Match Report

After they had kicked off in steady rain, attacking the Carole Nash end, Altrincham had the first shot when Chris Denham lifted an effort over the bar from the edge of the box following good work in the left corner by Dale Johnson (1 min). But York soon settled as the game continued at a fast pace. Following a foul on Denham, Densmore's freekick came to O'Neill, who did well to fashion a shot, but it went very wide (5 mins). Both sets of fans were in good voice, the visiting supporters surprisingly so given the soaking they were getting on the terraces. Alty had a scare in the ninth minute when a ball forward went behind Coburn to the left of his goal, but running back he gathered the ball ahead of a York forward.

Play was now fairly even with Denham firing over after beating a defender in the left of the box and then Young having to make a good clearance at the Alty end (13 mins). Johnson fed Denham on the right and he pressured York defender Parslow, who failed to shepherd the ball out to the left of his goal. From the by-line the ball was immediately relayed by Denham, inside to O'Neill. Though he did not hit his shot cleanly, it beat Ingham but a defender cleared it off the line. The ball fell into the path of the incoming Densmore, who drove it into the net for his first league goal of the season (14 mins).

Soon after the restart, play was halted as Lawton took a blow to the face which seemed to have done some dental damage but, after treatment, the Alty captain played on. Densmore then had a freekick saved, following a foul on Johnson just outside the box but York were also threatening at the other end as, still, the pace of the game outweighed its quality. Lawton was then booked for a lunge at an opponent on the Popular Side (21 mins). York next won a corner before Alty had another scare when an overhit back pass from Smith flashed past Coburn and, fortunately, also went past his left upright.

The game was punctuated by regular freekicks but despite plenty of endeavour, with Densmore prominent for Alty, there were no clear openings in the next few minutes. York now won two corners either side of the half-hour mark and following the second of these, they were awarded a somewhat fortunate penalty. It came when Denham, in the outer reaches of his own are, sliced an attempted clearance and the ball span off behind him onto the arm of Dale Johnson. The referee pointed to the spot and, though Brodie took a long run-up and hit the ball quite well, Coburn made a fine save, diving to his left, to concede only a corner (33 mins). This corner led to some pressure, which Alty survived.

However, an Alty corner relieved the pressure and when Young headed the flag-kick from Doughty, O'Neill got onto it but had his effort blocked in the goalmouth. After a scramble, York cleared their lines. Next, from a Lawton cross a Johnson header as saved by Ingham (38 mins) before Brown was lectured for a foul on Lawton. York continued to press for an equalizer as half-time approached and Alty's Densmore saw yellow for a foul. But with the game going into a surprisingly short one-minute of added time, despite the injury to Lawton, Alty won a corner as Densmore set Johnson free. Ingham did well to get to the ball to concede the flag kick (45 mins). Alty almost conceded a goal in the added time when Brown was put clear. But the former Wrexham man knocked the ball slightly too far ahead of himself and Coburn blocked it at the York player's feet. Brown responded by going head to head with Coburn. The resulting corner was cleared and Alty went in to the changing rooms with their lead intact.

York boss Martin Foyle sent his team out early for the second half and his ploy paid off as the Minstermen equalised inside forty seconds of the re-start. The goal was a bad one from the Alty defence's point of view as Young made a partial headed clearance but, as the ball bounced, just inside the front edge of the box, McGregor misread it and it cleared his attempt to head clear. The ball dropped to Brodie, who was in the clear and he drove the ball past the exposed Coburn from 12 yards, left of centre (46 mins).

The next goalmouth action was at the other end where York eventually cleared the ball after a spell of "ping-pong" in their box. After a York corner had been and gone, Altrincham almost scored when a fine cross from Densmore was headed goalwards by Johnson but was cleared off the line. Another Altrincham corner came not long after this but play was end to end and it took a perfectly timed tackle by McGregor to stop Brodie on the edge of the box (55 mins). Spurred on by their goal, York now applied some pressure at the Altrincham end until play was halted by a rough challenge on Denham by Brown which left the Alty man writhing and the York man booked (61 mins). After treatment Denham limped off and was replaced by Warren Peyton, and at the same time Jody Banim came on for his debut in place of Joe O'Neill (63 mins).

Play continued to be competitive but without any clear chances until Peyton, who seemed to be pushed as he went for Densmore's cross from the right, glanced a header just wide (68 mins). For York, Brodie then played a fine long pass to Brown who got in a cross which went out for a goalkick. From a Densmore cross from the right, Johnson's excellent effort was briliantly stopped, one handed, low down by Ingham (72 mins). Then, a fine Young tackle saw off another York attack as the visitors now had marginally the upper hand. They then brought on Smith, their recent acquisition from Gainsborough Trinity, to replace Brown, whilst Alty brought on Hadfield in midfield and withdrew Danylyk (74 mins). Peyton and Banim were then involved in a move which ended with Banim firing narrowly wide from 20 yards (75 mins).

From a York corner, Coburn made a magnificent one-handed save to his left from a header by Parslow (77 mins). The end to end action next saw Johnson given offside as he got clear of the City back line. But York had a good chance in the 82nd minute when, following an Alty corner, the Robins committed themselves too much upfield and York broke away with four attackers against two defenders but the move floundered as City's Smith handled the ball. Alty boss Graham Heathcote had a frank exchange of opinions with his defence, indicating that they had not heeded his warning about breakaways; "I told you about that at half past seven!", he reminded his players.

Alty responded by winning another corner before York forced a goalmouth scramble in Altrincham's penalty area. At this point York fans ignited a red flare on the terraces, an action that had caused trouble in the Minstermen's game at Woking earlier this season (84 mins). There was now a delay as Coburn re-tied his boot laces but the next shot at goal came from Banim but it ran comfortably to Ingham (8 mins). Just before a surprisingly long five added minutes were announced, York brought on McWilliams for Rusk, who was to be named the visitors' Man of the Match. Added time did not produce a goal and so Altrincham settled for their second successive 1-1 draw, in a game where again they had taken the lead but conceded just after the interval.

Stuart Coburn was a deserved Altrincham Man of the Match. Whilst this was not as good a performance as Altrincham's at Burton last Saturday, there were good reasons for that. The Robins today were without their two leading scorers, and were fielding a number of players with very little match practice under their belts. O'Neill and Denham were starting their first games for four months, Lawton, Danylyk and Densmore have also missed some games recently with injury or suspension and the bench included two loan players who have not seen regular action this season. For the neutral this was an entertaining game, end to end, and played in a competitive manner. Results elsewhere saw Altrincham maintain their fourteenth place in the league table before they face bottom club Northwich Victoria next Tuesday, following a fixtureless day this Saturday.