Match Report
HARROGATE TOWN (2) 3 ALTRINCHAM (0) 2
played on Saturday, 13 August, 2011, at 3pm
SUMMARY
Altrincham dominated this game from start to finish but fell to an injury time sucker punch as Flynn and Jones failed to deal with a hopeful long ball and Flynn brought down Hassan to concede a penalty and to pick up a red card, too.
After a bright opening, Town took the lead, against the run of play, when awarded a 13th minute penalty, against Flynn, which Brayson dispatched efficiently. Alty continued to look the better side as three Town players were booked for crude challenges but Alty then failed to defend a right-wing freekick, allowing the ball to reach the left from where it was played back in for Brayson to score his second in the 34th minute. Alty's central defence was now looking shaky whilst Twiss and Reeves were getting little change up front, where Clee was Alty's best threat.
After again dominating the opening stages of the second half, Alty pulled a goal back with a well taken effort by Twiss on the hour mark, following good creative play from Clee. This came after the referee had failed to send off Nowakowski, who committed a second clearly bookable offence but was not shown a second card. Then, however, Tait fouled and pushed over Clee and was dismissed. Alty continued to run the game before Reeves rounded the keeper to level at 2-2 (69 mins).
Twiss then had two successive shots cleared off the line as the game went into the final 10 minutes. Danylyk also had a volley cleared off line and Jones went close but Alty just could not get the winner. Flynn was red-carded as Harrogate won their injury time penalty, which Wilson converted. This was a game Alty should have won.
SCORERS:
REFEREE: Mr Ryan Beswick (Newton Aycliffe)
ATTENDANCE: 587
TEAM NEWS
Altrincham deployed all of their 17-man squad apart, from assistant manager Neil Tolson.
BACKGROUND:
Mike Garnett's statistics told us that, before today's match, Alty's games with Harrogate had finished as follows:
The last meeting was in a Nationwide North game, played on Saturday, 11 December, 2004, in which a late equalizer from the hosts made the score 1-1 and enabled them to stay top of the table. However, it was Altrincham who were to be promoted at the end of that season, after battling through the play-offs.
LINE-UPS
HARROGATE TOWN (White shirts with black & yellow bands, white socks, black shorts): 1. Mark Cook, 2. Matt Bloomer, 3. Craig Radcliffe, 4. Ian Ross, 5. Adam Nowakowski, 6. Jake Picton (captain), 7. Laurie Wilson, 8. Michael Tait, 9. Paul Brayson, 10. Callum Hassan, 11. Stephen Turnbull. Subs: 14. Paul Heckingbottom, 15. Lee Elam, 16. Liam Hardy, 17. Richard Pell, 18. Will Turl.
ALTRINCHAM (Red & white stripes, red shorts, red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Robbie LAWTON (capt), 5. Adam FLYNN, 6. Paul JONES, 3. Ryan BROWN, 7. Shaun DENSMORE, 4. Chris LYNCH, 8. Anthony DANYLYK, 11. Nicky CLEE, 10. Damian REEVES, 9. Michael TWISS, Subs: 18. Josh OLLERENSHAW, 16. Astley MULHOLLAND, 14. Brian SUMMERSKILL, 15. Simon RICHMAN, 12. Mark LEES
REPORT
Altrincham kicked off and soon threatened from a Clee long throw and a corner, before the second minute was up. Following the corner, Danylyk lifted a shot well over the bar. As Altrincham started to dominate, Nowakowski was deservedly booked when he pulled down Reeves (8 mins).
Harrogate's rugged approach continued as Turnbull clattered Densmore and was fortunate not to be booked (9 mins). Clee was now tormenting the hosts but, at the end of a mazy run up the left, his weak right-foot shot was a disappointment (11 mins).
But, completely against the run of play, on the front edge of the Alty box, Flynn was deemed to have brought down Wilson and the referee awarded a penalty which Brayson confidently smashed past Coburn (13 mins). The goal gave Harrogate some confidence and they enjoyed their best spell of the game. Alty's central defence began to look shaky but Cook, Harrogate's keeper, was already timewasting as he moved ponderously every time he was required to take a goal kick. The keeper then went down under a Twiss challenge and looked fortunate to get a freekick after dropping the ball.
