Match Report

REFEREE: Mr A Tankard

ATTENDANCE: 749 (46 through away turnstiles)

Adam Flynn had served his one-match suspension but he was out today, injured, so Mark Lees continued at centre-back with youth team central defender Joe Coombs again on the bench. Mark Lynch moved to the bench as Simon Richman came in for his full debut.

Former Alty man Joe O'Neill missed the game for Guiseley through injury. However, from further back in time, Lee Ellington, who was at Alty in 1999-2000, was named in the Yorkshire side.

BACKGROUND:

Mike Garnett advised us that in previous encounters, Alty's record was as follows...

The last league encounter was that memorable May Day in 1999, which was Alty's last game in the UniBond League before a brief return to the Conference. Though Alty lost 2-0, it was a day of rejoicing for the travelling supporters. The last meeting at Moss Lane was on 2 January 1999 when Alty won 1-0.

Guiseley arrived today with four wins from their five matches, whilst Alty had won just once and drawn two of their five games.

LINE-UPS

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Robbie LAWTON (capt), 5. Paul JONES, 6. Mark LEES, 3. Ryan BROWN; 7. Simon RICHMAN, 8. Shaun DENSMORE, 4. Anthony DANYLYK, 11. Nicky CLEE, 10. Damian REEVES, 9. Michael TWISS. Subs: 18. Josh OLLERENSHAW (gk), 12. Joe COOMBS, 14. Chris LYNCH, 16. Astley MULHOLLAND, 15. Brian SUMMERSKILL,

GUISELEY (All yellow): 1. Steven Drench, 2. Jamie Clarke, 3. Dave Merris, 4. Ciaran Toner, 5. Danny Ellis, 6. Simon Ainge (capt), 7. Gavin Rothery, 8. Danny Boshell, 9. Lee Ellington, 10. Danny Forrest, 11. Michael Burns. Subs: 12. Mark Bower, 14. Peter Davidson, 15. James Booker, 16. Chris Holland, 18. Jacob Giles (gk).

REPORT

After a very damp morning in Altrincham the game got under way, after the teams had changed ends, with the floodlights already switched on. Guiseley kicked off towards the Golf Road end and won a freekick for a Densmore challenge inside 15 seconds. It soon became apparent that Guiseley's reputation as a "footballing" side was not misplaced as they passed the ball around impressively, winning the game's first corner, off Brown in the fourth minute. Soon afterwards, a Burns cross led to a team mate's header over the bar as Altrincham were the slower of the teams to get going. But the Robins put together a good move of their own after six minutes which ended with Twiss's shot clearing the bar.

But, against the early flow, Altrincham took the lead with a well-worked goal. Clee fed Twiss on the right and his excellent cross was well headed into the net by Reeves for his fourth goal of the season (7 mins).

As at Hyde, Clee was now spending time playing behind the front two of Twiss and Reeves but it was the visitors who were applying the pressure, winning three corners in the five minutes following Alty's goal. But Alty saw these corners off before mounting an impressive 10-pass attack themselves. Next, Twiss was halted in the box (14 mins). Altrincham now had some luck when a Coburn punch saw the ball cannon off Ellington and go narrowly wide. Alty soon threatened a again when a fine ball from Richman located Reeves inside the box but the striker was blocked by a defender (18 mins).

Altrincham were temporarily reduced to ten men when Lees had to come off with a cut below his eye. After being patched up, the referee waited for the ball to go out of play before instructing his assistant to check the wound. The linesman was not satisfied and, to Alty's annoyance, Lees had to have further treatment. There was then another delay in his return to the action till the ball went dead. At that point, Mr Tankard himself came across to the touchline to inspect the wound and allowed Lees to return to the fray in a numberless "blood shirt" (21 mins).

A foul on Richman, just outside the box on the Alty left, yielded a freekick. From the main stand Densmore's kick seemed to go straight in but Michael Twiss had in fact diverted it enough to make the ball squirm past the keeper and give Altrincham a slightly flattering 2-0 lead (26 mins). Soon afterwards, Drench had to be smart to beat Reeves to a ball and then Guiseley survived an Alty corner before they won themselves a 34th-minute corner. From the right, the ball was played into the box and then played short to Toner who volleyed it home from 12 yards to make it 2-1 (35 mins).

And it was 2-2 in the 39th minute when a ball up the inside-right channel found Rothery, who got the better of Jones inside the Alty box, before firing a shot past Coburn off the crossbar. Guiseley continued to press and a shot from Toner was only narrowly wide from 30 yards (42 mins). But Altrincham held firm till the interval, with Danylyk having been booked for dissent.

At the break, Altrincham introduced Chris Lynch, who replaced Ryan Brown at left-back. Torrential rain was now falling as an early Alty corner was seen off (48 mins). A great tackle by Danylyk stopped Burns before a Richman shot cleared the Guiseley bar. Guiseley won a corner when Lees conceded an unnecessary corner. Next, at the other end, Reeves was played into the box but he could not keep the ball from going out of play (54 mins).

The rain had now eased as this period of the game proved fairly uneventful. Chris Lynch now got booked for a late challenge just inside the opposition half (58 mins). Just two minutes later, Burns was also cautioned as the game continued to stutter along without any incident of note. From a freekick Clee now shot weakly at goal but he was then instrumental in a move which ended with Reeves feeding Twiss, but he was dispossessed as he delayed his shot - a corner resulted. Soon after this, Danylyk and an opponent went down in a challenge for a 50-50 ball near the centre-spot and referee Tankard produced a second yellow, then a red, to dismiss the Altrincham midfielder, who paid a high price for a needless booking for "verbals" in the first half (65 mins).

Alty now made a double swap with Mulholland and Summerskill replacing Clee and Twiss (68 mins). Mulholland was deployed as the lone striker as Reeves moved to right midfield. The sending off actually lifted Altrincham's performance for a while. They now won a freekick for a foul on Richman and Densmore's well struck freekick forced a good save and won Alty a corner. The dismissal also stirred up the home crowd to give strong support to their team.

When Mulholland was taken out by Ellis, the home crowd was annoyed not to see a yellow card for the Guiseley defender (72 mins). The crowd's opinion of the referee diminished further when he twice measured out ten yards at freekicks but made only eight and a half steps to do so. Mr Tankard clearly knew that each of his full paces was precisely 1.1764 metres in length. An Alty corner soon followed and then a Mulholland shot was saved (73 mins). Alty then allowed Rothery time to make a shot at the other end, which Coburn stopped.

It now took a last-ditch tackle by Lynch to stop Ellington but, a minute later, a Guiseley move on the left ended with Ellington striking the base of the near post (77 mins). Guiseley were now on top against Alty's ten men and won two corners. The Yorkshire side continued to press but Altrincham defended well with man of the match, Lees, noteworthy. Guiseley won three more corners before the 90th minute. In the 89th minute it took a fine save at the base of the post by Coburn to stop an Ellington header.

The referee had signalled a minimum of three extra minutes but for some reason he was to find an additional minute and a half in the closing stages before he finally concluded the game. Whilst Altrincham rued the loss of a two-goal lead, ultimately they were the happier of the sides to hear the final whistle. Socring twice against a team which had conceded only two goals in their opening five matches was an achievement but defensive frailties again were Altrincham's undoing as they had been at Vauxhall Motors and Harrogate.