Match Report

REFEREE: Mr J Collin

Alty had Ryan Shotton back following his calf strain but Colin Potts and Val Owen were still out, injured. Karl Munroe dropped out of the squad as Shotton returned to the back four. Histon were without Antonio Murray and arrived with just three substitutes, having opted to send other fringe players to play for their Reserves today rather than travel to Cheshire.

This was Histon's first visit to Altrincham, but they had beaten the Robins 1-0 on their own ground earlier this season. The Stutes brought very few fans so, in that context, the gate of 911 was not too bad for a cold and, initially, dull afternoon.

LINE-UPS

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black 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, 6. Jake SEDGEMORE, 11. Warren PEYTON; 19. Chris SENIOR, 9. Colin LITTLE. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 13. Richard ACTON, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 21. Gareth WHALLEY, 22. Carlos LOGAN.

Alty Subs:

HISTON (Pale blue shirts, dark blue shorts and pale blue socks): 21. Danny NAISBITT; 24. Craig POPE, 4. Matthew MITCHEL-KING, 5. Matthew LANGSTON, 25. Gareth GWILLIM; 18. Nathaniel KNIGHT-PERCIVAL, 3. Eykan OKAY, 6. Adrian CAMBRIDGE (capt), 7. John KENNEDY; 23. Danny WRIGHT, 14. Cliff AKURANG. Subs: 11. Jamie BARKER, 17. Robbie NIGHTINGALE, 30. Patrick ADA

With the floodlights on from the start on a dismal afternoon, Alty kicked off defending the Golf Road End. This prompted an exodus of Alty fans towards the other end, where they mingled freely with Histon's small number of supporters behind the visitors' goal. Alty started slowly and in the second minute from a Histon freekick Wright's cross found Knight-Percival free but his header to a colleague was nodded poorly over the bar to give Alty an early let-off. But soon the freekicks began to flow in Alty's favour as the visitors showed little hesitation in using their physique to break up play. But even when Akurang was very late with a challenge on Tinson, Mr. Collin was reluctant to stamp his authority by showing any cards (7 mins). For the home side, O'Neill was looking the most effective player in the early stages as he won a number of contests in the air. Otherwise the Histon defence was giving little away. Naisbitt then made a hash of a long throw from Shotton from the Alty right but got away with it when Peyton’s attempted sidefoot shot was blocked after the keeper had fumbled the ball out to the Alty man (13 mins).

Next, after O'Neill's feed, Senior had an effort blocked which came out to Lane, who fired over the bar (14 mins). With Alty now beginning to settle, Naisbitt had to be alert to get to the ball before Lawton from Little's feed. But the general standard of play was still fairly scrappy. However, the home side won the game's first corner after 17 minutes from Peyton's cross, which came off Okay. Sedgemore played the corner diagonally to Senior, who had hung back towards half-way before making a late run, but his shot was cleared. Histon continued to concede freekicks at regular intervals but the nearest Alty came to getting ahead was when an excellent flick from Little found Lawton whose shot just cleared the bar (20 mins). With Scott down injured, after being caught by Akurang, Histon went on to win their first corner on their right, but an Alty freekick resulted from this.

Another Alty freekick soon followed for a foul on Coburn and then a blatant push by Wright on Shotton knocked the big defender over to yield another freekick to Alty (24 mins), The next corner of the game went to Histon after 27 minutes when Kennedy's ball came off Tinson's shin. In terms of entertainment there was not a lot to excite the crowd at this stage but then Alty put together a neat move involving Lawton, O'Neill and Lane which ended with a whipped-in cross from the right-back which Senior headed wide at the back post (29 mins). After a stoppage for treatment to Sedgemore, Lawton lost possession and Kennedy set Wright free up the right. Though the Histon striker looked comfortably offside, Mr. Akers kept his flag down and from the resulting cross, the unmarked Akurang headed past Coburn to give the visitors the lead in controversial circumstances. Altrincham manager Graham Heathcote was understandably irate and made his feelings know to the officials (33 mins). Alluding to the offside decision, "It wasn’t even close" the manager told the fourth official. Soon after the re-start referee Collin came over to remonstrate with the Altrincham manager.

A fine tackle in the box by Tinson stopped the next Histon attack after Okay had advanced and found Akurang and then Coburn held a long shot (36 mins). Alty were prone to errors at this stage but then Tinson played an excellent ball forward which set Little free against the keeper. But the Alty striker came off second-best as Naisbitt made a good block (37 mins). Alty continued to labour as Histon continued to concede freekicks, Knight-Percival offending for at least the third time in the game when he fouled O’Neill but again no more than a freekick was awarded. As half-time approached Histon's Wright won a corner off Shotton following which Akurang forced an excellent point blank save from Coburn after Wright had headed the ball onto him (43 mins). In the four minutes of added time Alty survived another goalmouth scramble before the whistle went, leaving Histon ahead which was not undeserved but the manner of their goal was certainly hard on the home side.

