Match Report

On a warm and sunny afternoon, Lewes kicked off defending the Carole Nash end, into which their travelling support of just six paying customers had been admitted and they were to be applauded for making a 500-mile round trip to follow their side. As a consequence of the low away following and their own indifferent form, this was Alty's first sub-1,1000 BSP gate of the season. Lewes had an early shout for handball and a penalty when the ball struck Lane - who seems to attract the ball in such situations - but a minute later it was Alty who had the first decent shot with Little and O'Neill exchanging passes before Little's shot drew a good save, low down, by Banks after some jittery defending in the box by the Sussex side. In a fairly low key opening period, it was Altrincham who earned the game's first corner when Little's cross, after good work from Meechan, was deflected out of play on the right (7 mins). Both sides were making unforced errors as the anxiety generated by their lowly league positions dominated proceedings.

Elam was beginning to see a lot of the ball on the Alty left but was tending to lose possession before he could find a team- mate but he produced by far the best piece of play of the first half when he dribbled up the inside-left channel past three defenders before shooting narrowly wide of the post, to the keeper's right (19 mins). A few minutes later Little got in a decent hooked shot which the keeper saved (23 mins). Alty had a fright when play was allowed to continue after McGregor appeared to be pushed over by Baidoo but Densmore hared across to make an excellent block as the striker was about to shoot from inside the box (24 mins). Next Danylyk fed Meechan who fired towards the near post but the ball was diverted out for a corner. Peyton's corner ball then came back to him and onwards to Elam but the danger was seen off by the Lewes defence.

Play continued uneventfully past the half-hour mark with neither side producing much in the way of fluent football. However, Peyton's cross did win a corner off Cullip (33 mins). One of the brighter aspects for Altrincham was a promising performance from Densmore on his debut whilst Elam was the liveliest of their attacking players. But, as half-time approached, the atmosphere in the ground was one of anxiety rather than excitement. Indeed Alty was indebted to the back-tracking Lawton to see off a cross from Wallis-Tayler (41 mins). However, from Peyton's pass Elam then cut inside from the left before firing over the bar (43 mins). When O'Neill was fouled off the ball, manager Heathcote remonstrated with the officials about recurrent nudges and pushes from the Lewes captain which had gone unpunished. Taylor, however, did earn a lecture for a late challenge on Densmore as the game went into added time but the interval finally arrived to terminate a laboured performance from Altrincham whose goal drought had now continued for more than eight hours.

The second half did not start off with any better football than the first half had witnessed, with both sides giving the ball away cheaply. Nevertheless, Lewes were playing some neat football but without a cutting edge as the Alty manager urged his midfield to "get tighter" to their opponents. He decided to shake things up in the 54th minute as he replaced Alex Meechan by Chris Senior and moved Joe O'Neill to the right wing to accommodate Senior up front with Little. A few minutes later Densmore was booked for a late challenge (58 mins) before Senior had his first impact, receiving Little’s pass and forcing the keeper to parry his shot round the near post from the Alty right (59 mins). There was then controversy as Senior was felled by keeper Banks as he came out to deal with an aerial ball, but referee Madley showed no interest in a spot kick and gave Lewes a freekick. At least this incident animated the crowd into chants of "You don't know what you're doing" (63 mins).

In the 65th minute Elam fed Peyton, who was involved in many of Alty's best movements, and his cross came out to McGregor whose 30-yarder was off target but earned his side a corner from a deflection. Altrincham were now having the better of proceedings without seriously threatening a goal. Just after O'Neill had been booked for a foul, he was brought off and the game when Doughty came on at right back (70 mins). Next Lewes brought on Cox for Baidoo up front (72 mins). An Alty corner came and went before Standing wasted a half chance for the visitors by shooting very wide. Alty responded at the other end when Senior took advantage of a Cullip error but his snap-shot from the left rose over the bar (75 mins). Doughty then had to cover smartly at the Alty end as Cox threatened to get free.

Alty's last throw of the dice saw centre-back Greg Young brought on up front, replacing an out of sorts Colin Little, despite the presence on the bench of striker Dale Johnson. However, this ploy had been used in midweek in the Cheshire Senior Cup and had worked on that occasion (80 mins). Alty continued to push forward and Young was soon in action, coming off second best to keeper Banks's punch (83 mins). When play re-started, Lawton was instructed by the ref to kick the ball back to the keeper, which he did petulantly and was booked. The Alty captain was apparently annoyed at having to concede possession when Alty had had the ball.

Altrincham now went close when, from an Elam cross Peyton, in space, forced a block on the line (85 mins). Then a Peyton free kick was superbly struck but keeper Banks did very well to save the ball, low to his left (86 mins). But then Peyton had his third crack at goal in as many minutes when his shot towards the far post was fumbled by Banks and fell to Young who poked it home, to the collective relief of the Moss Lane faithful (87 mins). Two minutes later Lewes brought on Wheeler, for fellow debutant Sackey (89 mins). Young had now been pulled back to the defence leaving Senior alone up front. A foul by Cox earned him a booking but not satisfied with their team's lead, a section of the home-side's supporters chanted for Graham Heathcote's head, with the manager reacting angrily to this from the touchline.

Four minutes of added time were announced during which Alty twice wound down the clock in the corner before the final whistle sounded on Altrincham's first home win of the season and their first league win since the opening day of the season six weeks earlier. It had been an eventful week at Moss Lane, with a heavy defeat at Stevenage, a hard-hitting article in the programme from the Manager about his players on Tuesday night, an appeal from the board for extra investment in the club on Saturday morning and the expression of dissent from the terraces at this game. But on the positive side, three points had been gained, a win recorded in the Cheshire Senior Cup and a new supporters' association had been inaugurated. Alty now face Mansfield Town at Moss Lane on Tuesday night

Lee Elam and Lewes keeper Rikki Banks were named the men of the match.