Match Report

ALTRINCHAM (1) 3 GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY (0) 0

Skrill North match
played on Saturday, 22 March 2014, at 3pm

SUMMARY

Despite Altrincham dominating the first half, only a James Walshaw penalty separated the sides at half time. And even that had seemed to be awarded for a foul on Walshaw which many thought was outside the box. In the second half, Altrincham continued to fail to impose themselves on the second most porous defence in the league till Leather bundled the ball home after a corner had been half-cleared (75 mins).

Clee's run to the byline set up a headed goal for Lawrie to make it 3-0 ten minutes from time. By then, Gainsborough were well beaten.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Matthew Parry
ATTENDANCE: 709
TEAM NEWS

Scott Leather returned to replace Tom Marshall in central defence in Alty's only change to the starting eleven from last Saturday's win at Solihull.

Trinity arrived at Altrincham with the second-worst defence in the league and, to make things worse, today they had injury problems, particularly in the back-line. Former Alty defender Greg Young was in Trinity's line-up.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM

(Red & white striped shirts, red shorts and socks) 		1. Stuart Coburn, 2. Shaun Densmore (capt), 3. Adam Griffin, 4. Jake Moult, 5. Gianluca Havern, 6. Scott Leather, 7. James Lawrie, 8. Simon Richman, 9. James Walshaw, 10. Damian Reeves, 11. Nicky Clee. Subs: 12. Tom Marshall, 14. Matt Doughty, 15. Carl Rodgers, 16.Kyle Perry, 17. Greg Wilkinson

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY

(All yellow )		 1. Phil Barnes, 2. Michael Leary, 3. Tom Davie, 4. Josh Lacey, 5. Adam Martin, 6. Greg Young, 7. Simon Russell, 8. Johnathan Williams, 9. Curtis Bateson, 10. Jonathon Margetts, 11. Grant Roberts. Subs: 12. Josh Batty, 14. Caine Winfarrah, 15. Liam Davis, 16. Jamie Wootton, 17. Liam Dickens

BACKGROUND:

Before the Match

Mike Garnett's reveals the record in all matches between Alty and Gainsborough Trinity...

The reverse fixture this season was a crazy encounter, which Alty lost 5-4 at The Northolme.

There had been several heavy showers over the lunchtime period but this game was to start in dry conditions.

REPORT

Watched by Noel White, the former Alty and Liverpool chairman, Altrincham kicked off, though they were delayed in doing so by a Trinity bonding huddle. Attacking the Golf Road End, Alty were to dominate the opening stages, with Trinity barely getting out of their own half.

After four minutes, Lawrie put Walshaw clear but offside was given against the striker. After a Densmore cross had been cleared and Alty had won a freekick for a foul on Walshaw, the visitors finally relieved the pressure when they won a freekick 15 yards inside the Alty half (9 mins). Two Altrincham freekicks soon followed, however, and from the second of these Clee's effort was deflected for a corner on the right (11 mins).

In the 13th minute, from a Densmore cross, Reeves's good header drifted narrowly wide. Moments later, a fine ball from Moult just evaded Reeves's head. Alty continued to dominate as Clee and Richman combined well. It was soon raining, as Young cleared a Walshaw cross. Alty were doing well, keeping the ball comfortably, and when Walshaw was tripped on the edge of the box. Moult's freekick curled just wide of the near post (17 mins).

In the 19th minute, Trinity won themselves a corner on the left as it became clear that Altrincham's initial dominance would not be converted into an early goal. A half-chance came when Lawrie headed wide after a defender missed the ball. There was then a passage of frantic play in the Gainsborough box. No fewer than three appeals for penalties were waved away as Reeves went down twice and a defender possibly handled the ball inadvertently from a Moult shot (23 mins). Alty did, however, win a corner.

After Clee had lost the ball in his own half, he won it back well and fed Walshaw, who was brought down by Young. To many it appeared to be just outside the box but Mr Parry pointed to the penalty spot and booked the Trinity defender. As goalkeeper Barnes committed himself, Walshaw rolled home the penalty to give Altrincham the lead (28 mins).

