Match Report

REFEREE: Mr T Harrington (Teesside)

ATTENDANCE: 605

Altrincham were down to 14 fit players with James Smith returning from suspension but Anthony Danylyk starting his ban. So, the Ashton United striker, Rod Thornley, an Altrincham favourite before leaving Moss Lane, was on the bench along with Abbey Hey's Danny Heffernan. Smith played at centre-back with Welch as Young moved to left-back, with Lane on the right. McGregor, virtually an ever-present starter this season, was on the bench after being withdrawn at half-time on Saturday. In the absence of the injured Lawton, whom it was good to see in attendance at the match after his back spasm, and the suspended Danylyk, the central midfield was a new combination of loanee Ben Wilkinson and Matt Doughty. Peyton started on the left and Densmore on the right. Little and Johnson were up front.

Borough were without regulars Atkin and Gargan, whilst Tait was also ruled out by injury.

BACKGROUND:

After Saturday's poor showing at Lewes, Alty faced Sussex for the third time in four games, having drawn with Crawley in their last home match. Eastbourne had already secured a place in the BSP for next season with a fine debut season at this level. The original fixture had been postponed by Mr Harrington just an hour before kick off but tonight's game was played in good, if breezy, conditions. The Sports had won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Priory Lane.

LINE-UPS

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN (capt), 2.Chris LANE, 18. Michael WELCH, 22. James SMITH, 5. Greg YOUNG, 21. Shaun DENSMORE, 17. Ben WILKINSON, 11. Warren PEYTON, 3. Matt DOUGHTY, 14. Dale JOHNSON, 9. Colin LITTLE. SUBS 4. Mark McGREGOR, 12. Joe O'NEILL, 23. Richard ACTON, 26. Rod THORNLEY, 20. Danny HEFFERNAN.

EASTBOURNE BOROUGH (Yellow shirts, shorts and socks): 1. Lee Hook, 8. Paul Armstrong, 5. Ben Austin, 2. Darren Baker, 26. Dan Brown, 11. Matt Crabb, 15. Nathan Crabb, 3. Neil Jenkins, 6. Mark Pullan, 38. Jack Jeffery, 18. Simon Wormull. SUBS: 7. Pat Harding, 13. Jay Lovett. 37. Michael Jordan, 4. Matt Smart, 14. Jacob Mingle

Altrincham kicked off towards the Hale end and had an early couple of scares when, first, a shot from Jeffrey proved too hot for Coburn to gather at the first attempt (2 mins) and then a mistake by Young 30 yards out on the left allowed Jeffrey to get free and with a team-mate unmarked inside him, a goal seemed inevitable. But the Eastbourne man opted to shoot and Coburn made a good block (3 mins). Alty's shaky start continued as Jeffrey, fresh from his two goals at the weekend, fired home in the eighth minute. The goal came after a foul by Alty on their left. Crabb's freekick was met by a firm, unchallenged header from Pullan at the back post and as the ball dropped back into the goalmouth, Jeffrey lashed a shot into the net from 15 yards or so to give Eastbourne the lead.

Alty's jittery start continued as a rehearsed freekick routine went completely wrong when Doughty put the ball out of play as no one read his intentions (10 mins). Little then got in an overhead shot at the other end but it went wide (12 mins). Altrincham were gradually settling and, soon, a 20 yard freekick from Welch went narrowly wide as it flashed across the face of goal from the left (15 mins). Alty then went very close after Little cleverly fed Densmore on the right. He headed towards the by-line and quickly drove a low ball into the box which just evaded a stretching Warren Peyton but a corner was won (19 mins).

When Shaun Densmore emulated Colin Little’s earlier efforts with an off-target overhead shot at goal, Alty boss Graham Heathcote remarked wryly, "That's three overhead shots so far!" Eastbourne's Austin was then allowed to charge 40 yards up the middle of the pitch unchallenged before firing narrowly over the bar. But Alty responded by winning a corner. However, Michael Welch hurt his ankle in going for the ball and needed treatment (22 mins). A great chance came in the 26th minute for Altrincham to level the score. It arose when Doughty clearly played a free kick in low from the left and found Little unmarked 15 yards out. But the normally lethal Little fired well over the bar.

Eastbourne survived again five minutes later as Wilkinson fed Lane and he set Densmore running into the box. His well hit shot was well saved by Hook at the cost of a corner (31 mins). Hook then needed treatment for an injury, following which Eastbourne survived one of several unsuccessful appeals from Alty for handball which some refs would have given. Altrincham created another chance after 35 minutes when Little relayed a Coburn punt to Johnson but he took an extra touch rather than shooting. Next, Greg Young stormed up the pitch but ran into a brick wall. However, an Alty corner followed soon after this.

