Match Report
WORCESTER CITY (2) 3 ALTRINCHAM (0) 0
played on Saturday, 12 November, 2011, at 3pm
SUMMARY
Altrincham were well beaten yet probably had as many chances as their opponents but with Reeves and Twiss misfiring in the box they failed to score. Poor defending allowed City to win an early penalty when Lynch pushed over an opponent and Brown converted the penalty.
After 40 minutes, Smith made it 2-0 from the left after an interchange with Thorley as Alty were carved open. Alty made a triple change at the break as Redshaw, Lawton and Brown replaced Twiss, Lawrie and Williams. Alty improved for 10-15 minutes but soon faded and City finished them off when Alty gifted them a third by trying to pass their way out of defence only for Danylyk to slip and lose possession.
Altrincham were lacklustre all over the pitch; all the goals came from poor defending, creative play was at a minimum and the strikers had an off day.
SCORERS:
REFEREE: Mr S Bratt
ATTENDANCE: 824
TEAM NEWS
After experimentation in midweek in the Cheshire Senior Cup, Altrincham reverted to the same squad which beat Eastwood last Saturday. However, Flynn and Williams switched numbers for some reason and the bench was also assigned different numbered shirts from last week.
BACKGROUND:
This was the Alty's first visit to Worcester for seven seasons. However, manager Lee Sinnott was unable to attend owing to the death of his mother during the preceding few days, so Neil Tolson and Ian Senior were in the technical area today.
LINE-UPS
WORCESTER CITY (Blue and white) 1. James Dormand; 2. Martyn Naylor, 3. Neil Cartwright, 4. Rob Elvins, 5. Lee Ayres, 6. Ryan Clarke, 7. Lee Smith, 8. Kevin O'Connor, 9.Daniel Carey-Bertram, 10. Simon Brown, 11. Tom Thorley, Subs: 12. Danny Edwards, 14. Luke Corbett, 15. Jacob Rowe, 16. Matt Birley, 17. Matt Sargeant,
ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks). 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Chris LYNCH, 6. Rob WILLIAMS, 5. Adam FLYNN, 3. Mark LEES, 7. James LAWRIE, 4. Anthony DANYLYK (capt), 8. Shaun DENSMORE, 11. Nicky CLEE, 9. Michael TWISS 10. Damian REEVES Subs: 14. Robbie LAWTON, 16. Ryan BROWN, 15. Simon RICHMAN, 12. Jack REDSHAW, 18. Adam REID (gk)
REPORT
After a minute's silence to mark Remembrance Day, the teams changed ends and Worcester kicked off, immediately hoofing the ball out of play. There was a sign of things to come when a through ball evaded Lynch, at right-back, and goalkeeeper Coburn had to rush out. Some ten yards outside his box, he arrived after Brown, but his sliding sprawl was enough to block the City man's shot at goal though Brown vehemently claimed a penalty for handball.
There was then an error by Clarke at the other end in dealing with a long ball, which allowed Reeves a one on one, but his effort was blocked by the advancing Dormand (6 mins). But then Alty were again caught out at left-back as Worcester's O'Connor played the ball behind Lynch and this allowed Simon Brown to advance into the box behind him. Lynch was unable to catch the City man and pushed him over from behind to concede a clear penalty. Brown scored the spot kick comfortably to give Worcester an early lead as the clock ticked into the start of the tenth minute.
Alty continued to labour and Lynch was lucky to escape a booking for a late challenge on Thorley. Play was fairly uneventful till Coburn enjoyed some luck, wheh he came to the right of goal, his attempted clearance cannoned off an opponent but fell perfectly on the rebound into his arms (23 mins).
Alty won their first corner when a good move ended with the ball being taken off Reeves's toe end by a defender. Next, Clee was hurt by a fierce Naylor challenge but no freekick was awarded. After treatment from Danny Fishwick, Nicky limped off but rejoined the game a couple of minutes later. Then, one of Clee's trademark long throws was allowed to bounce in the City box but the hosts got away with it.
Altrincham then had a great chance to level when Clee fed Twiss from the left but the striker got the ball under his feet and could not get his shot away in front of goal (34 mins). In the 37th minute another chance went begging as Reeves failed to gather the ball in a good position in the box. Alty were misfiring throughout the team from back to front.
Altrincham's Lees then fired wildly over the bar (40 mins) and the visitors were to pay for their errors in front of goal when Worcester doubled their lead. Thorley fed Smith to his right and he returned the ball across the goalmouth to Thorley who had advanced unmarked into the goalmouth. He drove a well struck shot across Coburn into the net (40 mins).
In added time Reeves forced Dormand to tip his header from a Clee cross over the bar but the flag was up for a home freekick anyway. At the interval, Worcester deserved their lead yet Altrincham had actually created as many openings but, with Reeves and Twiss failing to capitalise and the defence looking fragile, it had been a wretched 45 minutes for the visitors.
| Half-Time: WORCESTER CITY 2 ALTRINCHAM 0 |
Neil Tolson made a dramatic triple change at the break, replacing a defender, midfielder and a striker. At the back it was Rob Williams who was surprisingly sacrificed as Lynch moved alongside Flynn at centre-back and Lees switched to right-back, as Ryan Brown came on as left-back. Twiss was replaced by Redshaw up front and Lawton came on for Lawrie on the right flank.
The changes had an impact as Alty enjoyed their best fifteen minutes or more of the game, with Redshaw prominent as Alty went forward.
Clee won and took an early corner (50 mins), before a good feed from Densmore gave Clee half a chance but his underhit effort was blocked by Dormand (52 mins). Redshaw fired a shot well over the bar soon afterwards (55 mins).
After City's Birley had come on for Smith (59 mins), Worcester were very fortunate not to concede a penalty as Reeves received the ball in the box and was clearly manhandled before the ball ran off him to the keeper (62 mins). The lively Redshaw made a couple of good runs on the right (64 mins) but Alty's good spell now tailed off, midway through the half.
But Altrincham nevertheless had another decent chance to score when a good ball from Danylyk set Reeves free but, once again, he failed to gather the ball cleanly (72 mins). A minute later Corbett came on for Carey-Bertram. Now, the game went through a fairly lacklustre passage with Coburn unemployed at one end but Alty unable to make a breakthrough at the other end.
They wasted another chance in the 79th minute, following a freekick on the right; Clee's cross was met by the unmarked Flynn, but the Alty defender headed over the bar. Now, a Danylyk foul led to a lecture and shortly afterwards, with Altrincham trying to play the ball out of the left-back area with a series of increasingly chancy short passes, Danylyk slipped in posssession and the ball was won by City. Corbett worked it left to Thorley who drove the ball home to make it a flattering 3-0 to Worcester in the 81st minute.
Next Worcester's Edwards replaced Brown (84 mins). With the game meandering towards its certain outcome, it took a rare piece of action but an excellent save from Coburn to beat out a fierce shot from the City left (89 mins). Three added minutes made no difference to the inevitable outcome and Alty left the field after another poor away performance. The faults were all over the pitch, from woeful defending, through poor passing, to bad finishing.
With just one away win all season, yet an unbeaten home record, the Altrincham players are certainly causing their management a puzzle with performances which range from the impressive to the sub-standard.
| Full-Time: WORCESTER CITY 3 ALTRINCHAM 0 |