The heavens opened as play restarted and Young nearly atoned for his challenge when his left-footer just cleared the Alty bar (30 mins). Alty manager, Lee Sinnott, was urging his team to an increased tempo as Richman and Walshaw combined well, but Barnes beat out the resulting shot.

Lawrie conceded a foul on the Trinity left. Alty got all eleven players back so when the ball was cleared it soon came back at Altrincham. The rain now stopped as Young got in a great tackle just as Reeves was in the act of shooting from a Walshaw feed (38 mins). Next, Lawrie shot well over the bar. Griffin, who had a good game, now curled a cross into the box but Barnes collected it (41 mins).

After 43 minutes, a Trinity freekick just cleared the bar from Davie. Now Williams was very late in his tackle on Clee near halfway and he was booked. Clee recovered after treatment and half time soon arrived with Alty just a goal to the good but they should have been further ahead after largely dominating the half.

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1 GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 0

With the floodlights on, Trinity kicked off towards Golf Road and, once again, it was the home side which started the better. A good ball from Lawrie to Walshaw saw the latter miscontrol in the box, before a Clee cross went to the Trinity keeper. But, after Lawrie had lost the ball, Bateson advanced powerfully and his well-struck shot hit the side netting (49 mins).

This set a bit of a pattern as Altrincham repeatedly put a few passes together before losing possession. However, after 52 minutes some Clee trickery won a corner, which led to the ball being cleared off the line before a cross from Moult won another corner, on the left.

Trinity soon had a penalty appeal unanswered before Williams fired narrowly over for the visitors. Alty were not imposing themselves this half as, first, Griffin cleared and then Leather had to make a block, which gave Trinity a freekick to the right of the Alty box, and for which Leather was booked (57 mins).

Altrincham were overelaborating and promising passing movements were breaking up with individual errors. After 66 minutes, Altrincham brought on Rodgers for Moult and Perry was also being readied.

After Reeves had won a corner on the right, Lawrie's kick drifted out of play. The visitors now brought on Davis for Bateson, as the game continued with neither keeper yet having to make a serious save (69 mins). Altrincham continued to labour until a Clee run and shot won a corner.

Now Perry replaced Walshaw (73 mins). When Barnes punched clear to Clee, his goalbound shot was deflected out for a corner. From this, Barnes again punched clear but the ball was played back into the box and Leather pounced to score from close range and make it 2-0 (75 mins).

Trinity made a double swap as Wootton and Winfarrah came on for Davie and Williams (76 mins). Trinity now got forward and won a corner off Havern. After this, a Lawrie foul, 30 yards out centrally, saw loanee Margetts drive his freekick into the Alty wall (79 mins).

With ten minutes remaining, Nicky Clee advanced smartly to the left byline and from his cross, the unmarked James Lawrie headed home to make it 3-0.

Though the game was now beyond them, Trinity's Roberts got in a good shot but it was hit at Coburn, who saved fairly comfortably (82 mins). There was another scare as Wootton, on the left, was played in on goal but Coburn blocked, as the Alty keeper saw more action in these closing stages than in the preceding 80 minutes.

With four minutes remaining, Clee laid the ball off to Richman, who clipped the bar with a fine shot from 30 yards. It was Clee's last involvement as he was replaced by Wilkinson (86 mins). Richman was about to fire in another shot when he was tackled, as Altrincham finished strongly (88 mins).

Three added minutes made no change to the scoreline. Though it ultimately appeared a comfortable win, for 75 minutes Altrincham had been largely dominant but unable to convert their superiority into a second goal against the makeshift defence of a team at the wrong end of the table.

However, on the positive side, Altrincham rarely looked like conceding a goal, as they recorded a second successive clean sheet in the league and remained in a strong position to claim, at least, a play-off place. Next up, is a home match against Bradford PA, whose away win at Brackley will give them confidence for the clash at the J. Davidson Stadium on Wednesday.

Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 3 GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 0
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