Match Report


ALTRINCHAM (1) 2 VAUXHALL MOTORS (1) 1

Cheshire Senior Cup Semi-Final match,
played on Tuesday, 5 February 2008, at 7.45pm.


SPONSORS:

  • Match: Grahame Rowley & Andrew Shaw
  • Ball: The Saturday Yankee
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    SUMMARY:

    Altrincham played very unconvincingly yet reached the final of the Cheshire Senior Cup, thanks to goals by Greg Young and Joe O'Neill. However, Alty lost Liam King to injury in the first half after a very late challenge by Smith. With King off the pitch, and Alty down to ten men, Young headed home Jennings's corner from the right to put Alty ahead after 19 minutes. But they failed to build on their lead and Motors' Paul Taylor, the most skilful player on the pitch, equalized from the edge of the box in the 39th minute. Alty continued to give a sub-standard, stuttering perfomance before Joe O'Neill put them out of their misery when he converted Carlos Logan's low cross from the left (57 mins).


    SCORERS

  • 19 mins: Greg YOUNG (Altrincham 1 Vauxhall Motors 0)
  • 39 mins: Paul TAYLOR (Altrincham 1 Vauxhall Motors 1)
  • 57 mins: Joe O'NEILL (Altrincham 2 Vauxhall Motors 1)


    REFEREE: Mr M Heywood


    ATTENDANCE: 195


    TEAM NEWS

    Compared with the last game, against Woking, Richard Battersby was out, cup-tied, as his suspension does not apply to the CSC which is not deemed by the FA to be first-team fixture. Ryan Toulson was also missing after being carried off at the end of the Woking game, but he was fit enough to take part in the warm-up, as was another injury victim, Tom Cahill. Alty adopted a starting formation of 3-4-3, with Lane, Shotton and Young at the back and Jennings was moved forward to left-midfield, with Gary Scott on the right. Jake Sedgemore returned to the starting line-up as Warren Peyton and Robbie Lawton were rested, on the bench. Injured skipper Darren Tinson was also named on the bench though he spent much of the game near the players' tunnel so was presumably not likely ever to be used.

    Vauxhall included former Alty Youth captain and Reserve, Richard Gresty in their back line of a 3-5-2 formation. The Motormen also included Paul Taylor, whose scoring exploits have led him to trials with Nottingham Forest and a bid from Chester City this season.


    BACKGROUND:

    Both teams came into this semi-final in lowly league positions in, respectively, the Blue Square Premier and Blue Square North. The pitch was perfectly playable after yet more deluges in the preceding 48 hours though, of course, it was soft in places. Considering that full BSP turnstile prices were applicable, a crowd of 195 was not too bad.


    LINE-UPS

    ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks) 1. Stuart COBURN; 16. Ryan SHOTTON, 15. Chris LANE, 10. Greg YOUNG; 3. Gary SCOTT, 6. Jake SEDGEMORE, 25. Liam KING, 24. James JENNINGS; 9. Colin LITTLE (capt), 12. Joe O'NEILL, 22. Carlos LOGAN. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 5. Darren TINSON, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 11. Warren PEYTON, 19. Chris SENIOR.

    Alty Subs:

  • 19 mins: LAWTON for KING
  • 64 mins: PEYTON for JENNINGS
  • 67 mins: SENIOR for LITTLE

    VAUXHALL MOTORS (Sky blue shirts, navy shorts and sky blue socks) 1.Andrew MURPHY; 2. Ashley WILLIAMS, 3. Lee OWENS, 4. Tom FIELD, 5. Jordan HOLMES, 6. Richard GRESTY, 7. Russell HITCHEN, 8. Alan GRIFFITHS, 9. Mark REED, 10. Keith SMITH, 11. Paul TAYLOR. Subs: 12. David ROBERTS, 14. Carl MACAULEY, GK. Lloyd RIGBY..


    REPORT

    Vauxhall kicked off towards the Golf Road End and, in the opening stages, Gresty had to stop Logan with a good tackle on the edge of the box. Play was generally pretty unexceptional in these early minutes but Altrincham spurned a golden chance when Little fed O'Neill, setting him free against the keeper. As Murphy advanced to meet the striker, O'Neill slipped the ball to the keeper's left but also directed it a couple of feet wide of the upright (12 mins).

    Vauxhall's Reed and Taylor were proving a handful, with Reed winning the ball well in the air and Taylor's speed and ball-skills impressing. It then took a fine tackle from Lane to stop an advance by Field. From a freekick harshly awarded against King, the ball went from Griffiths to Reed but as Liam King cleared the ball from the front edge of the box, he was caught badly, and very late by Smith. The offender was not booked but King was not so fortunate, having to hobble off after lengthy treatment from Sean Riley (17 mins). Despite the lengthy stoppage, Alty had no one ready to replace the injured player so the Robins continued with ten men. But Colin Little soon won his side a corner. From the right, Jennings's corner found the unmarked Young, who headed home from the centre of the goalmouth to make it 1-0 (19 mins). At this point, Robbie Lawton came on, against his former club, in place of the injured King.

