Match Report

SUMMARY:

After Torquay had dominated the first half, they took the lead one minute before the interval when Zebroski hammered a low shot past Coburn from the edge of the box. It could have been worse as D'Sane's superb shot in the opening minute had come down off the crossbar and Mohamed missed a good chance on the stroke of half-time, following a fine parry from Coburn.

After Altrincham had brought on O'Neill just before the hour mark, the visitors made much more of a game of it and when O'Neill was pushed over in the box by Ellis, Peyton calmly converted the penalty (72mins). Altrincham defended superbly throughout to gain a valuable point which took them to their highest league placing this season, 19th - though both Weymouth (20th) and Farsley (21st) have games in hand

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. A.I. HOLLIDAY

Leading scorer Colin Little was ill, so manager Graham Heathcote elected to deploy Tom Cahill as a lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Chris Lane back in the side, playing in front of the back four. James Jennings was suspended so Ryan Shotton played at left back and Ryan Toulson moved to right-back. Richard Battersby came in to the side on the right of midfield.

For Torquay, goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen was making his debut on loan from Reading, whilst Kaid Mohamed was named as captain.

BACKGROUND:

This was Alty's first game against Torquay, following the late postponement of the original fixture in December. So, for many of Alty's fans it was the second time they had set off on the 250 mile trek to Torquay this season, having set off or, insome cases, even arrived for that game before it was called off. This, combined with its being a Tuesday night, meant that it was commendable that about 70 supporters travelled. Many thanks are due to those non-travelling fans who contributed towards the funding of the hire of the supporters' coach, which this time did not have to turn round near Gloucester as it had done when the original match was called off!

LINE-UPS

TORQUAY UNITED (Yellow shirts, shorts and socks): 36. Mikkel ANDERSEN; 7. Lee MANSELL, 6. Chris TODD, 25. Mark ELLIS, 3. Kevin NICHOLSON; 23. Kaid MOHAMED, 24. Steve ADAMS, 14. Chris HARGREAVES, 26. Chris ZEBROSKI; 8. Tim SILLS, 20. Roscoe DSANE. Subs: 5. Chris ROBERTSON, 9. Elliot BENYON, 10. Lee PHILLIPS, 19. Danny STEVENS, 21. Martin RICE.

ALTRINCHAM (Pale and dark blue shirts, pale blue shorts and socks): 1. Stuart COBURN; 23. Ryan TOULSON, 5. Darren TINSON (capt), 10. Greg YOUNG, 16. Ryan SHOTTON; 15. Chris LANE; 17. Richard BATTERSBY, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 25. Liam KING, 11. Warren PEYTON; 14. Tom CAHILL. Subs: 3. Gary SCOTT, 12. Joe O'NEILL, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 6. Jake SEDGEMORE, 19. Chris SENIOR.

Alty Subs:

After changing ends, it was Torquay who kicked off towards their own fans and, after just 65 seconds, Alty were grateful to the crossbar for preventing a goal as D'Sane fashioned a bullet-shot out of nothing from 25 yards, which bounced down off the woodwork into Coburn's arms. But it was Alty who won the game's first corner when Lane's freekick was deflected out of play (6 mins). D'Sane's electric pace was a constant danger but the Alty back-four, which had never played together as a unit before, was performing well, with the captain, Darren Tinson, leading by example.

After Coburn had punched a cross clear, Zebroski lifted a shot over the bar (11 mins). Indeed, it was Torquay who were setting the pace but they were unable to create clear openings as hard-working Altrincham harried them at every opportunity. The best Torquay could muster, for all their pressure, was a 25th minute corner which was wasted by a foul on Coburn. For Alty, Cahill had a thankless task as the visitors' lone striker, though Peyton was doing his best to get forward in support whenever he could.

Torquay were making a fair amount of use of long balls into the Alty box and, from one of these, another corner resulted off Tinson (31 mins). Coburn caught this well but soon, following a Zebroski cross, Coburn made an excellent save, to his right from a well-hit Torquay shot (33 mins). A corner for the Gulls soon followed with Alty pulling all 11 players back. Shotton then escaped with a lecture after booting the ball away at a freekick award to Torquay (37 mins). On a rare foray forward, Lawton's cross from the right landed on the roof of Andersen's net. Then a Lane volley hit the roof of the stand behind Torquay's goal (41 mins).

But just as Alty got to within a minute of the end of the first forty-five, Zebroski fired in a well-struck shot, out of nothing following a throw-in, and it arrowed low, to Coburn's right, to put Torquay ahead (44 mins). After the re-start, Coburn did well to gather D'Sane's low cross from the right. In the one added minute, Coburn kept Alty in the game when Mohamed got free, the keeper superbly blocking the new Torquay captain's shot. But when the rebound went back to the Swindon loanee, he fired badly wide of goal, to leave his side just one-up at the interval.

Alty had an immediate scare after starting the second half, when Toulson's attempted clearance was charged down by Zebroski but the danger was eventually cleared. Cahill continued to battle up front but with little success. Although Torquay won the half's first corner - despite the Alty manager's forceful appeal for offside - they were not quite as dominant as they had been just before the break. After a fine block by Lane, Sills fired a shot across goal. At this point, Alty replaced Cahill up front with O'Neill (56 mins). The change had a beneficial effect and soon Lawton was also making an impression in midfield. The out of sorts Sills then headed Zebroski's cross well wide (65 mins) before Phillips came on to replace Mohamed, on the Torquay right. But it was the visitors who were getting increasingly into the game. A well-constructed move between Peyton, O'Neill and King, led to the young midfielder getting in a cross from left of goal, which Battersby met well with a back-post header but a defender bundled the ball out for a corner on the right (67 mins). Next, Lawton saw a shot go wide, before the linesman inexplicably failed to see D'Sane's elbow into Tinson's face, just yards in front of him.

In the 70th minute, O'Neill was bundled over by Hargreaves as he got into the box, but play continued. However, two minutes later, Mr Holliday had no option but to point to the spot when Ellis foolishly pushed over O'Neill from behind, as the striker advanced to the right of goal. With neither Aspinall nor Little in the side, Peyton took the spot-kick, comfortably beating Andersen with a low strike to make it 1-1 (72 mins).

The equalizer prompted Torquay to raise their game but their next attack was bizarrely undone when Mansell picked up the ball before it had crossed the line for a throw and, so, conceded a freekick. After a superb tackle by Tinson, Torquay won three successive corners. Next, a foul on Sills by the impressive Young gave Torquay a freekick on the front edge of the Alty box, but this was driven into the wall. Alty continued to defend superbly but on the break, Lane's excellent ball 40 yards forward got O'Neill into the box once more but this time it was the forward not the defender who committed a foul (84 mins). Next Alty left back, Ryan Shotton, was caught offside as he surged up the left (86 mins). Just after Adams had been named the Gulls' man of the match, Battersby became the only booking of the game for alleged time-wasting (87 mins).

With two minutes left, Benyon replaced D'Sane. O'Neill continued to be a good outlet for Alty as he fired a shot into the side-netting from Lane's feed (90 mins). King's tackle on Benyon gave Torquay another freekick on the front edge of the Alty box, but this looped off the wall to Coburn (90+2 mins). A minute later, the whistle confirmed that Altrincham's teamwork had earned an excellent point against their full-time opponents and suddenly the 250 miles back to Cheshire did not seem quite so far to their fans, who had given excellent support throughout