Match Report

REFEREE: Mr Alan Young (Blackpool)

ATTENDANCE: 601

Over the Christmas period, Droylsden signed defender David Thompson from Colwyn Bay, a club at which he had had two spells without ever turning out for The Seagulls. He was on the bench today. His most recent football has therefore been played with Northwich and Marine.

Matt Flynn was injured after colliding with the hoardings on Boxing Day so Mark Lees returned to the side today. There was a surprise return for Brian Summerskill from his loan to Nantwich but he was on the bench today.

Droylsden made changes, with one of them seeing Ciaran Kilheeney replacing Danny Rowe. Former Alty man Carlos Logan captained the Bloods today.

BACKGROUND:

Before kick-off Mike Garnett's statistics revealed that Droylsden had yet to win at Moss Lane after 14 previous encounters...

Amongst the spectators today was former Alty captain Robbie Lawton, now at Marine.

LINE-UPS

DROYLSDEN (Red and black) 1. Paul Phillips, 2. Chris Brown, 3. Shaun Holden, 4. Andy Langford, 5.Nat Kerr, 6. Paul Marshall, 7. Dan Gardner, 8.Stephen Hall, 9. Ciaran Kilheeney, 10. Dale Johnson, 11. Carlos Logan (capt). Subs: 12. Danny Rowe, 14. Lewis Killeen, 16. Theo Thompson, 15. Warren Peyton, 17. David Thompson

ALTRINCHAM (Yellow & blue shirts, blue shorts and yellow socks) 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Mark LEES, 5.Adrian HAWES, 6. Adam FLYNN (capt), 3. Adam DODD; 7. James LAWRIE, 8. Liam TOMSETT, 4. Chris LYNCH, 11. Nicky CLEE; 9. Jack REDSHAW, 10. Damian REEVES. Subs: 12. Ryan BROWN, 14. Simon RICHMAN, 15. Michael TWISS, 16. Brian SUMMERSKILL, 18. Adam REID (gk),

REPORT

Despite torrential rain for much of the preceding 48 hours, the Droylsden ground staff had done well to get this game on. Altrincham brought good numbers of travelling fans, who outnumbered the home support and the visitors were in good voice at kick off in light of their 5-1 win over Droylsden on Boxing Day. With the rain still falling, Alty kicked off and right from the start there was water splashing under the players' feet, especially in the channel in front of the main stand.

Early on, Altrincham put together a decent eight pass move which ended in Dodd's wild shot, off target (4 mins). But, moments later, Droylsden won an indisputable penalty after Kilheeney gathered the ball inside the left of the box and got behind Hawes. The tall on-loan defender from Telford brought down the Bloods' forward and Mr Young had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Kilheeney got up and, after some discussion with Gardner, sent Coburn the wrong way from 12 yards (6 mins).

Immediately after the restart Kilheeney wasted a chance to double the lead after some dubious defending from Hawes and Lees (7 mins). The rain had now more or less eased off as Reeves was caught just offside from a Clee feed. At the end of a good passing move from the Bloods, Johnson now sliced wide before Alty created a half chance themselves, when a Lynch effort was deflected towards goal and Reeves managed to hook it past goalkeeper Phillips but a defender was able to clear the ball well before it could reach the goal (13 mins).

Reeves was just thwarted again soon afterwards when a neat Altrincham move ended with Brown making a vital interception for the Bloods. As Carlos Logan went off to change his boots in an attempt to get more purchase on the slippery surface, Alty won a corner, which skimmed off Hawes for a goalkick.

Next, Coburn had to improvise a save with his knees when the ball seemed to deceive him as it bounced in the goalmouth and a Droylsden corner was the outcome. An Alty corner soon followed and this produced a melee in the Droylsden box which finally resulted in the ball being cleared (21 mins).

As the game went on, towards the half hour mark, Altrincham were on top with Droylsden barely threatening to add to their early lead. Indeed, had Lawrie elected to shoot after doing well to get into the box, instead of taking an extra touch and losing the ball, Alty might well have equalised (30 mins). And, soon afterwards, the ball was deflected from a Redshaw shot to Chris Lynch but the midfielder, who had earlier needed physio treatment, sliced badly off target (33 mins).

Then, out of the blue, Droylsden doubled their lead. Logan got round the Alty defence, on the Droylsden left, and his low cross was flicked towards goal at the near post by Dale Johnson. Coburn seemed to have stopped the ball at the base of the post but it somehow squirmed through his hands into the net to double the home side's lead (35 mins).

After a Droylsden corner had been and gone, Johnson was booked for a foul on Hawes (39 mins). A Hall shot was then deflected to Coburn. At the other end, the lively Redshaw shot wide but half time soon arrived with Altrincham two goals adrift.

Uncertainty from Hawes, who throughout the game semed to have more difficulty than most in keeping his feet on the slippery surface, led to an early second-half corner for Droylsden. Otherwise, the opening of the second half was pretty uneventful. Then, Redshaw almost gave Alty some hope when he reached Reeves's through ball ahead of the advancing Phillips but, though he poked the ball beyond the Droylsden keeper, it had neither the direction nor power to find the net before a covering defender cleared it (55 mins).

Just after the hour mark, midfielder Tomsett was withdrawn in favour of Richman (62 mins). The midfielder-loanee from Blackpool had looked one of Alty's better players in the first half. After two Droylsden corners had gone by, Dodd won one at the other end for Altrincham. However, Lawrie's corner was cleared, to Flynn, who fired a strong goalbound shot from 35 yards, which struck someone before rebounding into the path of Jack Redshaw. From about 15 yards, with the goal open, the young striker blasted over the bar (67 mins).

At this point, Droylsden introduced Lewis Killeen to replace Gardner (68 mins). And, within two minutes, Alty had gifted the hosts a third goal. This time it was Adam Flynn's turn to lose his footing inside the penalty box, allowing Droylsden to get to the by-line, right of goal. From there, Kerr played the ball across the goalmouth where Kilheeney had the simple task of sidefooting the ball into the net to make it 3-0 (70 mins).

Two minutes later, from Clee's feed, Redshaw saw his low shot rebound from the direction of goal off a defender, but Reeves pounced to net his 24th goal of the season from close range (72 mins). This season, if Reeves scores his first goal of a game in the 68th minute or earlier, Alty win or draw that match, if he scores any later, they lose. So, good though it was to see an Alty goal, the writing was on the wall.

Indeed, Reeves's goal did not spark anything resembling a threatening comeback from Altrincham, though they immediately brought on Twiss for Redshaw up front (73 mins).

For Droylsden, Logan won a corner before the Bloods made a swap, as Dale Johnson was replaced by Rowe (78 mins). Alty continued to give the ball away with regularity as Droylsden continually went forward. A brief flurry from Alty saw a Reeves freekick hit the wall and, then, a good run from Dodd earned them another corner. With Hawes still struggling to keep his feet, Alty continued to inspire little confidence at the back. As full time approached another ex-Alty man, Warren Peyton, came on to replace Marshall (89 mins).

Four minutes of added time were announced, during which Droylsden continued to look the better side, winning a corner and then forcing another improvised save from Coburn, this time with his feet (90+3 mins).

Damian Reeves's continued ability to find the net was probably the only positive to emerge from this game for Altrincham, though referee Young also gave an impressive display of applying the "advantage" rule to try and keep the game flowing before going back on several occasions to award freekicks.

It is true that the conditions today were difficult, with two or three days of more or less non-stop rain making the pitch very soft and slippery, but the home side adjusted the better to the situation and ran out deserved winners against an Altrincham side whose away form is amongst the worst in the division, with only four teams - all in the bottom seven - having gained fewer points on the road.