Match Report

REFEREE: Mr S. Mather

ATTENDANCE: c.120

With Stuart Coburn recovering from an operation, Russell Saunders kept goal for Alty. He had played for Altrincham against Droylsden in 2007/08 when on loan from Wigan Athletic but had been carried off injured after less than an hour of his Robins' debut. Anthony Danylyk, James Smith and Chris Senior were unavailable, whilst Michael Welch was recovering from a recent operation.

BACKGROUND:

This was Altrincham's first pre-season game and whilst there many new trialist faces in the Robins' squad, the opposition had a number of players familiar to the Moss Lane faithful. These included Abbey Hey manager Neil Brown (Alty's groundsman and former reserves' manager) and his physio, Alan Ainsley. Amongst the Abbey Hey players were former Alty reserves Chris Rowley, Mike and Ashley Brown, Alty Youth graduates Paul Monaghan, Ryan Donnelly and Daniel Doherty and striker Otis Thomas, who played and scored for Alty's first team eight and a half years ago. Alty's new assistant boss, Ken McKenna, led the pre-match warm-up.

LINE-UPS

ABBEY HEY (All blue): 1. Robert JONES; 2. Ryan DONNELLY, 3. Lewis SCHOFIELD, 4. Rob HIGHAM, 5. Paul JOHNSON, 6. Paul MASSEY, 7. Phil BROWN, 8. Paul MONAGHAN, 9. Curtis BRAITHWAITE, 10. Danny DOHERTY, 11. Ashley BROWN. Subs: GK. Chris ROWLEY, 12. Steven COOKE, 14. Otis THOMAS, 15. Chris DICKS, 16. Rene MIKE, 17. Lee SHARPLES, #. Craig SHARPLES.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, white shorts and red socks): 1.Russell SAUNDERS, 21. Shaun DENSMORE, 4. Mark McGREGOR, 5. Greg YOUNG, 3. Matt DOUGHTY; 6. Chris DENHAM, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 8. Matty CROWELL, 11. Danny HEFFERNAN; 9. Colin LITTLE, 14. Dale JOHNSON. SUBS: 12. Robbie WILLIAMS, 19. Eddie STAMFORD, 14. Aaron CHALMERS, 20. Danny BELL, 6* Stevie CONNOR, 16. David OWENS, 7. Paul McMANUS, 2. Joe REEDY, and others...

Altrincham started the game well and were soon on top, with Crowell prominent in the early stages on his debut in central midfield. In the second minute, from Densmore's feed, Johnson struck the keeper's left upright whilst, on the left, Heffernan was prominent for Alty against his Abbey Hey employers.

Altrincham took the lead as the game went into the sixth minute, Little expertly converting Doughty's cross from the left with a crisp half-volley. Ashley Brown then had to go off and was replaced by Otis Thomas on the left wing. After Denham had shot over the bar and Alty had won two corners, they doubled their lead in the 13th minute when a fine turn by Johnson, about 25 yards out, set him free on goal. As keeper Jones advanced, Johnson's shot came back off the upright but fell kindly for the Alty striker who stroked the ball home to make it 2-0.

Despite a weather forecast of heavy rain, the sun was shining and conditions were good throughout the 90 minutes. From a Densmore freekick Little headed over the bar as Alty maintained their pressure with their keeper Saunders being largely unemployed. However, Young did then have to cover smartly to see off Doherty (21 mins). From a Denham cross Jones made an excellent point blank save from Heffernan at the back post, at the cost of a corner (24 mins).

Mark McGregor even got forward at one stage before a fierce shot from Johnson was again well saved by Jones on the half-hour mark. Alty continued on top but Jones was again the Abbey Hey hero as he did well to block Colin Little's effort from point-blank distance (34 mins). Little soon had the ball in the net but his effort was ruled offside (40 mins). Jones once again excelled as he blocked another point-blank effort, this time from Johnson (41 mins). Next, Johnson fed Denham, who volleyed over the bar but just before the interval Mike Brown had a half chance for Abbey Hey but his cross-shot from the right drifted wide of Saunders's goal (45 mins).

Wholesale changes were made at the interval with even those players who were not replaced changing their shirts from the new 2009 kit to an earlier version. The new players were not only new faces to the Altrincham supporters, being trialists, but they wore shirts and shorts which had numbers which differed from each other! So, what follows may include some cases of mis-identity. Please let me know if you can correct any of the details.

One thing was for certain, as it came from manager Graham Heathcote, was that the Alty line-up at the start of the half was: Saunders in goal; Densmore, McGregor, Welsh trialist Robbie Williams, and Matt Doughty across the back; midfield comprised ex-Chorley and Curzon Ashton man Eddie Stamford on the right, Robbie Lawton and Lewis Chalmers's 18 year-old brother, Aaron, in central midfield, with Danny Bell, another trialist on the left flank. Aaron Chalmers had been released by Oldham for a breach of discipline in December 2008, having played for them twice in League One, and he had trials with Macclesfield Town after that. Up front, Stevie Connor was deployed behind David Owens.

The players withdrawn at the interval included Little, Heffernan, Young, Denham and Crowell.

Connor was soon impressing with his pace and it did not take long for Alty to incrase their lead in the second half. Their third goal arrived in the 49th minute when Chris Rowley did well to beat out two fierce shots only for Stamford to put the ball into the net with the third effort. Next, Bell forced another fine save from Rowley. Abbey Hey made a change soon after this but Alty made it 4-0 in the 58th minute when Connor, who had been combining well with Owens, scored.

Another Alty trialist came on in the shape of Joe Reedy(?) wearing the number two shirt. Another good block from Rowley denied Owens but Stamford put the loose ball wide (66 mins). Soon afterwards Paul McManus (ex-Bangor City, Chester City) came on and, within minutes, he went close, poking a shot just over the bar after a fine cross from Doughty on the left (67 mins). But the substitute soon made amends with a superbly taken goal, lashing the ball past Rowley from left of goal to make it 5-0 (73 mins).

But Abbey Hey kept going and when Thomas chased down a through ball, an Alty defender hesitated which left Saunders having to rush forward to clear. However, the keeper's kick ricocheted against Thomas's legs and went into the net (75 mins). Moments later, however, Alty made it 6-1 when a fine cross from the left by Bell was neatly converted by McManus (76 mins). But Abbey Hey again responded with a superb 25-yard shot into the top of the net from substitute Dicks.

The final ten minutes produced no more goals but it took a good save by Rowley from Connor to ensure that this was the case as Altrincham finished on the front foot. This was an encouraging start to the season for Altrincham and a number of the trialists will have given the Alty management duo some food for thought. Abbey Hey, to their credit, played some neat football themselves but were rarely able to get a sight of Saunders's goal.