Match Report

On a cold, blustery and breezy afternoon, Altrincham kicked off in their first game for three weeks. The home side had the better of the opening exchanges though Dale Johnson was doing his best to make an impression up front for Altrincham. But at the back Young and McGregor were looking solid as Oxford struggled to create any openings. Their first shot of note came from the lively right-winger Haldane but Doughty blocked this well. Constable, as usual, was putting himself about for Oxford and got away with a handball before shooting weakly at Coburn (8 mins). The home side were trying to keep a high tempo by taking freekicks and throws quickly but to little avail.

Alty's first threat came in bizarre fashion as Little sent in a looping ball towards the back post and, in the swirling wind, Turley exprienced some discomfort in catching it just under the bar (11 mins). Oxford now won two successive corners as they continued to have the better of play. But, after 21 minutes, Alty responded with two successive corners themselves. The game was punctuated by regular freekicks awarded by referee Coote and the tendency of Constable to go down at the slightest provocation did not help the game to flow.

Altrincham put together a good attack after 28 minutes when Little crossed from the right and under Johnson's challenge, Turley flapped and the ball ran loose but was cleared. At the other end a Constable shot was easily held by Coburn but Young was excelling at the back for Alty. When Constable felled Densmore a freekick resulted but soon afterwards Matt Doughty picked up his fifth booking of the season when Haldane got past him and the defender hauled him back (34 mins). Play was now more even than it had been in the opening stages but Anthony Danylyk was then booked for a fairly trivial offence, presumably because he had previously been twice penalised by the fussy Mr Coote (42 mins).

Chapman wasted the resulting freekick, from the front edge of the box, with an awful effort way over the bar. But Alty then had a decent chance when Johnson got past Chapman, who fouled him, the ball coming to Little. Little hit the ball well but it rose over the bar from 20 yards. Mr Coote booked the defender for his challenge.

Constable then had a chance at the Alty end, but fired woefully wide. However, Oxford finished the half very strongly. They won three corners in the added two minutes at the end of the half but by pulling everyone back, Alty saw these off to go into the interval with the game goalless.

Although Oxford kicked off the second half, Chris Senior won an Alty corner within the first minute. After a fine tackle by Young had seen off Odubade, a speculative efort from the right by Constable clipped the outside of the Alty post but Coburn had it well covered (50 mins). Mr Coote then annoyed Alty by blowing for a freekick for them as Senior got free of a foul challenge and behind the Oxford defence. Alty were enjoying their best spell of the game but their rhythm was disrupted when, in midfield, Constable went down dramatically and Peyton fell over him, prompting a minor melee. The referee did not know what had happened so had a lengthy consultation with his linesman. Predictably he booked a player from each side,Young for Alty and Constable. So, another Alty player had picked up his fifth card of the campaign (54 mins).

This incident prompted a petulant few minutes of play, with regular minor fouls interrupting play. Constable was then booked for a late challenge on Coburn (59 mins). Now, Carruthers replaced Willmott for Oxford (60 mins). After a Senior hook had run to Turley in the Oxford goal, a Peyton shot yielded a corner for the visitors as they continued to look the more likely to score at this stage. But with the game now livening up, Oxford came back into it as they brought on big striker, Sappleton (66 mins). Within two minutes, Oxford scored a goal out of nothing, following a throw-in on the right. Though Young cleared Constable's first effort off the line, the striker was able to hook the loose ball into the net (68 mins). The goal signalled a period of home dominance as Alty brought on Lawton in midfield for striker Little (69 mins).

Alty were now largely penned back in their own half, but Odubade was wasteful when he fired miles over from the right of goal. Then Sappleton was set free but got the ball under his feet when he should have scored (78 mins). With ten minutes left, Chris Denham came on for his first appearance since his accident in September. He was not wearing the goggles that it was believed he would have to don to protect his damaged eye. Next, Day replaced Odubade for Oxford (81 mins).

Next, O'Neill replaced Peyton (83 mins) but with Young now also pushed forward, referee Coote put the final nail in Alty's coffin. Danylyk made what looked a fair challenge and play continued only for the man in black to go back and show a second yellow to the Alty midfielder (84 mins). Despite this, Alty continued to press forward and almost got a point in the last of four added minutes when Doughty put O'Neill into the Oxford box. The striker held off a challenge well but steered his low shot narrowly of the far post from the left of goal (90+4 mins).

Manager Graham Heathcote is now faced with a squad further depleted by the bookings today. The BBC reports that Altrincham had 24 fouls awarded against them. For a club near the top of the fair play league this season in terms both of fouls committed and bookings, Altrincham either adopted a different approach from usual to their game today or this match's referee saw more wrong with their play than other officials have done this season. Those at the game who have watched Altrincham all season will know which interpretation is nearer the truth.