Match Report

Histon kicked off and won an early corner but it was Alty's Little who had the first shot on target, but he sidefooted his effort to Naisbitt (2 mins). Alty's fans in the crowd of 692 were making themselves heard but play was uneventful till a crude foul by Oyebanjo, on Young, gave Alty a freekick (8 mins). There was little flow to the game, which was a catalogue of throw-ins, long-balls, freekicks and head-tennis. But Alty were more than matching any threat from Histon. The Stutes' robust forward, Wright, volleyed wide (12 mins) before a series of throw-ins to the home side. However, Alty threatened in the 18th minute, when they won two successive corners, the first coming as Oyebanjo made a vital header to divert Denham's cross as Little was set for a close-range header.

The throw-ins continued with monotonous regularity as the sides cancelled each other out. Danylyk was again impressing in midfield and Battersby was again steady at right-back after his recent recall to the side. Next, Johnson neatly headed Young's ball into the net but was given offside (22 mins). Then, a Johnson nod just evaded Denham and ran to Naisbitt as Alty enjoyed a good spell.

Alty had a let-off when a cross from the right just evaded Wright after a Histon man had got behind Chris Lane (25 mins). After more head-tennis and throw-ins, Battersby and Denham fed Little, who turned well but shot over the bar from 23 yards (28 mins). Naisbitt now had to race out to head clear before Danylyk became the game's first booking when he slid, late, into a midfield tackle (31 mins).

Alty then went close when the ball came to Peyton, 25 yards out. From a central position, his rasping shot was held by Naisbitt at the second attempt (33 mins). But Alty had a close shave themselves when Little was penalised for backing-in and as a result of the resulting freekick, Gwillim forced a fine save, low to Coburn's right. The Alty keeper could not hold the ball, conceding a corner and taking a knock as he blocked a follow-up (35 mins). At the other end, Johnson squandered a break-away with a poor pass for Denham, which allowed Ada to clear. The combative Wright then barged Coburn before Johnson did well to feed Little, whose shot went narrowly wide (38 mins).

Lawton was working hard in midfield as half-time approached and, as the game went into one minute's added time, Young produced a fine tackle to stop Wright. Just before the interval, Battersby's deep cross from the right saw Naisbitt fumble the ball out for a corner. Peyton's corner came out to Battersby and, just as he was about to shoot from right of goal, referee Long blew his whistle, to Alty's annoyance. To be fair to Mr Long, more than the announced minute of added time had actually elapsed.

Rain poured down as Alty got the second half under way. Another foul by Wright, on Lane, earned the Histon striker a lecture and his captain, Mitchel-King, was summoned to reinforce the message. With the rain still lashing down, eight throw-ins arrived in fewer than the first six minutes of the half, prompting your correspondent for the first time ever when watching a game to find as much interest in counting them as watching the rest of the proceedings. In all, there were to be 32 throw-ins in the second half!

Histon were enjoying territorial advantage now and Coburn had to be alert to field a deflected shot by Wright (52 mins). Alty responded when Johnson got up well to an aerial ball to feed Little but the striker got insufficient power into his shot at the keeper (55 mins).

With the rain easing, Joe O'Neill came on for his 100th appearance for Alty, replacing Johnson (61 mins). O'Neill's first act was a foul which, although it was in the Alty half, was taken by keeper Naisbitt. Barker should have done better at the back post when the ball bounced off him in the goalmouth for a goalkick. A rare Alty attack led to a fine covering tackle from Ada. After Histon had won a corner, Reeves - who scored and was sent off when playing against Alty last season for Farsley - came on for Andrews (66 mins). From the corner, Coburn parried well, with Histon putting the loose ball over the bar. Coburn then saved a 20-yarder from Wright at the second attempt, at which point Elam replaced Denham (70 mins).

Two minutes later, Knight-Percival came on for Histon's veteran, Barker. Alty were not threatening the Histon goal and finally the Stutes' pressure told. They gained a dubious throw, which Alty fans nearby thought should have gone the other way. The throw was taken from the right by Mitchel-King and Young's half-clearance was helped on, allegedly by a Histon hand, before coming out to Gwillim, outside the box in a central position. He drove his shot firmly into the ground, and it arrowed into the corner of the net, to Coburn's left to make it 1-0 (74 mins).

A Histon corner soon followed, as the hosts continued to set the pace but Wright was then booked for persistent fouling before O'Neill went close. He spontaneously hooked a Little effort just under the bar, where Naisbitt just caught it (80 mins).

Alty had two late frights; firstly, the already booked Danylyk escaped with a lecture after a foul but he was almost immediately subbed by debutant Tierney who went out to the left wing (81 mins). Five minutes later, Coburn rushed out of his box to impede Reeves but fortunately only saw yellow. Between these incidents, Alty wasted a promising freekick just to the left of Histon's box when Little took it too quickly (83 mins). From a late corner,a 20-yard header was caught by Coburn. Next a fine cross from Oyebanjo found Knight-Percival unmarked at the back post but he bizarrely headed the ball away from goal.

Five minutes of added time were signalled, which began with another Histon corner. Young was now booked, after going down in the Histon box and protesting too strongly when no penalty was forthcoming (90+3 mins). The final whistle signalled Alty's sixth game without a win but they remained 19th in the table. After a promising first half from Altrincham, Histon enjoyed much the better of the second half and deserved their win. But there was little to enthuse the football purist in tonight's game.