Histon kicked off the second half playing towards the Carole Nash end and Wright forced an early save from Coburn with a long-range effort. The Alty goalkeeper then had to rush to the touchline to clear as his side started the second half slowly. Then Little gave the ball away to Pope and a Histon corner resulted, followed shortly after by a second corner for the visitors. Belatedly, Alty got themselves going with Lane's cross leading to a Little header, which was saved (49 mins). The Histon defence continued to gobble up any aerial balls that came near them and they were soon at the other end winning a corner when Wright's shot hit Scott (52 mins). But then, for the second time in the match, Little was set free on the keeper, on this occasion by Senior's excellent pass from wide right. This time Little elected to shoot early but failed to hit the target to the keeper's right (54 mins). After 57 minutes the Alty management asked Carlos Logan to prepare to come on but before he could get ready, Alty equalized. The goal came on the counter attack as Coburn threw the ball out to Lawton. The midfielder did well to advance to the left past Cambridge before playing the ball forward and inside to Little. Little's excellent turn and pass led to his feeding the ball to the right where Lane arrived and from outside the right-side of the penalty box, the defender hammered the ball across Naisbitt into the net for his first goal for Altrincham - and a very good goal it was, too (60 mins).

Histon responded by winning another corner but Altrincham, lifted by the goal, now had their best spell of the afternoon with attacks by Senior and Lawton both ending in goalkicks. When Lawton won the ball and fed O'Neill, he and Sedgemore exchanged passes, before O'Neill's cross gave Little a free header. Little opted to head downwards and Naisbitt saved the day for Histon, conceding a corner as he scrambled the ball past the post for a corner (65 mins). Alty had now deferred their earlier plans to bring on Logan but Histon did make a change bringing on their veteran clubman Barker for Adie Cambridge (66 mins). With Alty now looking the more likely to score again, Logan finally came on to replace O'Neill, who had been having a very decent game on the Alty right (68 mins). Logan slotted in on the left prompting a reshuffle of the midfield. A minute later Wright had the ball in the Alty net after Logan had given the ball away to Kennedy, an error by the sub from which he did not learn (69 mins). Scott then had to do well to concede a corner before a rare miskick by Tinson led to a goalmouth scramble as Histon came back into things. About an hour too late Mr. Collin made his first booking, showing a card to Kennedy, who had not been amongst the worst offenders in the game so far (72 mins).

Disaster struck for Altrincham when, following an Alty throw, the home side lost possession. Logan initially did very well to win the ball back before playing a far toocasual ball back towards his own penalty area where it went straight to Wright who took it round the stranded Coburn to score a second goal for Histon from the right (75 mins). It was a gift of a goal which stunned the home crowd and management. Histon now brought on Ada in defence for Pope. Alty restarted the game and soon won a corner but this was cleared and then Gareth Whalley came on for Alty to replace the crocked Sedgemore in midfield (77 mins). Logan for the third time in his brief period on the pitch gave the ball away with an underhit attempted pass which drew Scott to commit a foul for which the left-back was booked (78 mins).

There was then a bizarre sequence of schoolboy errors by Alty which almost gifted Histon another goal before the same affliction spread to Histon. A routine ball forward by Alty was chested by their substitute, Ada, past his own goalkeeper who only just managed to scramble back and hook the ball away before it crossed the line into the net for what would have been a hugely embarrassing own goal (80 mins). Though a series of long throws from Shotton helped to give Alty some momentum, it was a foul by Wright on the Alty defender which led, via a freekick, to an Altrincham corner and some hope for the home side of a late leveller. But it came to nothing and following this, a late sliding tackle by Logan further worsened the winger's unhappy afternoon by earning him a yellow card (83 mins).

The home side was lucky not to be punished in the 89th minute when Wright got clear of Scott on the Histon right and from his cross Akurang missed a sitter, lifting his effort lazily over the bar. With four minutes of added time announced, Histon fairly comfortably kept Alty at bay. In the second of these minutes Nightingale came on for Wright and then Knight-Percival was booked in the final seconds for the latest in a series of offences he had committed in the game though quite what booking him in the 94th minute achieved was difficult to fathom.

This was a hugely disappointing afternoon for Altrincham. Despite the controversial decision by the linesman and the error by Logan, Alty carved out several chances with Little alone having three presentable opportunities to score. Having not played very well in the first half, they had got themselves on level terms and for 15 minutes looked likely to go on and score again till a dreadful mistake consigned them to another defeat, their eighth at home in the league this season though it may be significant that 7 of those 8 losses have been to sides in the top eleven places in the table. Had their form at Moss Lane this season been simply average Alty would not have been confined to the relegation slots this campaign. As well as losing the match, Alty also lost the foul count today by a margin of 18 to 7 though the card count was a draw at 2-2. Chris Lane was named Alty Man of the Match with John Kennedy taking the award for the Stutes.