    After Taylor had fired narrowly wide for the visitors, Hitchen shot very wide (21 mins). Altrincham should have scored after 23 minutes when O'Neill got into the box but his effort and a follow-up were blocked in the goalmouth, before Little fired comfortably wide from 25 yards. Taylor then lifted a shot into the Golf Road as play continued without much composure from either side. Logan and O'Neill switched flanks and soon O'Neill fed Little, but he did not connect properly with his shot when he probably had more time than he thought to control the ball. Logan did better a few minutes later with a well hit shot that the keeper could not hold but his defence scrambled the ball away (27 mins).

    Next, Young and Little conspired to win a corner, which came to nothing, before Taylor pulled another shot wide at the other end, his finishing not matching his approach play (30 mins). From a Taylor freekick from the right, Coburn tried to gather the ball one-handed but lost it but the danger was cleared. Hitchen then got a lecture for a bad tackle on Young in the 36th minute but Mr Heywood came down harder on Taylor moments later when, for reasons not altogether clear, he lectured the Motors’ number eleven and even called over the Vauxhall captain to get him to underline his point to the troubled Taylor. But Taylor responded positively, gathering a ball from the right, outside the box to the left of goal. Showing good footwork, he sold a dummy to a defender before driving a low shot past Coburn's right hand into the corner of the net to make it 1-1 (39 mins).

    But when the normally composed Shotton got involved in a spat with Taylor, the referee had no hesitation in booking the Motors’ goalscorer (40 mins). Alty's overall play was very disappointing and a Vauxhall fan in the stand remarked that "It's easy to see why Alty are struggling in the league" and, based on the evidence of this game, it would have been hard to argue otherwise. Amazingly, after a first-half stoppage of a couple of minutes for King's injury alone, just one minute of added time was announced, at the conclusion of which the sides went off, locked at one goal each.


    Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1 VAUXHALL MOTORS 1

    Alty's play did not improve in the early stages of the second period as O'Neill lost the ball and then Jennings sliced an intended looped cross into the Golf Road (48 mins). But Scott's cross soon afterwards was better and yielded a corner. Not long afterwards, however, Jennings was hurt, but carried on. Little now forced a comfortable save from Murphy with a shot from the wide right before O'Neill appeared to have won a corner, only for the referee to award a Vauxhall goalkick instead. O'Neill then battled well to win a 50/50 ball and following this Little fed Logan whose well-struck shot was pushed over the bar by Murphy for another corner (55 mins).

    The corner came to nothing before Coburn cleared the ball at the other end, to Jennings, just inside his own half on the left. He fed Logan, who got towards the by-line left of goal before sending in a strong, low cross, which O'Neill bundled into the net to give Alty the lead from a couple of yards out, as he and a defender arrived simultaneously (57 mins).

    Next, Scott did well and won a corner for the home side and from Sedgemore's kick, Young almost scored but Murphy just got the ball, low down (59 mins). Gresty now gave way to Roberts for Vauxhall (61 mins). After 63 minutes Altrincham spurned another good chance when Logan laid the ball from the right across the front of the box only for both Lawton and Little to fail to connect at all. Peyton now came on for Jennings in left midfield (64 mins). Alty had a let off when Roberts was left unmarked at the back post but he shot wide. Next, Senior came on for Little (67 mins).

    Each side won a corner before Scott was clearly bundled over only for the referee to wave play on - as he did several times when there was clearly illegal arm contact between players. Alty had an escape when Roberts did well to get goal-side of Young inside the box but from 10 yards, he pulled his shot across goal and wide of Coburn's right post (73 mins).

    When Logan was set running at goal, with an unmarked Peyton to his left, the winger elected to shoot rather than feed his overlapping colleague, and saw his shot blocked. Logan then went down with what looked like cramp which took very lengthy treatment to resolve and, even then, Logan received further treatment off the pitch, leaving Alty with ten men. Before Logan returned, O'Neill netted only to have the effort ruled out for offside (77 mins). Alty continued to struggle to impose themselves as the game went into the last ten minutes. With Logan back on, he screwed a shot very wide whilst manager Graham Heathcote looked frustrated at his team's below-par showing as he leant against the dug out wall with his arms folded. Alty won a late corner (87 mins), following which the manager and Warren Peyton exchanged words. Two more Alty corners followed before three minutes of added time started. During these Lawton fired over the bar as light rain started to fall.

    The result was a fair outcome but Altrincham did not play to their potential. They will now meet either Cammell Laird or Nantwich Town in the final, which is likely to be at Northwich Victoria's stadium in March or early April.


    Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 2 VAUXHALL MOTORS 1