Next, Lynch shot wide, after a clever Densmore step over had set up an opening for him (19 mins). Harrogate now saw off a Clee cross from the left. For the second time, Clee was clattered by Turnbull and this time he did get booking he should have had earlier (24 mins).
From a rare home corner, Picton headed narrowly off target as again Alty looked suspect at the back. Elsewhere, Alty were passing the ball well and, at the end of a good move, Densmore's goalbound effort, following Brown's advance up the left, was cleared off the line (28 mins).
Next, Reeves had a shot blocked as Harrogate defended well. Harrogate did threaten again in the 33rd minute when Radcliffe's cross led to Wilson lashing an effort over the bar. But the respite for Altrincham was short. Harrogate won an unthreatening freekick on the wide right, 35 yards out. The ball came to Tait on the left and his low cross was converted by Brayson in the goalmouth (34 mins).
Play meandered towards half time with Cook again timewasting and being warned by the referee. Another crude challenge, this time from Wilson, left Danylyk on the deck, and Wilson became the home side's third booked player (41 mins). After Alty had wasted a corner, Brayson got in another shot, as the half went into added time. The ineffectual referee again warned Cook for timewasting but failed to take any meaningful action against the keeper before concluding the proceedings after more than three added minutes.
| Half-Time: HARROGATE TOWN 2 ALTRINCHAM 0 |
Though Harrogate kicked off, they saw little of the ball in the early stages of the second half. When the already booked Nowakowski cynically took out Reeves, the referee should have clearly produced a second yellow and then a red but failed even to talk to the big centre back as he awarded a freekick (49 mins).
Altrincham continued to dominate with Clee again prominent and Danylyk and Brown also impressing. Nowakowski did then leave the pitch but only as a substituted player rather than the dismissed one he should have been. He was replaced by an even bigger defender in Richard Pell (56 mins). The Robins were passing the ball around well and Harrogate were no threat whatsoever to the Alty goal at this stage.
Alty finally got their reward for the one-way traffic when another good move featuring Clee ended with Twiss scoring an excellent goal from left of the target, the ball going in off the far post to make it 2-1 (60 mins). For the third time, Mr Beswick warned Cook for timewasting and for the third time he failed to take the action he should have done.
However, the referee was forced to produce a red card moments later when Tait, not content with two hacks at Clee, pushed the Alty man over in the aftermath, with one of hands pushed into Clee's face (66 mins). Alty's dominance continued as Reeves found the side-netting with a shot but, then, following a Densmore header, Reeves picked up the ball right of goal, dribbled round the keeper and levelled the score at 2-2 (69 mins).
Harrogate saw thw writing on the wall and now brought on another defender, Heckingbottom, for striker Brayson (70 mins). Altrincham continued to play the ball around well, winning two corners before a rasping shot from thirty yard by Flynn went narrowly wide (75 mins).
Flynn went close again, soon afterwards, with another long range shot, before another Alty corner underlined the one-sided nature of the game at this stage. Alty then made a change as Summerskill came on for his debut in place of Lynch in midfield (80 mins). Harrogate had a remarkable escape a minute later as another fine move ended with two successive fierce shots from Twiss, each of which was blocked on the goal line. Cook then took some time to recover from an apparent knock.
An excellent cross from the left by Brown allowed Clee a free header from left of goal but he could only direct it into Cook's arms (83 mins). When Danylyk then hit a fine volley, only to see it hit Picton, it still seemed just a matter of time before Alty clinched the game. But then, out of nothing, with the match just into added time, a routine ball up the middle saw the big Hartlepool loanee, Hassan, take advantage of indecisive defending before going down under Flynn's challenge. After consulting his assistant, the referee showed Flynn a straight red and awarded a penalty.
Wilson drove the spot kick past Coburn to give Harrogate an unlikely victory in a game where they were second best for much of the time. Though Altrincham can take some consolation from periods of excellent passing play, they will be concerned at the manner in which they conceded the goals this afternoon.
| Full-Time: HARROGATE TOWN 3 ALTRINCHAM 2 |