Match Report

REFEREE:

ATTENDANCE: c.150

It is exactly eleven weeks since Alty's last game of the 2009-10 season and since then six players have left; Colin Little has retired, Chris Senior has gone to Darlington and Greg Young has departed to York City. Michael Welch and John McAliskey have been released and Peter Doran has decamped to Fleetwood Town. With Dale Johnson, Matt Doughty and Tom Kearney still on the recovery path after serious injuries last term, there are nine faces currently missing from last season's end of campaign squad. Only two new signings had been made to date, both strikers: Michael Twiss and Damian Reeves. So a number of trialists were on display today, hoping to fill some of the vacant slots in the squad.

BACKGROUND:

Alty's last pre-season game at Woodley was on Saturday, 1 July 2006 when Alty lost 3-1. Alty fielded their two new signings from Halifax Town, midfielder Steve Bushell and winger Justin Bowler. Woodley included several former Alty players including David Swanick, Chris Young and Mario Daniel, whilst former trialist Gavin Salmon was on their bench.

Not one of the Alty 18 remains at the club now though Peter Band featured today - for the Sports rather than for Altrincham, as did Chris Curley, a product of Altrincham's youth team.

Today's game was played on a sultry afternoon on the artificial pitch at Woodley's Lambeth Grove stadium.

LINE-UPS

WOODLEY SPORTS (Red & blue striped shirts, red shirts and socks).

ALTRINCHAM (Yellow shirts, blue shorts and yellow socks):

Altrincham numbers below for Holt, McCready and Schofield uncertain.

Second half: 1. Russell SAUNDERS, 22. Matthew HOLT, No number: Raphael EVANS, 26. Danny ADAMS; 24. Adam CARDEN, 11. Danny HOLMES, 25. Fraser McLACHLAN, ?. Tom McCREADY, ? Tom SCHOFIELD; 21. Lewis CODLING, 8. Clive MOYO MODISE. Additional subs: 15. Andy GAMBLE, Vernum ROWLAND.

Above: Alty's Damian Reeves gets to grips with Woodley's Peter Band.

Altrincham started with a strong line-up which included their two new strikers, Damian Reeves and Michael Twiss, in a 3-4-3 line-up in which Chris Denham was the third front man. At the back, on the left, Danny Adams started his first Altrincham game for a decade; he was the only trialist in the starting line-up.

In the first six minutes, Altrincham gained three corners, none of which came to much. But Denham did then produce a good shot but it went wide of thee keeper's left post (7 mins). Woodley had a scare after 10 minutes when Higginbotham fumbled a Densmore freekick, from the right, before gathering the ball. Denham looked the liveliest of the Alty attackers but he sliced his next effort wide (11 mins). Next, from a Brown freekick from the right, Williams forced a save from the keeper with a header (13 mins).

Following a Woodley throw, Adams's misheader reached Coburn's arms but overall Adams was having a steady game at the back. Though Altrincham had had the better of the game so far, it was Woodley who were to take the lead. Adams was caught out by the extra bounce from the artificial pitch and a routine ball forward into the box reared up against his arm, leading the referee to award a penalty. Sheriff beat Coburn from the spot to give the Sports the lead (29 mins).

Altrincham responded with two corners is as many minutes, after which, first, Danham fired wide and, then, Reeves was seen off as he threatened to get free (34 mins). A good pass forward from Williams then set Twiss running at Higginbotham but the ex-Morecambe man's shot hit the advancing keeper and went for a corner (38 mins). However, Alty soon equalised when a Danylyk pass found Denham, who beat a defender before slotting a low shot past the keeper (39 mins).

Half-time soon arrived with the scores level.

Both sides made numerous changes at the interval; only Adams remained for Alty from the first half, who kicked off in a 4-4-2 formation with Modise and Codling up front. In addition to Alty's 10 changes, the team sheet indicated that Woodley had changed eight personnel. After an early Alty freekick had hit the wall, the visitors gained a corner but play was fairly uneventful in the opening ten minutes.

Then, Modise and Cotton went for the ball just inside the Woodley half and the two players' feet seemed to arrive at the same time. The Woodley man went down and it was immediately obvious that he was seriously injured. In fact, he had suffered a double fracture of the leg and after five minutes he was stretchered off the pitch, an ambulance having been called.

Each team then gathered together before the referee announced the abandonment of the game with a long blast of his whistle. AFter some ten or fifteen minutes, the ambulance arrived to convey the injured Cotton to hospital, with a suspected fracture of the tibia and fibia. Everyone at Altrincham wishes him a full and speedy recovery from his injury.

This curtailed game will have given the Alty management little insight into the trialists' capabilities before they move on for their next friendly, away at Nantwich Town next Saturday.