Match Report

SUMMARY:

This was not quite the one-sided contest that the final score suggests, though there was a difference in class between the sides epitomised by costly individual mistakes by Altrincham players and clinical finishing from their Stevenage counterparts. In a game played in atrocious conditions Alty had deserved to be level at the interval. But, after Morison had fired Borough ahead in the tenth minute and White had headed a spectacular own goal to level the scores (28 mins), a dreadful pass from an unpressured Munroe straight to an opponent gifted Boro a 2-1 lead as the half went into added time. Despite appearing to be offside, Berry scored this goal from the rebound after Coburn had made a fine stop from a team-mate's shot. In the second half Lewis made it 3-1 from the edge of the box after 67 minutes with a low shot to Coburn's right before Alty to succumbed to two late goals. Goal number four was almost a carbon copy of one of Northwich's goals on Boxing Day. Aspinall was harshly penalised just outside the Alty box and McMahon drove the resulting freekick low past the end of the Alty wall and into the bottom right-hand corner of Coburn's net (86 mins). And then in the 90th minute Morison muscled past Scott on the edge of the box and fired past Coburn's right hand to make it 5-1.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr A Halliday

Chris Senior was suspended, Val Owen remained sidelined through injury and Gareth Whalley was unfit so into the starting line-up came Pat McFadden for only his third start of the season. Steve Aspinall and Carlos Logan dropped to the bench so Joe O'Neill and Jake Sedgemore came back into the side after being on the bench on Boxing Day. As well as youth-team striker Tom Bailey, his youth team colleague Danny Browne was also named as a substitute today. Gary Scott reverted to left-back and Warren Peyton played on the left of midfield with Joe O'Neill on the right. Pat McFadden started up front with Colin Little.

Altrincham had done the double over Stevenage last season but in this campaign they had already lost narrowly at Broadhall Way, just a month ago.

LINE-UPS ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks) 1. Stuart COBURN; 15. Chris LANE, 5. Darren TINSON (capt), 4. Karl MUNROE, 3. Gary SCOTT; 12. Joe O'NEILL, 6. Jake SEDGEMORE, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 11. Warren PEYTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 18. Pat McFADDEN. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 13. Richard ACTON (gk), 14. Tom BAILEY, 20. Danny BROWNE, 22. Carlos LOGAN.

Alty Subs:

STEVENAGE BOROUGH (Pale blue shirts, dark blue shorts and pale blue socks) 1. Alan JULIAN; 4. Luke OLIVER, 16. Mark ARBER, 28. John WHITE; 25. Ronnie HENRY (capt), 19. Stuart LEWIS, 27. Junior LEWIS, 14. Daryl McMAHON, 10, Tyrone BERRY; 20. Steve MORISON, 22. Craig DOBSON. Subs: 2. Barry FULLER, 8. Paul HAKIM, 13. Junior RUSSELL, 29. Zoltan LIPTAK, 30. Anthony STOKES.

Whilst the warm-up had taken place in sunshine, the game started in dark, very wet conditions, with rain swirling down the pitch from the Golf Road End and the floodlights already switched on. The atrocious weather, the post-Christmas competition from the "sales" and Alty's poor home form probably all had some influence on the lowest home gate of the season for today's game. With the rain showing no sign of easing, the visiting fans in the open end were admitted to the cover of the Family Stand. But their team reinforced the northern stereotype view of southerners as softies by hurriedly donning rainproof tops for the minute's ceremony on the pitch before the game to honour those Altrincham supporters who had died during the last twelve months. The names of the deceased were read out by club chaplain Rev. Andrew Barclay-Watts.

It soon became clear that the strong swirling wind would have its effect on the game and it was Borough who played into it in the first half. Altrincham were lucky to see Dobson fire wastefully wide in the third minute when, from an Alty throw-in by Lane, possession was lost and the visitors swept forward. Dobson threatened again a few minutes later when he got clear of the defence and it took a correct but very late offside flag to stop his advance on Coburn's goal (7 mins). Then a Stevenage advance on the left ended with McMahon's shot being deflected out for a corner (8 mins). Stevenage's smart counter-attacking was in evidence again in the tenth minute when an Alty move ended with Peyton's shot against a defender, in preference to passing to Little on the right, and the visitors broke forward. Berry fed Morison from the inside left channel and the striker buried a fierce low shot past Coburn from right of goal to give Stevenage the lead (10 mins). Alty had yet to win a league game this season after conceding a lead but the team's heads did not drop. From a neat chest down by McFadden, Lawton shot well wide with his left foot as the rain eased off temporarily (13 mins).

