Match Report
HISTON (2) 2 ALTRINCHAM (0) 0
played on Tuesday, 12 February, 2013, at 7.45pm
SUMMARY
A very poor first-half from Altrincham saw them outplayed for 45 minutes by Histon's fast closing down, accurate passing and penetrative play. Alty did not threaten apart from one shot from Watmore. Alty's passing lacked invention and moves ended time iand again in aimless balls forward. They fell behind when Mills was allowed too much space on the right and his mishit shot was turned home by Sheppard (9 mins). Then a foul by Hall conceded a penalty (24 mins) which Stevenson dispatched to give Histon a merited two-goal lead at the break.
Alty brought on Lacey for Moult and then Leather for Lawrie but the visitors made little impression as the game progressed. The Robins mustered no threat on the Histon goal apart from a header from a corner, whch was cleared off the line, as pass after pass went astray. Indeed, Histon went close twice in the closing minutes, with Alty bringing on Brooke for Clee. Any hopes of staying in the play-off places will need a much better showing than this.
SCORERS:
REFEREE: Mr Martin Dexter
ATTENDANCE: 240
TEAM NEWS
James Lawrie replaced the injured Simon Richman in the starting eleven. Histon were without Hoban; loanee Sheppard came into the side.
BACKGROUND:
This was only Altrincham's second away match of 2013, due to postponements. So, five of the club's last six games had been on home turf. This match, too, had been in doubt but the pitch passed an inspection on matchday morning. The game had originally been scheduled for 29 December 2012.
Mike Garnett's statistics tell us that the previous record between the clubs was:
In the reverse fixture at Moss Lane this season, Altrincham won 5-0 with goals from Rodgers, Lawrie, Reeves (2) and Watmore. In last season's game at Histon, Alty won 3-2 (Lawrie 2, Reeves).
LINE-UPS:
HISTON (Red and black): 1. Callum Kitscha, 2. Zac Mills, 3. Harri Hawkins, 4. Remy Clerima (Capt), 5. Danny Fitzsimons, 6. Grant Roberts, 7. Lewis Taaffe, 8. James Stevenson, 9. Kaine Sheppard, 10. Ben Coker, 11. Levi Porter Subs: 12. Jay Dowie, 14. Jack Sessions, 15. Jack Utteridge, 16. Matty Waters, 17. Harry Omalley.
ALTRINCHAM (Aquamarine shirts, grey shorts & aquamarine socks): 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Shaun DENSMORE (capt), 3. Matt DOUGHTY 4. Carl RODGERS, 5. Gianluca HAVERN, 6. Danny HALL, 7. James LAWRIE, 8. Jake MOULT, 9. Duncan WATMORE, 10. Damian REEVES, 11. Nicky CLEE. Subs 12. Scott LEATHER, 14.Patrick LACEY, 15. Ryan BROOKE, 16. Danny MITCHLEY, 18. Stephen BULLEN
REPORT
Watched by Peterborough United's Darren Ferguson and Barry Fry, Histon kicked off on a soft and uneven pitch, which had survived a morning inspection before being declared playable. Histon had the better of an uneventful opening, played at a quick pace.
Whilst the home side played the ball about well, Alty laboured to get forward or find their men. The Stutes took the lead when Alty left a man unmarked on the right, just as they had done in conceding a goal to Gloucester the preceding Saturday. This time it was Zak Mills who benefited, though he was lucky that his miscued shot went straight to Sheppard. Apparently not offside, the striker scored from close range (9 mins).
Lawrie, looking rusty after his injury lay-off, now lost possession after a promising Watmore run before a 13th minute Clee freeekick ended up with a Hall volley well over the bar.
Sheppard then fed Coker, whose shot deflected out for a corner, as Histon remained well on top. As the first twenty minutes drew to a conclusion, Alty briefly improved. A good Clee run led him to feed Watmore, whose shot was beaten out by the keeper. Then a Rodgers header from Clee's long throw went to Kitscha too.
There was more hope when Moult was only just blocked as he went to shoot; Alty were getting back into the game after a sluggish start. But disaster struck when a counter attack was held up by an excellent Havern tackle from Havern but the ball was not cleared and Hall's follow-up challenge, just inside the box, was deemed worthy of a penalty to Histon. Stevenson confidently sent Coburn the wrong way and scored to the keeper's left from the spot to make it 2-0 (24 mins).
Altrincham's response was not impressive. After a few uneventful minutes, a Mills cross almost prompted an own goal off Densmore but a Histon corner on their left was the outcome. Doughty headed the corner off the line (34 mins). Histon continued to show Altrincham the way to attack as, next, Sheppard fed Taaffe, whose shot just cleared the bar.
At the other end, a Clee cross came out to Moult who volleyed well over. But the pattern continued of Alty making a few passes across the pitch before possession was lost when they tried to go forward. As half-time approached Altrincham showed few indications that they had the guile to break down their opponents' defence.
Alty did win a corner in first-half added time, from a Lawrie cross, but this came to nothing. After as poor a forty-five minutes as Altrincham had produced this season, the players headed off for what promised to be a robust half-time meeting with the management.
| Half-Time: HISTON 2 ALTRINCHAM 0 |
At the break, Lacey replaced Moult in midfield. But the vistors' error-strewn performance continued before Alty did win a corner as Watmore's ball to Reeves was taken off the striker's feet as he was about to shoot (47 mins).
A Lacey foul now earned him a lecture, before a later Histon freekick was only half cleared and Coburn had to make a save from the follow up (52 mins). Another Histon freekick, against Hall, soon followed as Alty's performance failed to improve.
There were glimmers of hope as a Reeves 25-yarder was saved, albeit comfortably, and then Doughty and Clee conspired to win a corner on the left. But the errors continued as Rodgers sliced into touch. However, a rare Histon mis-clearance to Lacey produced an Altrincham corner. This was taken on the left by Lawrie, but Hall's resulting header was cleared off the line for another corner, after which Rodgers sliced well wide.
Shortly after Coburn had saved a header from a Histon corner, Alty brought on Leather for Lawrie, with Densmore moving to right midfield as Leather went to right-back (64 mins). Altrincham continued to make unforced errors before and after the 70th minute arrival of Brooke, who replaced Clee.
From a freekick, after Hall had hauled down Sheppard, Coburn punched clear only for Histon to shoot wide. An unmemorable twenty minutes of play saw little sign of Altrincham retrieving the game, though they did get forward more than previously, but to little effect in terms of goal threat.
It is to be hoped that this poor showing was an aberration but, certainly, a much better showing will be needed to get Alty's play-off hopes back on track.
| Full-Time: HISTON 2 ALTRINCHAM 0 |