 mins).

When Alty finally had a chance at the other end, when a cross from the right was allowed to reach Peyton, the midfielder lobbed his effort comfortably wide (66 mins). At this point, Clark replaced Arnison for Kendal. Four minutes later, Sedgemore replaced Whalley in Alty's central midfield (70 mins). A Kendal corner came and went, as Alty remained on the back foot. Clark was then allowed to run 40 yards past three Alty players before Scott recovered to clear the ball. Next, Coburn produced an excellent save to push Warburton's fine freekick over the bar for a corner (75 mins).

Little then lost possession as Alty tried to relieve the pressure. Alty's main strategem seemed to be to try and get Senior behind the defence with long balls over the defence but these came to nothing. After 78 minutes, Logan replaced O'Neill on the right wing and the substitute immediately started running at Kendal. But Logan made a hash of a freekick which he himself had won just outside the box, curling his effort badly wide (80 mins).

Hobson then forced a save from Coburn before Wilkes replaced Mulvaney for the hosts (84 mins). From a freekick from the Kendal left, Coburn made a good punch clear but Alty won a late corner through Senior. Sedgemore played this short to Peyton and nothing came of it. In the final minute there was an appeal from Kendal for hand-ball in the panalty box but as the ball had simply hit Tinson from a back header it was not given. Four minutes of added time were announced during which a cross from the right was headed over the Alty bar by Hobson (90+1 mins). In the 93rd minute, Warburton jumped in two-footed on Peyton and though the Alty player commendably got straight up, the foul deservedly prompted a booking and expressions of anger on the Alty bench. After almost five added minutes, the referee finally put an end to a game which for the visiting supporters was solely memorable for the result as the game itself had been poor.