Ben Wilkinson, being watched by his father Howard, the former England coach, was then booked for a foul which seemed nothing out of the ordinary (38 mins). This led to an Eastbourne corner by Nathan Crabb which was half cleared but came to Austin who drove it at goal from 30 yards. Coburn got his hands to the ball, low to his left, but the ball span out of his grasp and over the line to make it 2-0 to the visitors (41 mins). After this Young had to be restrained as he reacted angrily to a challenge and the centre-back joined Wilkinson in the ref's book (42 mins).

But before Alty heads could drop, they got a goal back. Welch's long ball forward was well controlled by Little who finished smartly past Hook to make it 2-1 (44 mins). Four added minutes were announced which were entertaining end to end stuff. The last act being yet another overhead shot, this time Little's effort went only narrowly wide.

As the players prepared for the second half, Graham Heathcote told them "Let's see what you are made of". Alty were to rise to his challenge though not immediately as, just as in the first half, they were not at the races in the first couple of minutes of play. Jeffery got free and it took a superb block from Coburn, captain for this game, to keep the ball out (47 mins).

It took a change of personnel to galvanize an improvement in the home performance but this was delayed in strange circumstances. With O'Neill ready to come on for Peyton after 52 minutes, the referee came off the pitch with an injury. Play was then suspended for more than five minutes whilst assistant referee Mr Hughes took over, the fourth official took over the linesman's duties and a new fourth official was located in the shape of Andy Coop, a young local referee who has officiated at friendly matches at Moss Lane previously. With the guidance of Phil Taylor, an Alty match day official and also a qualified referee, play finally resumed once notebooks had been copied up and the watches checked.

O'Neill finally got onto the pitch (57 mins) but play, after the interruption, took a few minutes to rise above the mundane. O’Neill was soon involved on the right wing but Alty now changed their formation sending defender Welch forward and adopting a back three formation. After 65 mins there was a further change as Rod Thornley came on for Johnson up front. Welch was soon threatening as his shot from an O'Neill feed hit a defender as the home side got on top (67 mins). After Graham Heathcote had shown that you never lose your footballing skills, by expertly chesting a ball as it went out of play, Doughty's throw-in led to a freekick when O'Neill was fouled a couple of yards outside the box in a slightly right of centre position. Shaun Densmore smacked the freekick brilliantly into Hook's left corner to make it 2-2 (69 mins).

Despite the disappointingly small gate - a product of Eastbourne fans understandably being relatively few in number for a 520-mile round trip on a Tuesday night and of live Champions League coverage of our neighbours Manchester United on ITV - the atmosphere was now lively as the home fans sensed a dramatic comeback. Their team did not disappoint as they went forward again. Borough responded with a double change as Lovett and Harding replaced Jeffery and Wormull, with Andy Coop expertly handling the changeover (73 mins).

Eastbourne keeper Hook continued to try and wind down the clock but his side soon won a corner. But then Welch rose at the other end to nod a freekick narrowly over the bar (79 mins). After 82 minutes Welch fired in a freekick from 40 yards which was held by Hook (82 mins). Coburn, who had been largely a spectator in the second half had to be alert to see off Harding as he broke the offside trap. Next, Little did well but his volley from the edge of the Eastbourne box just cleared the bar taking a deflection for a corner (84 mins). Altrincham continued to press but could not make the decisive opening as the clock ticked to and beyond the 90 minute mark. A minute later Mingle replaced Nathan Crabb for The sports (Eastbourne Borough used to be called Langney Sports).

Given the five-minute or more delay for the change of referee, it became clear that the officials had stopped their watches when Mr Harrington went off and only restarted them when play resumed. So, when it got to fifty minutes after the start of the second half, Andy Coop displayed the added-time board. As the five-minute stoppage had already been compensated for by playing 50 minutes before displaying added time, the expectation was for three or four minutes to be displayed to cover a couple of injuries and the substitutions. Alty announcer Brian Flynn humorously announced that "The fifth official has indicated there will be eight additional minutes". It would appear that the referee had forgotten that he had already made up the five missing minutes from Mr Harrington's injury.

So after (90+8 mins) Mark McGregor made arguably the record latest ever Alty substitution when he replaced Michael Welch who was later to leave the ground with an icepack strapped to his right ankle, which is hopefully not a recurrence of the injury which saw him stretchered off two weeks ago. In the closing minutes Alty won a corner, Little had a shot well saved, two more shots were blocked by defenders as Alty laid siege to the Eastbourne goal. But, finally, a full hour after it had begun the second half came to a conclusion and the points had been shared.

This was a very entertaining game, especially in the second half as two well-matched sides played the game in a good spirit. Those commendable Eastbourne spectators who had made the long trip to Altrincham will not have been pleased at the additional playing time but hopefully they all got home before dawn. Altrincham's second half performance might well have gained them all three points but a draw was probably a fair result given the visitors' first-half superiority. So, Altrincham remain tantalising short of complete security in the BSP but this lively comeback will have done no harm to team spirit as they go into their five final games.