Soon afterwards Little nodded a ball down for McFadden and from the centre of the box, the Alty man shot narrowly wide of Julian's left post (16 mins). From a freekick by Lane, Alty won their first corner, for which Stevenage brought everyone back to defend in their own box. But they need not have bothered as Peyton's kick found the first defender in front of the near post and Dobson hurtled upfield with the ball before firing a wild shot which ironically hit the letter "E" of "Perfect" in the advertisement on the Golf Road roof (19 mins). But Altrincham continued to work hard and were playing considerably better than they had against Northwich on Boxing Day, with Tinson leading by example. Stevenage were rattled enough to concede a series of freekicks but from this latest effort, Sedgemore saw his shot saved comfortably by Julian. When soon afterwards, White deliberately hoofed the ball away after it had gone out for a throw-in Mr. Halliday inexplicably turned a blind eye to the miscreant. Though Stevenage continued to play the ball about well, Altrincham were giving as good as they got at this stage and keeper Julian was perhaps a little fortunate to win a freekick from Little's challenge when it appeared to be the swirling wind rather than the Alty forward which caused him to mishandle the ball (31 mins).

In the 33rd minute a superb cross from the left by McFadden dropped for Little behind by the back post but the Alty striker was only able to knock the ball wide. But soon Alty won a corner when O'Neill's shot was deflected out of play. Folowing the short corner routine between Sedgemore and Peyton on the right, Munroe did well to return the ball to Peyton, about 20 yards out on the right flank. His excellent cross was headed at bullet-like speed by White into his own net to draw Altrincham level (34 mins). Buoyed by their goal Altrincham continued to go at the visitors whilst also dealing competently with the Stevenage incursions at the other end. Just as the fourth official signalled one additional minute at the end of the first half, disaster struck. Karl Munroe had a total lapse of concentration on the front edge of his own penalty area. He played a woeful ball which was presumably aimed for a team mate to his right and gifted possession to Morison. Coburn dashed out and made a superb block from the initial shot and as Munroe ran back to the goal-line, the loose ball was played by Morison to the left for the offside-looking Berry, who drove the ball home (45+1 mins). Goalkeeper Coburn immediately berated the referee and manager Heathcote joined in from the sidelines. And so, Alty trudged off at half-time unfortunate to be a goal down but with only themselves to blame for their lapse.

With lashing rain falling once again, Stevenage kicked off towards the Carole Nash End whilst at the other end, the Alty supporters got behind their team. Alty started off tentatively with a ball from the right by Borough striking Lane's shins rather than his boot and cannoning off into the path of Morison (48 mins). Fortunately, the striker elected to shoot early and aimed over the top of the cross bar. Just as at the start of the first half, Alty had almost gifted their opponents a goal. The mistakes continued as now Munroe gave the ball away cheaply but things improved with Sedgemore's superbly flighted ball into the opposition box which elicited a claim for a penalty for handball which went unanswered by the referee. Stevenage then won the half's first corner (56 mins) as Alty struggled to get going in the second half. But they then almost got level after a slick move involving Tinson, Peyton and Little. The last-named fed Lawton whose carefully placed shot, low to Julian's left, forced a good save from the Borough keeper (58 mins).

With rain still lashing down play went through a fairly even period at the end of which Sedgemore fired into the Golf Road after good work from McFadden. At this point, Logan came on for Alty's O'Neill on the right wing (64 mins). But the visitors again showed their quality on the counter attack when Sedgemore was dispossessed in the visitors' half and Stevenage broke forward. The ball came to Lewis on the front edge of the Alty box and he got his shot away as Munroe challenged and the ball flew, low, past Coburn, possibly with a deflection off the defender, into the keeper's bottom right corner to make it 3-1 (67 mins). A Stevenage corner followed a couple of minutes later but then Logan got to the by-line to win a corner for Altrincham on the right. This was eventually cleared in unconventional style by Henry who sliced the ball high over his own goal onto the far side of Golf Road for another Alty corner.

After 75 minutes Munroe gave way to Aspinall, with Lane moving to centre-back as the new man slotted in at right-back. Rain was still lashing down as McFadden now shot narrowly over the bar (78mins). Little then won a corner as Alty continued to try and get back into the match. Altrincham had a good chance to do so in the 84th minute when Little and Logan combined on the right and the ball fell to McFadden inside the six-yard box but he seemed to lose his footing on the wet surface and the chance disappeared. At the back, Tinson executed the tackle of the afternoon but moments later, in a virtual re-run of what happened on Boxing Day for Northwich's second goal, Aspinall was again very harshly judged to have fouled an opponent on the front edge of the box. History continued to repeat itself as Alty lined up their wall and McMahon rifled a low shot past the end of it and into Coburn's bottom right-hand corner just as Brown had done for the Vics. This goal put the game out of reach at 4-1 (86 mins).

As Morison and Tinson were named the respective Men of the Match, a long ball forward from Julian was contested by Scott and Morison. The striker muscled the Alty man out of the way and then drove the ball past Coburn's right hand from the edge of the box to make it 5-1, a result which was harsh on Altrincham but which underlined the necessity to keep concentration at the back for 90 minutes and to put away half-chances whenever they arise. With the other teams at the bottom all losing, Alty's position got no worse as they now go to Northwich on New Year's Day looking for a reversal of the outcome at Moss Lane on Boxing Day. Alty had played better today than against the Vics and if they can raise their game again on Tuesday, they will be hopeful of a first win in six league games.