Match Report

REFEREE: Mr Carl Boyeson (East Yorkshire)

ATTENDANCE: 2,428

Carl Rodgers was out after suffering hamstring trouble at Worcester last Saturday and captain Shaun Densmore was suspended, so Danny Hall took over the armband. But Gianluca Havern was fit again to return at centre-back.

Compared with the first match, at Burton, the Brewers dropped Stanton to the bench and Chapell was also out but Cleveland Taylor and Chris Palmer were promoted from the bench to starting places.

The referee was also changed from the official who ran the game at Burton.

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham had been robbed of their 17th Football League scalp in the original FA Cup First Round match with Burton, eleven days earlier, by an injury-time equalizer from the Brewers.

Tonight's gate exceeded the 2,397 drawn to watch Luton Town (then a League Club) in a similar Round 1 replay in 2008 but it was very slightly lower than the 2,457 attracted to the visit of Millwall for a First Round tie in 2007.

LINE-UPS:

With the crowd still entering the ground, and former Alty players including John King, Graham Heathcote and Mike Farrelly present, the game kicked off in front of the ESPN television cameras. Alty's pre-match mascot had been five year-old Finn, the son of Alty keeper, Stuart Coburn.

Alty kicked off towards the Golf Road end, on a cool evening with a hint of mist in the distance. Almost immediately, the pace and skill of Duncan Watmore drew a foul as he was tripped some 35 yards from goal (2 mins). But when Nicky Clee was penalised, a similar distance from the Alty goal, Burton won a reciprocal freekick.

Scott Leather conceded a corner from a low cross, which he could have avoided doing, had a team-mate shouted to him that he had time to clear the ball. But the Burton corner was poor end ended up in the side netting (5 mins). After another Burton freekick, 40 yards out, the ball found its way to Bell whose shot struck a team-mate and went wide.

In the eighth minute, Altrincham had a glorious chance to score after Scott Leather had got forward well and combined with Watmore on the right. But Reeves blasted his shot well over the bar. Play was end to end as, now, Havern did well to see off Zola. Burton then enjoyed a good spell as, first, Maghoma fired over and, then, a Burton cross went across the face of Altrincham's goal (11 mins).

Alty responded when Reeves and Clee conspired to win a 13th-minute corner on the left but, at the other end, a Maghoma cross won his side a corner, too. Referee Boyeson was drawing some home-crowd criticism for some fussy decisions before an impressive Altrincham move ended with Watmore's pass to Moult but, like Reeves earlier, the midfielder's shot cleared the bar when he should have hit the target (18 mins). Alty had created and missed the two best chances of the match, so far.

Calvin Zola now got in a shot to Coburn but, following a 24th-minute freekick by Taylor, the big striker hit the top of the Alty crossbar. Moments later, a Maghoma effort went just wide, after a great through ball from midfield found him. Zola was soon involved again as he nodded an effort to Coburn following a Brewers' corner gained off Jake Moult (26 mins).

In response, Nicky Clee fired in an impressive thirty-yarder, which Oxley could not hold but the keeper grabbed the ball at the second attempt, as Reeves arrived in the goalmouth. The large crowd was witnessing an entertaining and open game as, on the half-hour mark, Leather covered well to concede a corner, from which Bell shot well wide. Palmer's shot, soon afterwards, stung Stuart Coburn's palms, before an excellent low cross by James Lawrie cross was just cut out by the keeper ahead of Reeves (31 mins).

Nicky Clee was much involved in the game as, firstly, he executed an impressive double-tackle to halt Burton, then took a freekick, which went to the keeper. The action continued as a shot from Lawrie went narrowly wide from 25 yards, from a Moult feed, as Alty continued to do well against the full-timers.

With half-time approaching, Alty were on top and Watmore now saw a shot blocked, before the industrious Richman won the ball, prompting a Clee cross from the by-line which just went out of play. When Reeves was felled on the Alty right, a resulting freekick by Clee was cleared, followed by a blocked Watmore effort. Alty had been the better side in the first half but had failed to take any of three decent chances to take the lead.

Burton kicked off the second half but it was Altrincham's Lawrie who created the first real stir of the half as he almost played in Reeves. The large contingent of home fans continued to out-sing the visitors' supporters, just as they had done at the Pirelli Stadium eleven days earlier. And their side continued to do well on the pitch as, now, Clee won the ball and shot, only to see his effort saved. However, an Alty corner soon followed.

Altrincham were almost undone when a mis-pass from Reeves to Zola gave the big striker a chance but he made a hash of his effort (55 mins). For the first time in the game Alty's passing was now going awry, with three misplaced balls in a couple of minutes. Better, however, was some good interplay between Lawrie and Reeves, which forced a stretching save from Oxley.

Another good Alty move ended as Clee's pass went out of play before a fine tackle by Leather on Zola corner halted his progress. After a good Lawrie run, Clee miscued a shot with his less favoured right foot. As play moved to the other end, Richman was penalised for a challenge on Maghoma. From the freekick, 27 yards out left of centre, Chris Palmer beat the wall and Coburn, to his right, to give Burton the lead (65 mins).

Alty went in search of an equalizer as a Moult left-foot effort was lashed wide and then, from a Watmore feed, Moult's rising shot from right of goal won a corner off the keeper (69 mins). Next, Clee beat two men and won a corner but with Alty still well in the game, disaster struck. Burton's Taylor looked well offside as he broke on the Burton left but he was allowed to advance towards the by-line. His cross was not good but, unfortunately, Havern slipped, leaving Zola with an unmissable shot into the net from close range. The two-goal margin was distinctly flattering to the Brewers but underlined the importance of converting chances (76 mins).

Despite this setback, Alty now carved Burton open on the left but Doughty's cross from near the by-line went across the face of goal with Reeves just unable to reach it (77 mins). Soon, Alty brought on fresh legs as Lacey came on for a limping Clee and Brooke replaced Watmore. Burton now took the sting out of the game and won a corner after a Coburn tip over the bar. They further broke Altrincham's rhythm with a double substitution when McGrath and Kee came on for Weir and Zola (86 mins).

A further substitution in the last minute saw Burton's Matt Palmer replace Maghoma, before two added minutes of play were announced. The game ended soon afterwards with Altrincham having given a very good account of themselves but having paid a heavy price for their first-half missed chances. With just 40 hours or so between the end of this game and the visit of Hinckley United, (including a full day at work for most of them), Alty's players will be asked, all too soon, to give their all again on Saturday.

A deserving Danny Hall and Jacques Maghoma, were the Men of the Match selected by the Altrincham sponsors but Calvin Zola was the choice of the Budweiser Man of the Match. Despite the disappointing result, the bumper crowd was treated to a very entertaining match and, hopefully, some of the newcomers will be tempted to return to Moss Lane for more matches this season and beyond. The ESPN viewers were also treated to a good match and the Club would like to thank commentators Jon Champion and Jim Beglin, with the rest of their team, for their excellent coverage of the game.